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By Joseph E. Pogue

Any mechanism, either natural or artificial, for regulating the functioning of a given unit in the general economy must operate toward the maintenance of equilibrium if it is to survive. The petroleum industry, concerned as it is with the production of a natural resource of specialized character, is surrounded not only by the economic factors common to other industries but by an extra set of unique elements centering about the fugitive character of crude petroleum under conditions of competitive development. The term equilibrium, therefore, so far as the oil business is concerned, involves a combination of economic and physical factors: the first set having to do with supply, demand, costs, profit margins, purchasing power, and the like; and the second, with underground pressures in oil pools, efficient rates of extraction, and all other aspects of engineering that may be summarized by the familiar term "conservation." The two categories, in fact, are not as clearly divided as the foregoing statement would imply, for in practice it will be found that the economic and physical aspects have a pervasive interaction and interrelationship. If the development of the petroleum industry in the United States is examined from its inception in 1859 down to the present, it will be found that, beginning about 11 years ago, a new mechanism for regulating the production of crude petroleum made its appearance. Prior to this recent period, the production of this raw material was determined by competitive forces operating without outside restraints. At present the output of crude oil is subjected to supervision by regulatory bodies in most of the oil-producing states, which impose upon the operators certain conditions having to do with the manner and rates of production. Thus, in the space of a decade, the mechanism for producing crude oil has changed from an automatic to a designed procedure called proration. And in its short history this method has been marked by a rapid evolution in its nature and incidence, with progressive changes still under way.

Jan 1, 1938

By K. C. Carriere

INTRODUCTION The purpose of this section is to introduce the reader to the concepts of computer control of grinding circuits, and to flag some of the opportunities to be encountered, but without becoming overly involved in details of process, equipment or software. It is assumed that the reader has some familiarity with computer hardware and software, and in particular with the grinding process. The paper is organized into four parts: a general commentary of the need for computer control of grinding, a discussion of the process considerations involved, a more detailed elaboration on the current state of applicable computer technology, and a case study indicating one approach towards such a project. A brief installation survey and references for further reading are also given. This section will primarily deal with supervisory computer applications. Direct Digital Control and microprocessor systems are generally used as replacements for analog controls and thus are not considered in depth. Many configurations of grinding circuits exist, necessitating certain assumptions. Since many new concentrators use an open circuited SAG mill feeding a closed circuit ball mill, this configuration is used as a model although the principles stated can be extrapolated to any circuit. Motivation The use of computers for industrial control has been one of the dreams of control engineers and operators alike for many years. The concept of a plant running at optimal conditions with minimal operator involvement is very attractive from economic and technical standpoints. Accomplishment of this goal has been a long struggle, but today likelihood of success of such a project is very high, considering the reliability of modern hardware and the sophistication of available software. The primary motivation of any control system must be economic, i.e. it must pay for itself and make money for the owner, directly or indirectly. In grinding control the benefits which can be expected include: a) Higher through-put b) More uniform product in particle size, density and volumetric flog: c) Reduced operating costs including media consumption, power consumption and liner wear

Jan 1, 1982

By A. H. Kline, E. B. Zimmer, Zay Jeffries

It is well known that many properties of a given metal vary with the size of grain or cell. For most industrial purposes, where high ultimate strength and high elastic limit are desired, the manufacturer tries to produce a fine-grained structure. For some purposes, for example in transformer iron, a coarse-grained structure is desirable. The terms fine-grained and coarse-grained are used only in a relative sense. For example, a fine-grained cast copper might have grains 100 times larger than coarse-grained high-speed steel. Similarly, a finegrained steel rail might have grains or cells 100 times larger than coarsegrained wire, which was made of steel from the same heat. In some metals, the change in grain size is more appreciable khan the changes in any of the properties determined by the tensile test. Furthermore, in metals which have been annealed or subjected to high temperatures, grain size may prove to be a better indication of the life of the metal in use than the tensile test. One of the authors was able to supplant the tensile test with grain-size determinations in the control of metal for a specific use, the latter determination being more indicative of the life of the metal part than the tensile test. A grain-size determination with a tensile stest is, of course, more valuable than either singly. At present there is a decided dearth of data on actual grain-size determinations in metals, and consequently a corresponding lack of ability to interpret the determinations after they are made. It would be desirable to have correlation made between grain size and properties of metals, comparing thousands of determinations. In this way, grain-size determinations might be interpreted in much the same manner that tensile tests are now. Several Methods of Measuring Grain Size One of the chief reasons why more grain-size measurements have not been made is the excessive work involved in making a determination.

