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By Frederick W. Lee

List of contributing editors of Geophysical Abstracts:

Sep 1, 1932

By F. E. Armstrong

A program with the objective of developing a fast, accurate instrumental method of analyzing mine dust for incombustible content has been underway in the Bureau of Mines for several years. Several prototype instruments making use of a gamma-ray backscatter technique have resulted. Although extensive laboratory testing has shown that these instruments are accurate under laboratory conditions, only extensive field testing will prove their ultimate practicality and usefulness. This report shows that under most conditions these devices are at least as accurate as the volumetric method and much faster in use. Other data obtained during the same study concerning mine dust are presented; these concern moisture content, sample bulk density distribution, and some particle size distribution information.

Jan 1, 1973

By W. H. Oppelt

A lignite from west-central North Dakota (Mercer County) was dried by the Bureau of Mines by the Fleissner process at saturated steam pressures to 1,500 pounds per square inch absolute (p.s.i.a.). Normally, the process is operated at pressures of 200 to 370 p.s.i.a. At the highest pressure the temperature of the saturated stearn is 596° F. The purpose of the investigation was to evaluate the influence of very high stearn pressure and temperature on moisture removal, steam consumption, and physical and chemical characteristics of the dried lignite. Two drying cycles were used: A normal cycle, corresponding to previously established standard time requirements, and an accelerated cycle, wherein time requirements were determined by boiler capacity and handling speed. Blank tests to determine stearn requirements for heating the empty autoclave were performed for each cycle and each test condition. Moisture removal, final moisture content, net steam consumption, and size stability of the dried lignite were determined.

Jan 1, 1959

By Philip C. Good

The Bureau of Mines investigated the feasibility of utilizing low-grade phosphatic shale as a feed for phosphoric acid production. Present practice in the phosphate mining operations of southeastern Idaho is to remove and either stockpile or waste low-grade phosphatic shales as the high-grade phosphate beds are selectively mined. Acid digestion studies were performed on uncalcined shale and on shale calcined to remove free carbon to determine phosphoric acid quality, yield, and amenability to filtration. The untreated shale, containing 21.4 pct P205, was digested with sulfuric acid in a single-tank reactor to yield phosporic acid and gypsum residue. Although 96 pct P205 recovery was attained in digesting uncalcined shale, only the calcined product gave satisfactory filtration rates. Calcined shale yielded phosphoric acid recovery of about 93 pct of the contained P205. It was higher in impurities than commercially prepared acid derived from high-grade western phosphate rock. An acid filtration rate of 745 lb P205/ft2/day was attained. This value is lower than the rate of 900 lb P205/ft that is generally considered to be acceptable in industrial production of phosphoric acid from high-grade phosphate rock.

Jan 1, 1981

By J. G. Donaldson

A bench-scale method for recovering lead and zinc from slimes and mill tailings from the Tri-State District of Missouri, Oklahoma, and Kansas was developed by the Bureau of Mines. Dilute hydrochloric acid, containing sodium chloride, and chlorine gas were used to decompose the mineral constituents. Lead was electrolyzed from the pregnant acid solution, and zinc was precipitated from the depleted electrolyte by neutralization with lime. Up to 98 percent of the lead was recovered in an impure lead electro- deposit assaying approximately 85 percent lead. Zinc recoveries up to 90 percent of the total were attained in a precipitate assaying approximately 40 percent zinc.

