Search Documents

THERE can be little doubt in the mind of anyone of the great interest which has been provoked in the mining and petroleum industry by the com-paratively new geophysical methods of prospecting, after the sessions at this year's meeting of the Institute. Not only were the sessions very well attended but every¬one seemed most attentive. Although the discussion was somewhat limited in general, that may well be at-tributed to the newness of the subject. Two sessions on this subject were planned originally, but these gave insufficient time for the presentation of all the papers prepared and a third session was abso-lutely necessary. The first meeting dealt entirely with the gravity methods and was completed in the scheduled time owing to the fact that but two of the five papers listed were read. The second session was devoted to magnetic and electrical methods, the completion of which had to be carried over into the third period of geophysics. The first session on geophysical prospecting, and in-cidentally the first scheduled Institute meeting devoted entirely to this subject, was most appropriately opened by E. L. DeGolyer, the chairman of the session. It was through the efforts of Mr. DeGolyer that the first gravity work, as applied to prospecting, was under-taken in this country. Again most appropriately, the first paper presented was given by Donald C. Barton, who carried on the first work with the Eötvös torsion balance in America and aided materially in its development. A subject, the theory of which is so difficult to understand as it is generally presented, was so clearly illustrated and ex-plained by the speaker that even a novice could grasp the fundamentals. Dr. Barton, in showing actual re-sults obtained in torsion balance surveys with the in-terpretation of the sane and later drilling records, was free in stating that there are many limitations to the field in which this and the other geophysical instruments may be successfully employed. This paper called for considerable discussion relative to the application of the torsion balance to gravity surveys over various types of structures. During the course of this discus-sion a very important point was emphasized by the chairman, namely, that for successful application of any or all of the scientific methods of prospecting, a back-ground of experience is absolutely necessary to serve as a basis for further work. This can only be secured by contributions from the results of actual prospecting work.

Jan 3, 1928

By R. S. Dean

REQUIREMENTS for war materials have led to large scale experimentation upon metallurgical innovations. It is of interest to inquire what this may contribute of permanent value to our existing technology, as innovations adopted during war are apt to be discarded promptly at its end. This is because utilization of substandard ores usually requires a new technology for ore treatment, and a new use-pattern for employment of the products. Thus two very different problems are involved: first, devising a process; then, adopting its products by industry, with readjustments of the use-pattern if necessary. A new process may be as good or better than an old one, but the readjustments required for use of its products may prevent its general adoption if this implies scrapping existing plants and investing much additional capital. Metallurgical innovations are of three kinds: I. The use of substandard material in processes already established; 2. The grading-up of substandard material to render it more suitable for established processes; 3. The adjustment of technology and use-pattern to the raw materials that we have.

Jan 1, 1945

By GUY C. RIDDELL

THE recent purchase by an American investment trust of a substantial block of shares in a British owned Venezuelan copper operation directs attention to mining activities that have been quietly gaining momentum in that country for a number of years. We hear so much of oil work in Venezuela that attention to its metal-mining activities is in most quarters casual. In gold and copper the country has made some interesting mining records, and two of the old districts are ,digging in for a come-back. Copper Copper production centers in the state of Yaracuy. The Aroa-Cumaragua mining region has had a long and eventful history. The Aroa mine itself, 50 miles from the coast in West-Central Venezuela, was discovered in 1605. First mined in 1632, owned at one time by Simon Bolivar, it has been reopened many times and is now , the basis of substantial operations by the South American Copper Syndicate, Ltd. of London. The latter has operated the property profitably, off and on, for a number of years, paying heavy dividends on a small investment-at times over 300 per cent annually.