Jan 1, 1916

By P. W. Bridgman

THE thesis of this article is that the age of Newton is now coming to a close, and that recent scientific discoveries have in store an even greater revolution in our entire outlook than the revolution effected by the discovery of universal gravitation by Newton. The revolution that now confronts us, arises from the recent discovery of new facts, the only interpretation of which is that our conviction that nature is understandable and subject to law arose from the narrowness of our horizons, and that if we sufficiently extend our range we shall find that nature is intrinsically and in its elements neither understandable nor subject to law. The new experimental facts are in the realm of quantum phenomena. Comparatively little has been written for popular consumption about this new realm which has opened in the last fifteen years. The man in the street has been much more interested in relativity, which to him has seemed extremely interesting and revolutionary. Occasionally, however, there has filtered down to him the news that nearly all the theoretical physicists are occupied with a new order of phenomena which they find very much more exciting and revolutionary than any in the realm of relativity. For after all is said and done, the practical effects of relativity, measured in ,dollars and' cents or in centimeters and grams, are exceedingly small, and require specially de- signed experiments executed by men of the highest skill to show their existence at all. The phenomena with which quantum theory deals, on the other hand, are of the greatest practical importance and involve the simplest aspects of everyday life. For example, before the advent of the quantum theory no one could explain why a tea kettle of water boiling on the stove should not give out enough light in virtue of its temperature to be visible in the dark; the accepted theories of optics demanded that it should be visible, but every burned child knew that it was not.

Jan 1, 1929

By L. J. Buck

Lead smelting in the ore hearth, first practiced in Europe, whence the traditional name "Scotch hearth, and later developed in America to its present efficiency, is based upon the roast reduction process and is applicable to relatively high-grade galena concentrates. The roast reduction process embraces not only the roast reactions: 2PbS + 70 = PbO + PbSO4, + SO2 PbS + 2PbO = 3Pb + SO2 PbS + 2PbSO4 = Pb + 2PbO + 3SO2 but also, by reason of the addition of extraneous fuel, the reduction reaction: 2PbO + C = 2Pb + CO2 Thus in the ore hearth the roasting of lead sulphide, forming lead oxide and lead sulphate, the reaction of lead oxide and lead sulphate with lead sulphide producing lead, and the reduction of lead oxide by carbon producing lead, go on simultaneously. The Ore Hearth Function of the Ore Hearth.—The ore hearth, through the roast reduction process, provides for the extraction of lead and the immediate disposal of the smelting products—fume, hearth slag and lead, all of which are subsequently treated as follows: the fume is recovered in the flue system and baghouses, mixed with concentrates, and returned to the ore hearth in the form of ore mix; the hearth slag is smelted in a blast furnacc for the further recovery of lead; and the lead is refined and cast into a marketable product. Concentrates Amenable to Ore-hearth Smelting.—Only concentrates that are high in lead content, 70 per cent or more, are ordinarily considered amenable to ore-hearth smelting. Silica should not exceed 2 per cent and iron is allowable only to 4 per cent. These slag-forming constituents occlude both sulphide and mctallic lead, prevent the elimination of sulphur and decrease the lead extraction. Lime and magnesia are beneficial in that both favor a dry slag, promote elimination of sulphur, and prevent occlusions of metallic lead.

Jan 1, 1937

By Julius Pohlman

Considering the truly wonderful natural resources of the United States, and the variety and extent of uses for hydraulic cement at the present day, it seems strange that the manufacture of the artificial product called Portland cement has not been introduced here. Possibly the reason may be we have in different States of the Union rock deposits from which a cement can be obtained that is as good, and some claim even better, because of a more uniform quality, than the English product after it has been subjected to transportation across the ocean. One of these natural cement-rock deposits is found in the northern part of the city of Buffalo, and its manufacture has been carried on successfully for the past eleven years by the Buffalo Cement co., Mr. L. J. Bennett, President. The quarries cover an area of about two hundred acres, of which only twenty-five acres have been exhausted up to date; and the supply is assured for years to come. One acre yields on an average 80,000 barrels of cement; hence 12,000,000 barrels is a low estimate of what these quarries will yield before they are exhausted. According to the Geology of New York this cement-rock deposit is called the Water-Lime group, and forms in this section the uppermost member of the Upper Silurian. Its outcrop can be traced along the base of the second limestone terrace of Western New York, but at Buffalo a very large part of the overlying Corniferous limestone has been removed by natural agencies, leaving only about eight feet (six feet of rock and two feet of clay) on the top of the cement-rock, and thus furnishing the conditions for successful quarrying at a minimum expense. This rock is really an impure limestone, a mixture, as it were, of the underlying shales of the Onondaga Salt group with the overlying