Jan 1, 1963

By M. D. Carver

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the effects of variations in content (near the residual level) of the impurities aluminum, nitrogen, manganese, and copper on the corrosion rate in pressurized hot water and in pressurized steam of zircaloy-3, a zirconium-base alloy of 0.25 percent tin and 0.25 percent iron. Thirty-five 10-pound ingots were cast with the appropriate additions of impurity elements, and these were converted to wrought sheets. These specimens were then tested both in water and in steam. The analysis of the resulting data showed that in environments of either pressurized hot water or superheated steam, corrosion rates increased with increasing content of aluminum, nitrogen, or manganese, but were not affected by variations of copper. The effects of aluminum and nitrogen were found to be greater than the effect of manganese. INTRODUCTION At the request of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) in August 1956, the Federal Bureau of Mines, in cooperation with Bettis Plant of Westinghouse Electric Corp., began investigating the effects of certain impurity elements on the corrosion rates of zircaloy-3 in pressurized hot water and in pressurized steam. It was necessary to know these effects in order to set control limits on residual impurity levels in zirnaloy-3, intended for heat transfer service in the nuclear reactor of the pressurized water type. A factorial expert it was designed by Westinghouse statisticians. The Atomic Energy Commission provided raw zirconium sponge purchased from Wah Chang Corp. The Bureau's laboratory at Albany, Oreg., made material of different combinations of impurity levels and subjected the material to corrosion tests. This report will describe the work done at the Bureau laboratory and will show, quantitatively the effects of different residual levels of aluminum or nitrogen, or manganese or copper on corrosion rates.

Jan 1, 1961

By W. M. Deaton

The Keyes Helium Plant of the Federal Bureau of Mines was constructed under an expedited schedule, to supply the urgent and growing demand for helium in atomic energy, missiles, aerology, space exploration, shielded-arc welding, and low-temperature research. Construction began in December 1958 and ended in August 1959. The plant, near Keyes, Okla., processes 2 percent helium-bearing natural gas from the Keyes gasfield. In 1960 the plant produced and shipped 263 million cubic feet of helium (equivalent to an annual rate of 290 million cubic feet). Production cost was $9.11 a thousand cubic feet of helium. A low-temperature process involving two steps is used; the first separates a crude-helium product from the natural gas at about -250° F. and 225 pounds per square inch gage (p.s.i.g.); and the second purifies the crude helium to a high-purity product (Grade-A helium, 99.995 percent helium) at about -320° F. and 2,750 p.s.i.g.

Jan 1, 1961

By G. R. Fitterer, C. H. Herty

"INTRODUCTION Manufacturers and consumers of steel have come to realize during the past few years that cleanliness is of great importance in steels which must meet rigid specifications for various physical properties. Of equal importance is the consistent production of steel which is uniform in these properties. For maximum utility steels should be uniform not only from heat to heat, but also from ingot to ingot and within each ingot. In the manufacture of killed steels such as the higher carbon forging grades, uniformity as indicated by the usual chemical analysis in easy to obtain, provided that a normal top discard is taken, as is always the case in steels poured with hot—top practice. No such uniformity, however, holds true for the nonmetallic matter, which consists for the most part of the products of deoxidation of the steel.For a large tonnage of steels which go into articles manufactured by deep—drawing processes, killed steel has never been successfully applied because with the present deoxidation practice, low—carbon killed steel is almost invariably extremely dirty. To obtain the desired qualities for deep drawing, the steel is rimmed, — that is to say, deoxidized with manganese and perhaps a small amount of aluminum, — the resultant product being of high purity in the skin of the ingot, but very badly segregated at the center of the ingot, particularly in the upper—central section. This segregation necessitates a very heavy top discard, and one of the major segregates is carbon which renders the steel too hard to draw properly. If clean, low—carbon killed steel could be made successfully, much better ingot yields would be obtained than by the present rimming steel practice. Furthermore, banded structures and outside and inside seams, which are undoubtedly due in a large measure to blowholes in the ingot, are defects which are very difficult to control in rimmed steel. These defects would be minimized by clean killed steel."

Feb 1, 1931

By J. C. Duchon

The use of extended workdays or compressed workweeks (regular shift lengths exceeding 8 h) is attracting growing interest in many industries using continuous operations. While extended workdays promise increased worker satisfaction due to more days off, including weekends and holidays, there are legitimate concerns about the potential effects on the health and safety of such a schedule. The U.S. Bureau of Mines (USBM) conducted a study at a Canadian underground copper, lead, and zinc mining operation that was designed to study the safety and performance implications of extended workdays. Measures were taken before and after a change from the old 8-h continuous schedule to the new 12-h continuous schedule, including behavioral performance measures to analyze perceptual-motor changes, continuous heart-rate monitoring and aerobic capacity to measure physical fatigue, a variety of self-report questionnaires to measure perceived adaption and satisfaction with the new schedule, and pulmonary-respiratory measures to examine air contaminant exposure. Based upon the overall acceptance of the new schedule by the workers and lack of change in fatigue-sensitive behavioral and physiological performance measures, this study recommends that the mine retain the 12-h schedule. However, certain precautionary measures are suggested to insure the safety of the workers.