Jan 1, 1929

By F. C. Pittman, D. W. Harriman, J. C. St. John

This paper mentions briefly the history of hydraulic jetting as applied to perforating and fracture initiation. It points out the advantages of hydraulic perforation and undercutting as an aid for creating a fracture at the point desired rather than depending upon the weakest point in the formation for breakdown. It describes early experimental work with jet nozzles in search of better nozzle materials. The effect of splash-back damage and its subsequent influence on jet body and tool design during this work is discussed. A series of cutting-rate curves for jets cutting steel and steel-cement-formation combinations is presented to show the effect of hydrostatic head and the point of diminishing returns with respect to cutting time. There is a series of photographs showing various types of rock formation in which perforation and undercutting tests were made. These stones were drilled and the casing cemented in place as in an actual well. The casing was perforated and circularly cut as if preparing for a fracturing job. The conclusion reached in the paper is that hydraulic jetting with sand-laden fluid can be used for perforating and undercutting casing, cement and formation rock for the intended purpose of inducing the formation to fracture at a desired point. INTRODUCTION Hydraulic jetting as a means of cleaning a formation during acidizing has been used for many years. The acid-jet gun was used to clean formation and for drilling cement from casing with acid. This tool was dropped to a seating ring installed on the tubing and could be retrieved by reverse circulation or wire line. In this process, the fluids were directed against the formation to clean and penetrate beyond the mud-damaged area. After the development of the hydraulic fracturing process, interest in jetting the formation with abrasive-laden fluid was renewed. The cutting action of abrasive fluid on pumping equipment, which is a well known problem, has been utilized to perforate and undercut casing, tubing and formation. In this process, surface areas are provided in the formation on which the frac- turing pressures may work to produce a fracture at the location desired. EQUIPMENT The tools used consist of bodies containing two, three or four jets in a single horizontal plane equally spaced around the circumference. The body is threaded to the end of a string of tubing and run into the well. In addition, an expendable tool is available that may be left in the hole after perforating and produced through until necessary to remove the tubing. The bottom of each tool is equipped with a ball-type back-pressure valve. The ball can be reversed to the surface and recovered. This allows reverse circulation so that loose sand which accumulated below the tool while jetting may be removed before the fracturing job. The present jetting tools are of such length that, when screwed together, the jets fall on 12-in. spacing. ANALYSIS OF THE PROBLEM Early work with nozzles indicated that hardened steel was not a suitable material for jets and that more durable material would be required. Ceramics were tried and found to be superior to steel but still too shortlived for most applications. Tungsten carbide, which was tried and found to be the best material available, is now being used for jet nozzles. Analysis of the problems presented by this process indicated that the following information was needed. 1. The effect of submergence on a jet stream and the effect of submergence on the cutting rate of a jet stream. 2. The cutting rate and depth of a jet stream in steel. 3. The cutting rate in various formations and point of diminishing returns. 4. Size of hole or slot cut in a pipe by a given jet. 5. Fluids and sands used. 6. The flow of various weight fluids through the jet nozzle and the discharge coefficients. 7. The type cut formed in the formation by the jet stream. 8. The stretch and contraction of tubing due to temperature and pressure. The cutting effect of a jet stream on a target in the atmosphere is rapid and spectacular as most of the

By T. D. Tiemann

The extraction of iron oxide from several types of siliceous iron ore by digestion in sulfuric acid solutions was investigated in the temperature range from 80 to 258°F at concentrations from 10-60% H2SO4. Degree and rate of extraction were found to be critical with respect to both temperature and acid concentration, requiring temperatures in excess of 250° F and acid concentrations of 50% to effect 80-90% extraction of iron oxide in 60 min. Rate of extraction is directly related to surface area and apparently controlled by the rate of chemical reaction. The activation energy was found to be approximately 25,000 cal per g mol. Extraction characteristics of the several ores were found to be similar. The Department of Minerals and Metals Engineering at the University of Wisconsin conducts a continuing research program to develop processes for the utilization of low-grade iron ore deposits such as the nonmagnetic taconites of the Wisconsin Gogebic range. Methods under study include high-intensity magnetic and high-tension electrical concentration, flotation, direct reduction and chemical extraction. Concentration of a number of low-grade siliceous iron ores by the extraction of silica in sodium hydroxide solutions has been reported by the writer and others in the literature.1,2,3,4 Residual concentrates containing as much as 65% iron have been obtained from taconites containing less than 30%. Currently an alternative approach is under study, namely the dissolution of iron oxides from siliceous gangue by extraction in acid, with subsequent recovery of the iron from solution. Such a process for extracting iron oxide from the low-grade oclitic deposits of Alberta with hydrochloric acid was investigated and described by Gravenor, Govett and Rigg.5 The current investigation, which is entirely devoted to extraction with sulfuric acid, is the subject of this paper. In part, the objective of this research was to determine the possibility of leaching iron ores in situ with sulfuric acid. The investigation of a recovery method is left to later research. The ores investigated contained hematite (Fe2O3) as the principal iron-bearing mineral and minor amounts of goethite (Fe2O3 .H2O), magnetite (Fe3O4), and iron-bearing silicates. The gangue was essentially quartz occurring as single crystals and microcrystalline aggregates. Detailed description of the ores may be found in the literature.1,2,4,6 A comparison of the specific ores used in this investigation is shown in the partial analyses of Table I. EXPERIMENTAL METHODS All extractions were made at atmospheric pressure using beakers with a mechanical stirrer for those tests run below the boiling point, and Erlenmeyer flasks for those at the boiling point. A thermostatically controlled hot plate was used for heating, and this maintained the mean temperature within the solution to within ±3°F during extraction. The sample of ore for extraction was weighed to + 0.02 g. For tests below the boiling point, the sample was added to the beaker containing the sulfuric acid solution at the desired temperature. For the boiling-point tests, the sample was added to the Erlenmeyer flask followed by distilled water and the