Jan 1, 1889

By M. King Hubbert

THE theme of this paper is that one of the greatest retarding factors in progress of geologic science is the inadequate training given to students of geology in schools and universities. Students of geology are still taught as though geology were an independent, sovereign domain of science. Consequently, only in exceptional cases do geology students acquire more than the most elementary introductory college courses in mathematics, physics and chemistry, and frequently not even so much. Furthermore, students with such training receive Ph. D. degrees in geology, and often they become professors of geology in our universities. The phenomena of geology are also phenomena of physics, of astron-omy, of chemistry, and to a lesser extent, of biology; and to properly deal with them a knowledge of mathematics, physics and chemistry considerably beyond the elementary level is necessary. Already many of the physical and chemical problems of the earth, such as earthquakes, gravity, hydrology, meteorology, and the physical chemistry of rocks and minerals, are being attacked with considerable success by the employment of the methods of physics and chemistry, and being written almost exclusively in the language of advanced mathematical physics and chemistry. Geophysics is not just a "borderland field" between two sciences; on the contrary, it is the process whereby the knowledge and techniques of the more fundamental science, physics, are borrowed and employed in solving the problems of the more dependent science-geology. Geo-physics therefore embraces a large part of the two sciences taken together. The institution of work in geophysics, in its true sense, in depart-ments of geology would go far toward correcting the present inadequate training of students of geology and bringing the members of that profes-sion more uniformly abreast of the advances being made in earth science by people whose training has been primarily in the fundamental sciences of physics and chemistry rather than in geology. If something of this sort is not done, the geological profession may contemplate being left farther and farther behind as the scientific procession moves onward.

Jan 1, 1938

SINCE I promised you above when speaking of the melting of metals to teach you to make small crucibles and shells for melting, I do not wish to fail in my promise. For, in truth, since they are instruments that are much used for this procedure, they increase the work if they are not good, and often cause great extra expense as well as necessitating repetition of the work. If they are good they save everything. Therefore, if you have to make them, do it so that they, are greatly aided by art. It is first necessary to have the clay of a good nature, that is, resistant to the force of the fire by its own natural virtue, either when it is lean or when its viscousness is mixed with much talc, and whether it is yellow or white. This should be well freed from small stones and beaten well with an iron, and then thoroughly mixed by hand. With this should be mixed an eighth part of finely ground and sifted iron scale,* and also some [145] young ram's-horn ashes. These things should be well mixed together by hand and by beating them. If this clay should not be strong enough by itself, it is mixed with another lean clay, with crushed peperino, flintstone, or some other stone that in your judgment seems to be arid and resistant. Crucibles are worked on a low potter's wheel turned by hand, or on a high one turned by foot, just as plates are made. Both large and small ones are made. Most of them are given a triangular shape at the mouth, and the shells have a kind of spout for ease in pouring out the metal. This done they are well dried, and baked in furnaces like pots or other vessels. At the end, when they have been thus made they are used for melts.

Jan 1, 1942

By Robert Lepsoe

It is generally realized that in cyaniding the precipitation efficiency of zinc dust is due to the fine division or extended surface of its metallic particles; but frequently it is thought that the presence of other metals, say 2 to 3 percent. lead, is advantageous, causing more complete precipitation. The results of testing about fifty brands of commercial zinc dust have led to the conclusion that there is a distinct relation of precipitation efficiency to fineness and that the effect generally can be estimated by examining the size of metallic particles. The presence of lead was not found to be of any importance. Specifications Generally the term "97 per cent. to pass a 350-mesh screen, 95 to 97 per cent. uncombined metallic zinc" is used by the leading European exporters. Among the many methods of determination of metallic zinc, I have found the iodine test (iodine in potassium iodide) very satisfactory and rapid. It has been controlled by the other methods, samples of the same product having been sent to three different analysts: Iodine method................... 98.11 per cent. metallic zinc, Volumetric method.............. 07.63 per cent. metallic zinc, Ledoux Co., New York Bichromate method.............. 08.16 per cent. metallic zinc, Watson Gray, Liverpool. England Bichromate method.............. 98.20 per cent. metallic zinc, Norway Inst. of Tech., Trondhjem Determination of Precipitation Efficiency The method devised by W. J. Sharwoodl was used. The method proved to be satisfactory, the tests being merely for the comparison of different samples, hence the personal factor in manipulation was eliminated. As nearly all tests showed more zinc in solution than was accounted for by the silver precipitated, the term "dissolved zinc" was introduced—it means zinc dissolved by the action of cyanide and oxygen: Zn + 4KCN + H2O + O = K2Zn(CN)4 + 2KOH; or more probably, resolution of its equivalent precipitated silver, as tests stirred two hours showed more "dissolved zinc" than those stirred