Jan 1, 2010

By George L. Gates

The Bureau of Mines developed a rapid instrumental method of analyzing oil well scales containing primarily barium sulfate. After removal of oil and water by carbon disulfide) the scale was dissolved in strong hydrochloric acid. The cations, barium, calcium, strontium, magnesium, and iron, were determined with the flame photometer using the method of additions. Sulfate was deter-mined colorimetrically after separation by selective adsorption on an alumina column. Phosphate was determined colorimetrically and carbonate titrimetrically. The method was reasonably accurate, although iron and magnesium were found to have mutual interference.

Jan 1, 1965

By John R. Hoskins

Uniaxial compressive strength of rock is usually determined in the laboratory from cylindrical samples that vary in diameter from 5/8 to 8 inches, using a spherically seated compression head of unspecified size. The Bureau of Mines conducted a series of tests on limestone, marble, sand-stone, granite, and plaster of paris to determine the influence of the spherical head sizes and the specimen diameters themselves on the uniaxial compressive strength. Cylindrical samples of several different diameters of each rock type, all having a length of twice their diameter, were prepared and broken using at least three different diameter spherical heads. Analysis of the data shows that spherical head size does not significantly affect the uniaxial compressive strength of cylindrical rock samples. However, the diameter of the rock specimens does significantly affect the uniaxial compressive strength. Within the range of specimen diameters tested, a coefficient of variation of 6.4 percent for plaster of paris can be attributed to the selection of specimen diameter alone. Similarly, a maximum coefficient of variation of 4.7 percent for the rock types tested can be attributed to the specimen diameter alone.

Jan 1, 1969

By Daryl R. Tweeton

The Bureau of Mines conducted experiments to measure the influence of environment on the friction and wear of a steel-quartz system at several speeds and loads. In each test a quartz block was pressed against a rotating ring of low-carbon steel. Environments used were moist air, dry air, dry nitrogen, water, aqueous oleylarnmonium acetate (ClsH35NH3+-OCOCH3), and aqueous aluminum chloride (A1C13). The sliding speeds were 2.2, 13, and 33, cm/sec, and the loads were 6.8 and 13.6 kg. The coefficient of friction, the wear, and the roughness of the surfaces were measured, and the wear debris was examined. The coefficient of friction was significantly lower in moist air at 2.2 cm/sec than for any other combination of environment and speed employed, and was generally an inverse function of the oxidizing ability of the environment. The coefficient of friction increased somewhat with increasing load. The wear of the steel rings was greatest in dry air at all speeds and loads. The wear of the quartz blocks at 180 rpm was greatest in dry air, but at 12 rpm it was greatest in nitrogen. Friction and wear in aqueous oleylarnmonium acetate and in aqueous aluminum chloride were similar to effect in water alone.

Jan 1, 1976

By R. K. Koch

The vapor pressures of liquid molybdenum and liquid zirconium were determined by the Langmuir free-evaporation method. An electron-beam furnace with a water-cooled copper crucible was used for melting. Temperature was measured with a two-color ratio pyrometer. The vapor-pressure data led to the following equations: [log p (atm) = 5.429 - 28,380 T for liquid molybdenum in the range 2,890° to 2,990° K, and log p (atm) = 6.521 - 30,940 T for liquid zirconium in the range 2,229° to 2,795° K.] Third-law evaluations of each data set gave mean heats of sublimation (298.15° K) of 157.6 ± 1.8 kcal/mole and 148.4 ± 2.4 kcal/mole for molybdenum and zirconium, respectively, where the uncertainties are two standard devia¬tions. Second-law standard heats of sublimation determined from sigma plots and tabulated enthalpies were 143.5 ± 2.7 kcal/mole and 149.2 ± 3.8 kcal/mole for molybdenum and zirconium, respectively. The better agreement in heats of sublimation for zirconium is attributed to the 566° K temperature range studied which permitted a more accurate definition of the vapor pressure curve than could be obtained from the 100° K span for molybdenum. This supposition was verified by making a sigma-prime plot which utilized solid vapor pressure data for molybdenum to extend the evaluation range by 800° K. This gave a standard heat of sublimation of 155.2 ± 1.6 kcal/mole which is in good agree¬ment with the third-law value. The plot also gave a standard entropy of sublimation (298.15° K) of 35.73 ± 0.48 eu.