Jan 1, 1968

By Sherwin F. Kelly

GEOPHYSICS may be considered a vice (albeit, I submit, a comparatively harmless one) whose career is aptly described by Pope's lines: Vice is a monster of so frightful mien, As to be hated needs but to be seen; Yet too oft, familiar with her face, We first endure, then pity, then embrace. Although there may be some that have not yet succeeded in emancipating themselves from the first stage of horrified contemplation, geophysicists may be duly thankful that there are mining men and geologists that have arrived at a state of apparently irretrievable damnation.

Jan 1, 1936

By John E. Young

U.S. Steel Corp.'s Winifrede mine is operated by Lynch District in the mountainous region of eastern Kentucky. This region is characterized by narrow finger ridges and precipitous slopes, which present both an opportunity and challenge in the design and selection of coal-handling facilities for the movement of coal from the section belts to the railrod cars. Lynch District selected diesel-powered locomo¬tives and 100-ton articulated cars capable of negotiating sharp curves. The drop¬bottom mine cars are equipped with longitudinally hinged doors that are auto¬matically opened and closed. Lynch District selected a large-diameter steel-lined borehole for lowering the coal approximately 1000 ft from the seam level to the valley floor railroad load-out point. Taking advantage of gravity, the presized coal is "lowered" vertically approximately 720 ft to existing entries of a previously abandoned mine. The coal is then conveyed horizontally into storage. The coal¬handling facility from the mine-car dump to the railroad load-out point is fully automatic through use of tone control. TV cameras are installed along the facility to continuously monitor the strategic points. The diesel locomotives are either directly operated or remotely radio-controlled, depending on the functions Per¬formed. U.S. Steel Corp.'s Winifrede mine is operated by Lynch District in the mountainous region of eastern Kentucky. This region is characterized by narrow mountain ridges and precipitous slopes which present both an opportunity and challenge in the design and selection of coal-handling facilities for the movement of coal from the section belts to the railroad cars. The narrow finger ridges precluded use of under¬ground haulage and, thereby, presented the opportunity to use high-capacity equipment on the outside bench. The precipitous mountain slopes, steepest at the Wini¬frede seam horizon, presented a challenge to select a solution for lowering the coal approximately 1000 ft from the seam level to the valley floor railroad load-out point. It was evident from the start of planning that these two factors predominated; namely, rail haulage and coal lowering, and solutions to these would determine the final design of the Winifrede mine coal-handling facilities. The Winifrede mine derives its name from the Wini¬frede Seam which comprises the total reserve recov¬erable from this facility. The seam is 5 ft high with a good siltstone bottom and competent shale or sandstone roof. The seam is at an elevation of 2700 ft where the mountain ridges are long and narrow. This configuration of the reserve was ideal for conveyor belt installation to transport the coal from the working face to the outside bench. The preclusion of underground rail haul¬age permitted an opportunity to review the type of locomotive power and to select high-capacity equipment without the limitations associated with underground systems. Since the basic electrical design of the mine was al¬ternating current, with rectification to direct current for shuttle cars required only in the face areas, there was no point in bearing the burden of additional cost of dc trolley installation. And, since the haulage would re¬quire only a few tunnels to negotiate sharp points and to reach the back side of the reserves, diesel power was selected for the haulage locomotives. To provide stability on the almost continuously curv¬ing track and to provide the maximum width of haul¬age equipment, both locomotives and mine cars, stan¬dard railroad gage was chosen to offer the largest choice of equipment. The decision was made to select a standard 45-ton railroad diesel locomotive but to lower the cab height to reduce tunnel excavation requirements. The mine car was the next challenge. Past experience in Lynch operations indicated that drop-bottom cars would be a successful application with the free-flowing coal. The search was for a drop-bottom car within the dimensions of the locomotive to discharge the coal in the shortest time. Numerous types were considered and visits made to various sites to observe cars in operation.