Jan 1, 1925

By William Kent

THE dynamometer herein described is a modification of the one invented by Mr. Samuel Batchelder, of Boston, nearly forty years ago, a description of which may be found in the Journal of the Franklin Institute, 1843, vol. xxxii,.p. 277, and in the Scientific American of August 31st, 1878. The modification consists in providing a method of making an automatic record, and of indicating more minute variations of the power transmitted. The improved dynamometer was designed by the writer in 1877, and was built a few months since by the Class of 1879 of the Stevens Institute of Technology. The accompanying cut, taken from the Annual Announcement of the Stevens Institute, represents the dynamometer without the recording attachment. It consists, as shown, of two stout cast-iron frames, held together by bolts in bearings, in the top of which frames run two shafts, each carrying a pulley at its outer end and a bevel gear-wheel of 45' at its inner end. One of these shafts is the driving-shaft, connected by belt to the engine or other prime mover; the other is the driven shaft, connected by belt to the machine driven. The power is transmitted from one shaft to the other through two other bevel-wheels of 45' gearing with the first, the shaft common to them and on which they run freely being at right angles to the axis of the two shafts first mentioned, and carrying at one extremity a heavy pendulum. The bevel-wheels being connected, as shown, and the power being applied to the driving-wheel, the two intermediate wheels with their common shaft have a tendency to revolve around the driving-axis, which tendency is a measure of the force transmitted, and is resisted by the moment of the weight of the pendulum. In the Batchelder dynamometer the four bevel-wheels and their shafts are used, but

Jan 1, 1880

By Lewis M. Haupt

IT has given me great pleasure to read, in the papers recently published by this Society, the discussions on the subject of Technical Education, which were developed at the joint meeting held at the Franklin Institute in June, 1876; and since it was impossible for me to be present, I desire to improve this my first opportunity of adding the weight of my testimony and experience to what has been so ably presented by others. It is a subject about which the people need to be kept agitated, that their views may expand with the demands made for a higher and more thorough education. It is the public at large, the capitalist, the manufacturer, and the laborer, who are to be benefited more or less by this elevation of the standard of our professional schools, and it is but just, therefore, that the schools should look to them for the means with which to accomplish so desirable an object. It is no doubt to the interest of a metallurgist to employ a skilled laborer who will prevent waste by properly proportioning his materials ; by regulating the supplies of air and fuel ; by arranging his plant in the most economical manner, and by disposing of his products to the greatest advantage. The engineer is benefited by selecting for an assistant a person able to determine the values of his factors of safety for the same materials in different forms and positions, avoiding expensive suits for damages and cost of reconstruction; he should be able to so locate a road as best to fulfil the requirements of a through traffic, and yet develop local industries. But I need not multiply instances to show what all will readily concede, viz.: the advantages of a theoretical education ; that was fully demonstrated at the previous special meeting, but it is still an open question whether the practical instruction should precede, accompany, or follow the theory.

Jan 1, 1877

By Nicholas T. Camicia

A career in the coal mining industry today offers students one of the most interesting and challenging opportunities available in the industrialized world. As reserves of other fossil fuels dwindle in face of the world's demand for energy, it has become apparent that coal, once the king of energy sources, must be relied upon again as the major fuel for powering industrial growth in developed and developing nations. Centuries of coal supplies lie beneath the earth's surface, assuring the world of a steady, plentiful supply of energy until science and technology can produce a way to harness and efficiently use renewable sources, such as solar. The need to increase our use of coal during the last two decades of the 20th century is reason enough to believe that the future growth of the coal industry is assured. A major impediment to that growth might be backward national public policies that could restrict the full utilization of our coal reserves. These policies could result from overregulation and a failure of the public to recognize that coal use, with proper techno- logical safeguards, is compatible with our society's environmental-quality objectives. Communication of this problem and its solution is a major undertaking of the coal industry in the 1980s. At the end of the 1970s, the American coal industry was producing approximately 635 Mt/a (700 million stpy) of coal. To meet the nation's projected energy needs by 1985, the annual tonnage must be doubled. A similar scenario is predicted for the rest of the world. Such growth in the modern international business world will require huge additional amounts of capital, equipment, and people who know how to wisely raise and apply the capital; use the equipment productively; and deal with the many community, public, and governmental problems such expansion will create. Whether a student's interest is in actual mining operations, business administration, engineering, finance, law, industrial relations, marketing