Jan 1, 1968

By G. St. J. Perrott

Through the development of manufacturing processes whereby ethylene glycol can be made on a large scale; ethylene glycol dinitrate is now being used in high explosives (dynamites and permissible explosives) by some manufacturers as a low-freezing ingredient of the "explosive oil" instead of such compounds as nitropolyglycerin and nitrosubstitution compounds. The amount of ethylene glycol dinitrate being used constitutes 25 to 50 per cent of the oil. The purpose of this report is to give the results of toots, to determine the effect on the safety and physical properties of permissible explosives of subsituating 25 peg cent of ethylene glycol dinitrate for an equal amount of nitroglycerin or a mixture of nitroglycerin and nitropolglycerin.

Jan 1, 1929

By John M. Devine

Hydrogen sulphide associated with natural gas was noted as early as 1892, at Point Albino, Canada.4 The presence of this impurity was recognized also in other of the earlier oil and gas fields, although the occurrence urea by no means common. However, in recent years, with the development of the producing zones of west Texas and the Texas Panhandle, the production of "sour" crude has increased greatly and hydrogen sulphide has proved a generally troublesome factor--frequently a major problem--in the drilling and operation of many wells in those areas. The problems arising from the drilling and producing of oil or gas wells in hydrogen-sulphide areas, fall under two general divisions: safety problems and corrosion problems. Mention is mane of a third division which is closely related to the other two, that of treating--or the development of processes for the removal of hydrogen sulphide. From the standpoint of safety end health hazards, hydrogen sulphide in the petroleum industry has been discussed in a number of publications. 5 Likewise, the problem of hydrogen-sulphide

Jan 1, 1931

By D. H. Platt

Gypsum and gypsite, used in the manufacture of plaster and plaster products, have been mined from deposits near Acme, Hardeman County, Tex., for more than 30 years. The Certain-toed Products Corp., 120 East Lancaster St., Ardmore, Pa., operates the Acme, Tex., mine. Underground hauling was done with storage-battery and Diesel-electric-powered shuttle cars. Many mining companies and individuals have manifested interest in all types of equipment powered by Diesel or Diesel-electric units, as attested by the recent increase in use of Diesel-powered equipment in underground metal and nonmetal mines. The purpose of this paper is to describe the manner in which a storage battery-powered Joy Model 60D2 shuttle car was converted to Diesel-electric power. The conversion was made, at the instance of the operating company, by Stewart & Stevens on Services, 4801 Lemon Ave., Dallas, Tex. This is believed to be the only such converted shuttle car in use.