Jan 1, 1972

By Edward Keller

(New York meeting, February, 1912.) IN a paper, entitled A Uniform Method for the Assay of Copper Material for Gold and Silver,1 A. R. Ledoux invited the assayers of this country to contribute to a symposium, in which the results of their assays of given samples of copper-matte and metallic copper would be made comparable. This symposium 2 appeared about one year thereafter; and through it and its discussion, first became generally known the fact that the ,gold-yield by the all-fire method of assaying is usually higher than by the so-called combination (wet and dry) method, in which nitric acid is employed as a solvent for the copper. In the publication alluded to, the supposed cause of gold-losses in the latter method was declared to be the solvent action of copper nitrate, or of the reduction-products of the nitric acid, upon the gold. Up to a very recent date, gold has been held to be insoluble in pure nitric acid. (The solvent action of any chlorine present in the nitric acid must here properly be disregarded as belonging in the realm of carelessness. Among later allusions to this topic, W. R. Tan Liew 3 ascribes the solution of the gold in the combination-assay entirely to the action of nitrous acid at the high reaction-temperature of copper and nitric acid ; F. B. Flinn 4 a believes the low result in gold to be due exclusively to mechanical losses-finely-divided gold penetrating through the filter-paper-but presents no experimental data confirmative of this belief; and 0. Pufahl 5 attributes the solubility of the gold in some coppers to the presence of selenium-a view which appears to be shared by many as- 1 Trans., xxiv., 575 (1894). 2 Trans., xxv., 250 (1895). 3 Engineering and Mining Journal, vol. lxix., No. 16, p. 469 (Apr. 21, 1900). 4 Engineering and Mining Journal, vol. lxxxvii., No.11, p. 569 (Mar. 13, 1909). 5 Lunge, Chemische Technische Untersuchungs Methoden, vol. ii., p. 229 (1900).

Jul 1, 1912

By W. S. Ayres

The construction of a new breaker at the Cranberry Colliery, Hazleton, Pa., was forced upon the operators, A. Pnrdee & Co., by a fire which destroyed the entire plant early in January, 1896. The loss included, in addition to the breaker, three boilerhouses and three engine-houses. The boilers were not injured, but the steam-pipes and connections were all broken and warped by the fire. The boilers were probably saved from injury by the presence of mind of the fireman., who started all his feed-pumps and filled the boilers with water. The hoisting-engines were more or less warped and cracked, but by patching and replacing the injured and broken parts, they were made to do satisfactory service in the new plant. It may be worthy of mention that the wrought-iron shaft of one of the hoisting-drums, 12 inches in diameter by 17 feet long, was so heated in the fire that the weight of the drum caused it

