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By Richard R. Bains

"When l hear - I normally remember 10 percent When I hear and see - I can remember 15 to 25 percent When I hear, see, and do - I usually remember up to 50 percent" While this is not a truism in relation to each and every individual; on the average, this is the case. If we use this as a premise in training operator and maintenance personnel, then it must be obvious that we can't rely on a mere presentation, even one which includes the needed classroom participation and/or hands on work, to do a thorough job and to make this personnel totally proficient - 100 percent proficient. We have to have some other device some other means to make this a continuing process, a process wherein the people can grow in knowledge while performing their normal duties. We have to feel that the words "normal duties" are the key to the whole program. If you would ask a crusher operator what his duty is, he might say "To run this crusher so that we produce 250 tons per hour of a minus 13mm (minus 1/2 ") product." A maintenance man could say "To fix the unit when there is a problem." Both of these answers are legitimate but, they are only a part of the total picture. In order for each of these individuals to do the best job, he must know not just the specifics about the machine he works with or on - he must know the interrelation of all the machinery in the crushing circuit - how the efficiency of each machine affects the others - why a minor problem on one piece of equipment can generate a major problem for another unit which follows it or precedes it. In short, you cannot separate machine operation and maintenance from the application of the equipment in the crushing circuit - and obtaining this knowledge must be a part of the normal duty of crushing plant personnel. As an example a crusher - any crusher - is designed to crush oversize material. It is not designed to accept feed which is already at or less than the required product size. If sized material goes to the crusher, increase wear results by using the crusher as a chute or the crushing chamber can be clogged up with the fines. This latter point is particularly true with cone crushers, especially in the third (Short Head) stage of crushing. When a Gyradisc is used (fourth stage crushing) it is even more critical that the product be removed before the material goes to the crusher. The crusher cannot control this - the screen ahead of the crusher does. The screen must be of adequate size and be functioning properly to allow the crusher to work at optimum. Screening is both an art and a science. Since there are so many variables which affect the output of the screen, it is always best to have a screen which is larger than the sizing calculations dictate. The screens are the most important elements in the circuit. Without screens, specification materials cannot be made and the size of the screen will ultimately aid or hinder your ability to get the most production possible out of the plant. There is a formula available from all screen manufacturers which is designed to calculate the proper screen size. It takes into consideration the

Jan 1, 1982

By AIME AIME

BUSINESS forecasting may be an inexact science, if it is a science at all, but in the opinion of the statisticians of the American Telephone & Telegraph Co. it is a valuable aid to the making of future business plans, whether it be used by a telephone system, a manufacturer whose distribution is country-wide or, one whose trade is confined to certain sections. Whatever the defects of business forecasting may be; the American Telephone & Telegraph Co: has employed it since 1921, not only for charting the probable; course of telephone traffic over long-distance lines, but' to determine the needs for new plant and equipment: caused by shifting tides in business or increases in population or general industrial expansion.

Jan 1, 1929

Ware B. Gay, Richmond, Va.: Having followed the remarks of Prof. Woodworth with great interest, especially his suggestions for drilling in the part of the coal-field on the south side of the James river, I would like to inquire of him if he reached his conclusions after fully considering the situation as existing upon the north side of the James ? My reason for this inquiry is, that upon the north side the eastern and western outcrops are much nearer each other than appears to me to be the case upon the south side, and also that the western outcrop on the north side is much more clearly defined than upon the south side. It is now about twelve years since I first became interested in the Richmond coal-field—and until about six years ago I passed much time in investigation and spent thousands of dollars in developments. About six years ago the properties in which I was more especially interested were leased to other parties, and since that time I have had little or nothing to do with the mining operations. I regret to say the price of coals has ruled so low during most of the time since the lease was made that the developments have not been as extensive as the lessees had originally intended. The result of my investigations after considering all the theories, expert reports, legends and other information I could obtain bearing upon the subject, was the opinion, which I still hold, that the most practicable and most economical way for proving the extent and value of the field is by sinking slopes from the eastern outcrop, and by prosecuting such slopes in the vein and following the coal to the western outcrop, thus obtaining an actual cross-section in fact and not in theory. Proceeding upon this hypothesis, I sought for the positions where this could probably be accomplished most quickly and develop a marketable coal-area as the work thus progressed. The outcrops on the north side being nearer each other, and

Jan 1, 1902

Henry D. Hibbard, High Bridge, N. J. (Communication to the Secretary): There is one chemical factor which has not been considered in the author's tabulation of tests, but which is none the . less important because it cannot be practically estimated, and that is the element oxygen. This element has been, and probably will continue for some time to be, one of the great causes of the continual discrepancies between the chemical and physical properties of steel. Probably oxygen occurs, in important proportions, only in soft steel, such as that which we are now considering. In this steel its physical effect is to diminish tensile strength and elongation. The percentage of oxygen in the steel, under working-conditions that are as uniform as possible, is likely to vary inversely as that of the manganese, or perhaps, and more probably, it may bear even an inverse geometrical ratio to the manganese-content. At all events, to follow the author's plan, the line representing the loss of strength due to oxygen is probably a curve. Plotted by itself, the line would probably be straight; that is, the decrease in strength would be proportional to the increase in oxygen, but if the results were superposed on the percentages of manganese, they would give a curve, because the percentages of oxygen increase faster than those of manganese decrease. Were the oxygen-line to be developed and added to the diagram, it would seem that the manganese-line should then be straight. Due allowance for the effect of oxygen, therefore, would modify two features of the paper. It would increase the figure for the strength of pure iron from 38,000 to about 45;000 pounds per square inch, and it would straighten out the manganese-curve. The manganese-line in the paper is curved between 0.50 and 0.20 per cent. Above 0.50 per cent. it is straight, which may be ascribed