Jan 1, 1950

By Vernon C. Davis

In initial attempts to mine taconite by conventional open-pit methods, the material tended to break into tabular blocks that were too large to be handled by conventional shovel dippers and were unsatisfactory in an ordinary crusher feed. A great amount of secondary blasting was necessary, which added considerably to the cost of mining. The Bureau of Mines and others are engaged in studies designed to contribute to the solution of taconite-mining problems. These studies concern problems related to drilling techniques and patterns, types and methods of use of explosives, and other factors relative to effecting maximum fragmentation at minimum cost. This report, is concerned with study of the application of shaped charges in drill holes, the effectiveness of shaped charges as compared to capped charges in secondary blasting, and the merits of different drilling patterns and methods of detonation of conventional-explosive charges. Fragmentation of taconite at or near the surface is controlled or strongly influenced by joint and bedding planes. Since all tests in this study were made in a jointed and bedded area, a definite conclusion as to the relative effect of a shaped charge in a drill hole, as compared to a conventional charge at greater depths and tighter ground, is precluded. However, application of shaped charges in primary blasting of taconite appears to be of no advantage. In secondary blasting of taconite, conventional, capped charges produced better breakage than shaped charges of the designs tested. Based on the results of conventional blasting practice in horizontal-, inclined-, and vertical-hole tests, no better fragmentation is obtained from blasting either horizontal or inclined holes, compared to vertical holes. Holes drilled in staggered parallel rows that intersect both series of joint planes at the greatest possible angle, give maximum breakage compared to rows paral-lel to one of the series of joint planes. Methods of detonation made little difference in breakage; but the milli-delay caps produced the best conditions for moving the broken rocks.

Jan 1, 1953

By R. G. Meara, O&apos

The land-pebble district of Florida, wnich in 1928 supplied 96.7 per cent of the phosphate production of that State and 82 per cent of the domestic requirements of the United States, is centered in Polk and Hillsboro Counties about 30 miles east of Tampa The deposits are unconsolidated sediments occurring as beds of phosphate matrix overlain by a mantle of barren sands and clays. The matrix consists of a mixture of sand (quartz grains), clay, and phosphate rock in which the coarsest sand is much finer than the coarsest phosphate; that is, the sand is segregated in the fine material. Before the introduction of classifiers the concentration consisted of log washing, and screening at about 20-mesh, which was usually the finest size that could be taken to maintain commercial grade, 66 per cent B. P. L. (bone phosphate of lime) or more. When classifiers were introduced some of the fines that had escaped at the head of the washery and some of the minus 20-mesh material isolated during the washing and formerly lost supplied the feed. During October, 1927, the United States Bureau of Mines in cooperation with the University of Alabama and the Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy began to investigate the amenability of phosphatic sands to gravity methods of concentration. The work was under the immediate supervision of B. W. Gandrud, acting supervising engineer of the Southern Experiment Station of the U. S. Bureau of Mines at Tuscaloosa, Ala., and Will H. Coghill, supervising engineer of the ore dressing section of the U. S. Bureau of Mines. More comprehensive testing followed and in the early part of 1930 some of the companies cooperated with the bureau and the above-mentioned institutions in conducting a series of tests on hydraulic classification and tabling. The results indicated that marketable concentrates could be obtained with a recovery of 25 to 45 per cent of the phosphate formerly lost. As a result two companies have introduced hydraulic classification to treat the current tailings, and one of them has substituted classifiers for the 20-mesh screens which had been unsatisfactory. Because the phosphate grains and quartz grains have nearly the same specific gravity, the use of concentrating tables by the customary methods is not applicable. The washeries included in the following report are designated as Nos. 1, 2, and 3.

Jan 1, 1931

By H. D. Baylor

This is the first of a series of papers describing mining methods and costs at cement plant quarries throughout the United States and deals directly with those methods employed and costs obtained at the quarry of the Louisville Cement Co. located at Speed, Ind. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author wishes to acknowledge the assistance of Mr. J. M. Buohheit, superintendent of quarries, and Mr. H. E. Schoonover, quarry engineer, in furnishing data and in compiling this report.

Jan 1, 1930

By A. S. Moore

The Bureau of Mines is doing research and development work on removing acid-gas impurities from synthesis gas made directly from coal. Since conventional gas scrubbers, packed towers and bubble-cap columns, are expensive to construct and difficult to operate with viscous solutions, one aspect of the work was developing a compact, agitated, gas-liquid contactor for use with concentrated absorbents. The efficacy of the agitated contactor for absorbing carbon dioxide in diethanolamine increased with increasing solution rate, turbine speed, diethanolamine concentration, and carbon dioxide concentration in feed gas, and with decreasing liquid-gas ratio. It was unaffected by pressure between 200 and 300 p.s.i.g. and little affected by temperature between 115 and 190° F.

Jan 1, 1961