Jan 1, 1899

By J. B. Reed, T. A. Read, H. Rosenthal

Although the season cracking of brass has been a subject of experimental investigation for more than thirty years, the mechanism that is responsible for this phenomenon is still obscure. While at- tempts to elucidate the stress-corrosion cracking of some alloys have been relatively successful, the principal accomplishments made in the studies of the season cracking of brass have consisted of improved techniques for the fabrication of articles of alpha brass, which reduce the danger of season-cracking failure in service. The primary purpose of the present paper is to collect the published experimental data which appear to be of importance to the development of an adequate theory of the mechanism of the season cracking of brass. Some of the possible mechanisms which have been proposed will also be discussed, together with some promising avenues of future attack on the problems. Several excellent survey papers on season cracking are available, including the recent ones by Croft and Sachs(1)2 and by Gibbs(2). The principal facts concerning season cracking, as presented in these papers, may be summarized as follows. The season cracking of alpha brass is a special type of stress-corrosion failure, which may occur in atmospheres containing ammonia, air, and water vapor. The stress causing failure may be either the

Jan 1, 1945

By D. K. Crampton

INTERNAL stress and season cracking in brass have been studied for many years and the technical literature contains many data on various phases of the subject. A résumé of the literature shows certain fairly well established points upon which various authors are mostly agreed: 1. Season cracking is primarily caused by the presence of relatively high internal stresses, or possibly in some cases by external stresses, or both. 2. A specific corrosion is also essential to season cracking: Certain agents, particularly mercurous salts, mercuric salts and ammonia salts; have such a specific corrosive effect. 3. The tendency to season crack under given conditions increases with increasing zinc content, brass containing less than 20 per cent zinc being relatively immune. 4. In alpha brass the season cracks are intercrystalline; in alphabeta brass they lie between the two constituents; and in beta brass they are transcrystalline. 5. The ordinary impurities or added elements in special brasses have little or no effect on the tendency to season crack. 6. Internal stresses can be eliminated, or at least reduced to a safe 'limit by annealing treatments at temperatures that do not produce visible microstructural changes or appreciable softening of the worked brasses. There are, however, some points in connection with the phenomenon of season cracking which have not been thoroughly investigated, or wherein different authors and investigators are not entirely in agreement. The investigations described in this paper were undertaken to determine: 1. The correlation between mercurous nitrate tests and actual season cracking on long-time atmospheric exposure. 2. The quantitative effect of type and degree of drawing operations on the intensity of internal stress and on the tendency to season crack in brass tubes. 3. The possibility of drawing high-brass tubes in such a manner as to prevent the occurrence of harmful stresses rather than to find a remedy for such stresses once having obtained them.

Jan 1, 1930

By I. L. Greninger

THE property of the Andes Copper Mining Co. is in the central part of the Republic of Chile, Province of Atacama, 147 km. (91.5 miles) eastward by rail from the port of Chanaral. At this point the Andean system is made up of two principal ranges. The mine is on the westerly slope of the outer, or western, range, at a mean elevation of 3250 m. (10,500 ft.). A meter-gage railroad extends from the company's port at Barquito, near Chañaral, to the reduction plant at Potrerillos. This road has a total length of 151 km. (94.0 miles), of which 93 km. (57.79 miles) are owned by the Andes Copper Mining Co. The remainder of the road is owned by the state. The company operates its trains over the portion of the road owned by the state, under an agreement with the Chilean Government. The mine is connected with the reduction plant by a meter-gage railroad, 10 km. (6.214 miles) long, which extends from the coarse-ore bins at the metallurgical plant to the underground storage bins at the mine. Tunnels make up 60 per cent. of the total length of this railroad. As is characteristic of the Andean region in Chile, the topography of the locality is extremely rough, and a number of points near the mine have elevations of from 15,000 to 16,000 feet. History of Potrerillos Mine The ore occurrence has been known for many years, and many of the claims under individual ownership were worked in a small way before the property was acquired by the present owner—the Andes Copper Mining Company. The highest grade oxide ores near the surface were mined by primitive methods and, after sorting, the product, assaying around 15 per cent, copper, was hauled by mule carts a distance of about 80 km. (49.71 miles)