Jan 1, 1981

By Lewis M. Haupt

IT has given me great pleasure to read, in the papers recently pub lished by this Society, the discussions on the subject of Technical Education, which were developed at the joint meeting held at the Franklin Institute in June, 1876; and since it was impossible for me to be present, I desire to improve this my first opportunity of adding the weight of my testimony and experience to what has been so ably presented by others. It is a subject about which the people need to be kept agitated, that their views may expand with the demands made for a higher and more thorough education. It is the public at large, the capitalist, the manufacturer, and the laborer, who are to be benefited more or less by this elevation of the standard of our professional schools, and it is but just, therefore, that the schools should look to them for the means with which to accomplish so de sirable an object. It is no doubt to the interest of a metallurgist to employ a skilled laborer who will prevent waste by properly proportioning his ma terials ; by regulating the supplies of air and fuel; by arranging his plant in the most economical manner, arid by disposing of his products to the greatest advantage. The engineer is benefited by selecting for an assistant a person able to determine the values of his factors of safety for the same materials in different forms and positions, avoiding expensive suits for damages and cost of reconsiruction; he should be able to so locate a road as best to fulfil the requirements of a through traffic, arid yet develop local industries. But I need not multiply instances to show what all will readily concede, viz.: the advantages of a theoretical education ; that was fully demonstrated at the previous special meeting, but it is still an open question whether the practical instruction should precede, accompany, or follow the theory.

OLIVIA'S recent revolution, by hindsight, seems to have been inevitable. The misery of the majority of the people, coupled with the economic crisis engendered by the refusal of the United States to meet Bolivian demands for a higher tin price, gave the National Revolutionary Movement party all the excuse it needed for overthrowing the government. Most of the mines in Bolivia are owned by three families. Precisely what it will mean to the United States is still a moot question. Argentina, with a mixture of Marxism, Fascism, and few twists created by the Perons, is in a position to grab off much of the tin we need. Because of the contingencies of geographical location, language and a natural simpatico, Argentina may be able to continue its efforts to oust the United States from its South American markets. Point Four aid was supposed to be given to Bolivia, but only for agriculture. Even this was entirely too slow. Mining, Bolivia's other major source of income was forgotten by the Washington planners. Primary aim of the new power will be to diminish its dependence on the world tin market. At a time when the free world is fighting a battle for control of metal, it stands a chance of losing an important source of supply. With the accent placed on agriculture and other industries, mining in Bolivia is certain to suffer. Argentina will be in a position to get the available supply of tin, make a strong ally in the world order of things, and add to its power play against the United States in South America. Ten labor groups have formed the Bolivian Central Workers Union. The first item on their list for immediate action is the nationalization of the mining and railroad industries. They also came out for agrarian revolution and diversification of industry. President Victor Paz Estenssoro has promised to appoint a committee for the investigation of nationalization of the mines. At least, this is indicative of a feeling for the need for caution.

Jan 1, 1952

By F. C. Holman

It is desired in these notes to record a vein-phenomenon certainly unique in the writer's limited experience, and, as it seems to him, sufficiently rare to be worthy of mention. In the little mining camp of Forbestown, situated in the Sierra Nevada of California, it was announced one day, when the miners of the Cold Banks mine came off shift, that "washed gravel" had been struck on the 265-foot level. To those acquainted with that section and the character of the mine (a gold-bearing quartz-vein) this was a somewhat startling announcement; for, prolific as the State is, we are not in the habit of mixing up promiscuously our vein- and placer-deposits. However, the statement proved to have some foundation. The mine is located at an altitude of about 2700 feet, on the brink of one of the great canyons of erosion characteristic of the drainage of this range. A lateral ravine cuts the vein at right angles, thus making its general strike approximately parallel to the canyon at this point, and with a variable dip of from 20 to 40 degrees towards the canyon. The strong, well-defined vein, often 20 feet wide and more, presents nothing to distinguish it particularly from scores of others in the State, unless if be considered peculiar in the highly crystalline character of its quartz and the nature of the enclosing country-rock, which is metamorphic in the extreme, very hard, devoid of lamination, and in bedding so obscure that it might easily pass—at least on superficial examination—for one of the basic eruptives. Near by in the district can be found a series of slates common to the gold-belt of this range, and within the limit of the company's property is an intrusion of an acid eruptive. On an adjoining claim a granite shows itself. The mine is opened through an inclined shaft sunk on the vein. The ore carries both free gold and sulphurets, the greater part of its value