Jan 1, 1929

By Karl Sundberg

ELECTRICAL investigations carried out in regions containing sedimen-tary rocks showed that sediments generally are good electrical conductors, a fact which at the present time is used for structural investigations by electrical methods. It is of fundamental importance, not only for these investigations but also for electrical prospecting in general, to know the electrical properties of various soils and rocks. It will be useful, there-fore, to discuss this question with the hope that the general points of view discussed in this paper will perhaps be, completed by further observations and determinations of material from various localities. This paper is based principally on the study of literature, and the purpose is primarily a discussion of the main factors that determine the electrical conductivity of soils and rocks. It will follow, however, that the factors discussed here also frequently decide how far a certain orebody can be regarded as a good electrical conductor compared with the sur-rounding rocks. All-rocks are more or less porous; and the pores are filled with liquids and gases. Their electrical conductivity, therefore, depends on the following factors: 1. The electrical conductivity of minerals composing the rock. 2. Electrical conductivity of the liquid filling the pores. 3. Proportion of the volume of liquid filling pores of the rocks to the solid rock material. 4. Shape of the pores. 5. Arrangement of the particles of gas and liquids. 6. Temperature. Dry minerals, with the exception of certain ore minerals, are complete nonconductors from the point of view of applied geophysics; in the present investigation we deal with rocks which have no conducting minerals, and factor 1, therefore, is not important. The same is true of soils. The liquids contained in soils and rocks in most cases are waters, some-times oil. As oil is a nonconductor of electricity, the impregnating waters will determine the electrical conductivity of soils and rocks.

Jan 1, 1932

By M. Gensamer

ALTHOUGH a large number of X-ray photograms of cold-rolled steel have been published, two circumstances have led to the experimental work reported in this paper. The first is that no complete study, making use of the pole-figure method of Wever1, has been made of cold-rolled low-carbon steel. Wever has published pole figures of mild steel sub-jected to plane parallel deformation1,2 and undoubtedly he has applied the method to cold-rolled mild steel, but the authors have not found these data published. Kurdjumow and Sachs3 have applied the method to the study of rolling and recrystallization textures in electrolytic iron; their results will be referred to later. The reason for this dearth of papers using the pole-figure method is obvious; a greater number of photograms and more analytical work (although this work is quite simple and straight-forward) are required to construct a pole figure than most investigators have felt worth while, despite the fact that no other method of which the authors are aware will satisfactorily depict the orientations of the crystal-lites in a polycrystalline aggregate. The second circumstance that led to the work reported in this paper was the appearance of a paper by Wayne A. Sisson4 on the same subject. In his valuable study of the factors influencing the development of pre-ferred orientations in cold-rolled mild steel, Sisson made one observation that required confirmation; that is, that at some stage of the rolling proc-ess the type of preferred orientation changed from the type that gives a photogram characterized as a "six-point" X-ray pattern to that known as a "four-point" pattern. A similar observation had been made by Tam-mann and Heinzel5, who studied the orientations developed in the rolling of steel by the specular reflection of light from the etched surface of rolled samples. These workers also found that the type of preferred orientation

Jan 1, 1936

By H. C. Howarth

This paper gives observations on ground movement and subsidence resulting from pillar drawing in the Lick Run section of Montour No. 10 mine of the Pittsburgh Coal Co. adjacent to solid coal owned by the U. S. Bureau of Mines at its Experimental mine in Snowden Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. The investigation was planned by George S. Rice, chief mining engineer of the Bureau, who arranged the necessary cooperation with Dr. L. E. Young, vice president of the Pittsburgh Coal Co. Engineers of that company placed permanent monuments on the surface to establish the boundaries of the coal owned by the Bureau and to furnish fixed points to which all levels were referred. Engineers of the Experimental mine staff then covered the ground under observation with a checkerwork of monuments made of oak pegs set into the ground at 50-ft. intervals in two directions at right angles to each other. The level of these pegs was determined first from Dec. 16 to 30, 1929; again from May 25 to June 5, 1930, and finally from July 7 to 15, 1931. Observations were then discontinued because work had been stopped temporarily in this part on Montour 10 mine. General Conditions Fig. 1 is a plan of the part of the area under observation with which this paper deals. The mine is developed on a room and pillar system known locally as half advancing and half retreating. As Nos. 35 and 36 butt entries were advanced, rooms were driven from No. 36 and drawing of the room pillars followed their completion. When the entries reached the boundary, rooms were started from No. 35 butt beginning at that point, and all remaining pillars were drawn as rapidly as possible. The rib lines of Jan. 9 and June 13, 1930, were surveyed a week to 10 days after the first and second sets of levels were run, and there was some advance in that period. The rib line of July 15, 1931, agrees in time

Jan 1, 1934

By Charles H. Fulton

CHARLES H. FULTON, chairman, presided at the first session of the Mineral Industry Education Division on Wednesday morning. Reporting for the program committee, Edward Steidle, its chairman, pointed out that its function was not to arrange programs for meetings but to plan a program for the Division to follow in the development of its activities. This was appropriately followed by presentation and discussion of his paper, "Basic Trends in Mineral Industries Education," which, being available in printed form, was only presented in oral abstract. Jay A. Carpenter submitted interesting written discussion that was read, in his absence, by A. M. Smith. Most of the morning was devoted to the discussion of the paper, which was too extensive and ranged too widely to attempt to report in much detail. H. T. Mann, H. P. Hammond, Cadwallader Evans, C. H. Fulton, T. T. Read, D. F. McFarland and P. B. Bucky joined in the discussion, Mr. Hammond making a plea for more unification in mineral industry education, saying that in the study he made for the Society for Promotion of Engineering Education about 35 different curricula preparatory to work in the mineral industry were discovered to exist. He felt that most of the needs of the mining industry could he met by men who had had four years of engineering training of good enough basic quality to permit them to advance along special lines. However, there was apparently a growing demand, as reflected by the increasing number of candidates for the Master's degree in engineering, for men with more thorough training in the fundamentals.

Jan 1, 1933

By Mark A. Ammon

The two most widely used methods of measuring hardness are the Brinell and the scleroscope. In the Brinell method a hardened steel ball is pressed into the steel under a definite load and the area of the resulting depression is measured. The load in kg. per sq. mm. of the area of the depression is taken as a measure of the hardness. Within certain limits the hardness number so determined is independent of the load or the size of the ball. In the scleroscope method a small weight carrying a diamond point is dropped through a glass tube upon the steel and the amount of rebound is taken as proportional to the hard-' ness. In both methods the scale of hardness is an arbitrary one; however, they agree in a comparative may, that is, a steel showing 50 per cent. increase in hardness by the Brinell test mill show approximately 50 per cent. increase in hardness by the scleroscope test. Yet upon consideration of the two methods it appears that, upon a steel which has been carbonized, this should not be the case ; for the scleroscope method gives almost exclusively the surface-hardness, and the condition of the material below the surface has but a slight bearing upon the hardness number. The results given by the Brinell method should, however, be the exact opposite; for the depth of penetration 'of a ball pressed into the steel would be dependent to a large extent upon the condition of the material below the surface. This is particularly obvious when it is considered that the size of the ball ordinarily used in the Brinell method is 1 cm. (about 8 in.) in diameter under a load of 3,000 kg., while the diamond point of the scleroscope is in the neighborhood of 0.01 in. across, fitted in a hammer of about 0.5 oz. weight and dropping from a height of 10 inches.

Jan 1, 1913

By W. R. Hibbard

IN ref. 1, on the basis of tension and torsion experiments with single crystals of a brass, the values given in Table I were obtained for elastic coefficients. It was pointed out by Zener that the values for the 71.2 pct Cu were not satisfactory, since they resulted in a negative value for the bulk modulus, namely —4.17X1012 sq cm per dyne. In reevaluating the data of this investigation, it was determined that the reason for this negative bulk modulus lay in the extrapolation of the reciprocal Young's modulus to the zero value of the orientation function shown in Fig. 5 of ref. 1. This extrapolation was reevaluated by the method of least squares (50 pct probability) and a new value of the coefficient S,, was determined as 18.9220.42X 10M sq cm per dyne in lieu of the value originally reported of 18.82x10 sq cm per dyne. This new value of S, leads to a new value of S, of — 9.43 X101" sq cm per dyne. The values of the other coefficients are unchanged. results. This value compares with the value of 12.3X10 sq cm per dyne reported by Schmid and Boas? The new results are summarized in Table 11. These results follow similar qualitative trends, previously published,' relative to the effect of zinc content. However, the derived values of C11, C,, C,, and K are so sensitive to the uncertainty in the first decimal place of the S, values that they are probably not useful. This uncertainty must also apply to the previous results of Masima and Sachs," who obtained S, values from a similar extrapolation drawn wholly above their data points. Acknowledgments Advice and assistance on the statistical methods were obtained from R. W. Guard. The calculations were carried out by Miss E. Saacke.