Jan 1, 1896

By T. Olrog

Dissemination of technical data on developments in rock-blasting techniques in Sweden initially takes place as personal contacts and contacts between companies. In addition to these informal contacts, contacts occur in Sweden in a somewhat more organized form. There exists an informal working group--the Rock Blasting Committee--which consists of a number of personal representatives from various companies that perform rock blasting on a large scale and from firms manufacturing the equipment that is used. This means that people from both mining and construction companies get together, plus the manufacturers of explosives, drill steel, drilling machines, and loading equipment. This working group has, so far, succeeded very well in ignoring the purely commercial interests of the companies concerned. Cooperation in this form was started in the 1940's when the tungsten-carbide drill steel was invented-the group originally concentrated entirely on the development of that product. Their activities have been broadened since that time and now a meeting is held every year, at which practical experiences are reported. Only in the past five years have subjects relating to blasting procedures to avoid rock damage been treated at such meetings. This, of course, does not mean that such techniques had been neglected previously. It does, however, reflect the fact that practice in this field is still under development. Why do we try to be careful about the rock surfaces? Obviously, it is a question of economic evaluation. An even rock surface provides, in certain cases, the conditions for more favorable maintainance costs later on, greater strength, and a diminished risk of slides. The economic connections in this field, however, are neither simple or clear. A well-controlled blasted rock surface limits the need for concrete when you later build the concrete constructions. In this respect, the connections are all the more clear. In certain situations, such as tunnels for hydroeletric power plants, a good rock surface that is not lined is hydraulically more favorable than a more coarsely blasted surface. This permits a gain in the height of fall, but the

Jan 1, 1970

By L. de Florez

The successful control of any operation, whether industrial, military, or purely physical, is fundamentally dependent upon the same elements: (I) The securing of accurate and pertinent information concerning the factors involved in the operation; (2) Correct interpretation of their relationship as affecting future results; (3) Efficient means for effecting changes in the factors governing the operation to shape the result. The analogy which exists in the control of operations in these widely differing fields of action is of utmost interest, and in considering the physical control of a process, the realization of its existence permits a clearer conception of the steps required to achieve results and aids in formulating the problems to be met. Let us imagine, for instance, the requirements for successfully conducting a business. It is evident that the first requisite lies in obtaining continuous and reliable information concerning the functioning of its various branches and in detecting, with the least possible delay, any tendency of change in their functions; next, in correctly analyzing this information by comparison with past records, showing the relation of the particular business to general conditions in the trade; and finally, in employing means for counteracting any unfavorable change in general conditions, or compensating for its effects by an appropriate action. Likewise, in military operations, the success in carrying out a plan lies primarily in the maintenance of proper intelligence and communication service, which furnishes information as to the disposition of forces; in correct analysis of the ascertained position, guided by fundamental knowledge of tactics; and finally, on the efficient carrying out of orders and effecting corrective movements. In the physical operation of a process, such as for example in cracking, our information is obtained by pressure and temperature instruments, etc., which permit us to visualize existing conditions under which the operation is being carried out. The information at hand is then analyzed and certain conclusions arrived at as to the results which will be obtained under the observed conditions. If this analysis should indicate, in the