Jan 1, 1958

On August 4, 1844, J. C. Fremont made the first record found of coal in Wyoming. On the North Fork of the Platte River, beyond Medicine Butte, in Carbon County, he noted: "in the precipitous bluffs were displayed a succession of strata containing fossil, vegetable remains, and several beds of coal. In some of the beds, the coal did not appear to be perfectly mineralized; and in some of the seams, it was compact and remarkably lustrous." A little later he noted, "longitude 111°, latitude 4 1/2°-Muddy R.--coal."1 In 1848, Clayton reported coal on Sulphur Creek near the site of old Bear River City, in Uinta County.2 Maj. Osborne Cross in his journal, on July 1, 1849, records seeing coal on Deer Creek and in one of the hills near Crooked Muddy Creek, in Converse County; on July 7, he records that the country from Deer Creek to the Sweetwater River abounds in coal, probably in Natrona and Carbon Counties.3 A letter from Asst. Quartermaster Van Vliet to General Jessup dated July 25, 1850, asked an appropriation for building shops at Fort Laramie for making repairs for the emigrants, and mentions "coal and timber," but undoubtedly meant charcoal, as no other mention of stone coal is made in the records of the fort.4 Stansbury, in 1852, placed on his map of this section the words: "Great Coal Basin," extending from the west bank of Bear River, near the present Evanston, to Point of Rocks in Sweetwater County. In 1859, a military coal reservation was established near here, but the coal was never worked to any great extent, although probably some was hauled to Fort Bridger for smithing purposes. When the fort was abandoned this reservation returned to the public lands .2 In the same year (1859), Hayden traced the lignite formation uninterruptedly from the upper Missouri Valley to a point on the North Platte River, about 80 miles northwest of Fort Laramie.5 On August 25, 1865,

Jan 1, 1942

By W. M. Hirthe, E. H. Greener, D. R. McCann

It has been proposed1'2 that, at low temperatures, point defects are a strengthening factor in inter-metallic compounds whereas, at high temperatures, the deformation is diffusion-controlled and, therefore, an increase in the concentration of point defects tends to soften or increase the plasticity of a compound. More recent investigations, including those of Bloem and Kroger' on PbS, Kramers and smith4 on TiO, and Nadeau5 on LiF, have extended this concept to ionic crystals. Rutile (TiO2) is a tetragonal transition metal oxide which has a defect structure over at least the compositional range. The defect in near-stoichiometric rutile is either an oxygen ion vacancys or a titanium ion interstitial.' This investigation does not contribute to resolving the defect question but either defect would satisfy the results obtained. Six specimens having the same orientation, see Fig., 1, utilized in an independent investigation1' were cut with a diamond saw from a single-crystal boule purchased from the Linde Co. Three specimens were annealed in air at 1200°C for 4 hr and slowly cooled to room temperature in a period of 12 hr. The remaining specimens were reduced in a vacuum of l0 mm Hg at 1200°C for 4 hr and cooled at the same rate in vacuum. The reduced specimens were weighed before and after reduction and, assuming the weight loss to be oxygen, the corresponding oxygen-to-metal ratio is 1.998. All specimens were chemically polished and etched utilizing the techniques described by Hirthe, Adsit, and Brittain." The specimens were embedded in acrylic resin and mounted on a leveling vise in a Kentron micro-hardness tester. A 200-g load was applied to a Knoop indenter with a descent time of 18 sec and a dwell time of 20 sec. Eight indentations were made on a near (171) surface, approximately 3 deg from the (lii) plane, for each orientation of the major axis of the indenter relative to the crystal structure. The dependence of microhardness on orienta-

Jan 1, 1963