Jan 1, 1928

By Wilhelm Rohn

IN discussing the influence of a content of gases on metals and alloys we should probably first consider the physical and chemical conditions under which these gases may be present. By a chemical analysis, such as the total extraction of gases from the liquid metal by melting in a graphite crucible in vacuo, we find only the sum of gaseous chemical elements contained in the metal in any form and no reference is made to the special form under which they have been present previously. CONDITION OF GASES IN METALS In considering. gases in metals we may first turn our attention to gases simply dissolved. Because the solubility of almost, any gas decreases suddenly at the freezing point, most of them are released during solidification, developing rise of ingots and blowholes. If only a little gas is dissolved in the molten metal the size of such blowholes may be miscroscopical, or even submicroscopical, resulting in, a certain reduction of the notched-bar impact test values. Hydrogen is believed to become less soluble as the temperature is lowered and therefore increasing quantities of this gas may be evolved during cooling between the freezing point and room temperature, leading to unsoundness of the ingot at weak spots; i.e., at the grain boundaries. This gas at the grain boundaries probably is present at high pressure and therefore impairs the mechanical properties to a degree similar to that found in the hydrogen embrittlement of copper. Usually we may trace such gases by observing rising ingots, or at least by the formation of a characteristic pattern of small grooves upon etching. Another condition of gases present within metals is that of chemical compounds, the most common being oxides and mostly present as slag inclusions of various kinds. If such oxides are insoluble in the liquid metal and emulsify with it, we find microscopical or submicroscopical slag inclusions distributed homogeneously throughout the metal and spread through the whole mass of the crystals. This special form does little harm to the mechanical properties. Some oxides are somewhat soluble

Jan 1, 1932

By J. M. Morris

The point to be made most clear in this paper is the economic value of flotation in the Benguet mill flow sheet. It is rather a statement of effect with no attempt at a technical explanation of the cause. Certain well-known, easily understood reagents, mechanisms and principles have been adapted to the conditions at Benguet, and have proved to be more successful than was demonstrated in the laboratory. The mechanical and metallurgical development of this particular operation was arrived at by trial and error, with fortunately very little error. Changes were slow, of necessity, which in the end proved a blessing in that time was afforded for observation and analysis of the disturbing factors; and as a result each change was a definite step towards higher efficiency. Many of these steps were unpredictable from laboratory work because of the varied and differing characteristics of ores met with in daily operation of the mill, which were practically impossible to reproduce on a laboratory scale. The Benguet mill receives daily ores that differ as much as if they were delivered from three different properties. There is first the surface and upper-level zone, which produces an oxidized secondary ore containing considerable iron oxide, manganese oxide and some organic matter. Formerly, most of this ore consisted of very soft fill with some hard rock mixed in. It also contained an unusual amount of iron and aluminum sulfate, which formed hydrates upon entering the alkaline cyanide solution and caused excessive frothing. When flotation was introduced in the Benguet mill the general characteristics of this upper-level ore had changed considerably, in that it was practically all newly mined, fairly hard ore. It still contained many of the same disturbing elements, but was somewhat simpler to treat than formerly. The small proportion of fines is still troublesome in flotation, and plant practice probably does not show more than 80 per cent extraction on this small portion of the ore. No definite figure on this is available, as this particular ore is delivered at irregular intervals

Jan 1, 1939

By J. M. Morris

The point to be made most clear in this paper is the economic value of flotation in the Benguet mill flow sheet. It is rather a statement of effect with no attempt at a technical explanation of the cause. Certain well-known, easily understood reagents, mechanisms and principles have been adapted to the conditions at Benguet, and have proved to be more successful than was demonstrated in the laboratory. The mechanical and metallurgical development of this particular operation was arrived at by trial and error, with fortunately very little error. Changes were slow, of necessity, which in the end proved a blessing in that time was afforded for observation and analysis of the disturbing factors; and as a result each change was a definite step towards higher efficiency. Many of these steps were unpredictable from laboratory work because of the varied and differing characteristics of ores met with in daily operation of the mill, which were practically impossible to reproduce on a laboratory scale. The Benguet mill receives daily ores that differ as much as if they were delivered from three different properties. There is first the surface and upper-level zone, which produces an oxidized secondary ore containing considerable iron oxide, manganese oxide and some organic matter. Formerly, most of this ore consisted of very soft fill with some hard rock mixed in. It also contained an unusual amount of iron and aluminum sulfate, which formed hydrates upon entering the alkaline cyanide solution and caused excessive frothing. When flotation was introduced in the Benguet mill the general characteristics of this upper-level ore had changed considerably, in that it was practically all newly mined, fairly hard ore. It still contained many of the same disturbing elements, but was somewhat simpler to treat than formerly. The small proportion of fines is still troublesome in flotation, and plant practice probably does not show more than 80 per cent extraction on this small portion of the ore. No definite figure on this is available, as this particular ore is delivered at irregular intervals

Jan 1, 1939