Jan 1, 1893

By Carrol M. Beeson

Reasons are given for using a Boyle's-law porosimeter in conducting core analysis for either routine or research purposes. Among other things, it is pointed out that such a porosimeter permits the measurement of all basic properties on the same sample, thereby eliminating the sources of error inherent in the use of adjacent samples. References are made to investigations of gas adsorption on various porous materials, to show that the use of helium in Boyle's-law porosimeters reduces to negligible proportions the error due to the adsorption or desorption of the operating gas. Two Boyle's-law instruments are described. which permit accurate and rapid measurements of porosity. Schematic sketches and explanation:; are included, along with derivations of equations required in performing precise determinations. Summaries of data obtained during calibration are tabulated and analyses of the data are resented as indications of the precision and accuracy of each device. Comparisons are also shown for measurements made with each of the instruments on the same test pieces and cores. INTRODUCTION An accurate porosimeter, operating on the principle of Boyle's law. is of considerable value in the analysis of cores for either routine or research purposes. This is due primarily to the fact that the measurement of porosity with such an instrument leaves the sample free of contamination by any liquid. When used in conjunction with an extraction apparatus' for determining oil and water saturations, a Boyle's-law porosimeter permits the measurement of all basic properties on the same sample. This eliminates the sources of error inherent in the use of adjacent samples, or the necessity of determining porosity after all other properties have been obtained. Large errors may result from combining measurements made on adjacent samples in order to obtain a single property. This type of error is definitely involved when oil and water are measured with one sample, and the pore vo1ume is measured with an adjacent one. Furthermore, the source of error would be present to some extent, even if the analyst could choose the samples so they were truly adjacent from a geological standpoint. The use of adjacent samples in routine core analysis also necessarily decreases the probability of correlating core properties. For example, the chance of correlating the "irreducible" interstitial-water saturation with permeability, is bound to be greatly reduced by measuring these properties on "adjacent" samples. For research purposes, amplification is scarcely required concerning the greater flexibility of a method for measuring porosity which leaves the core free of contamination by any liquid. Even under those circumstances which require that the core be saturated with a liquid, a previous measurement of porosity with a gas is useful in determining the degree of saturation that has been attained in the process. Furthermore, for comparable accuracy, porosity usually may be determined more rapidly with a gas than with a liquid. This advantage of the Boyle's-law instrument is most outstanding when the determination time is compared with that required in obtaining porosity by evacuation of the core followed by saturation with a liquid of known density. Several porosimeters which operate on the principle of Boyle's law have been described2,3,4,5,6,7 in the literature. No comparison will be attempted between those instruments and the ones described herein. Before helium gas became readily available, Boyle's-law porosimeters were subject to an appreciable error due to the adsorption of the operating gas on the surface of the core solids. There is considerable direct and indirect evidence in the literature to support the contention that the adsorption of helium on porous solids is negligible at room temperature. In discussing the use of Boyle's-law porosimeters, Washburn and Bunting2 stated that "for most ceramic bodies dry air is a satisfactory gas, but hydrogen will be required in some instances. Helium could, of course, be employed for all types of porous materials at room temperatures or above." Howard and Hulett8 obtained evidence that the adsorption of helium was negligible at room temperatures, even on activated carbon ; for the density measured with this gas was unaffected by changes in pressure or by changes in temperature from 25 °C to 75 °C. For oil-well cores, Taliaferro, Johnson, and Dewees" obtained lower porosities with helium than with air, but apparently did not study helium adsorption. From the work of these investigators, it follows that the use of helium in Boyle's-law porosimeters reduces the error due to gas adsorption to negligible proportions. This makes it possible to construct instruments which permit the determination of porosity with (1) a high degree of accuracy, (2) with great rapidity, and (3) without contamination. THE KOBE POROSIMETER The fundamental design of the Kobe Porosimeter was developed by Kobe, Inc., which firm built about 12 of the instruments during 1936 and 1937. Since that time, seven or eight more have been constructed with their permission, making a total of about 20 that have been put into operation.

Jan 1, 1950

ANDES, lying south of Chuquicamata and north of Braden on the western slope of Chile's cordillera, can best be described as a big well-managed copper-mining enterprise without any peculiarly outstanding features. In point of copper produced, since output started in 1927, it ranks fifth among the Porphyries, being exceeded only by its two Chilean contemporaries and by Utah Copper and Morenci in the United States. Even so, there is little to distinguish it from other properties. It does not have the phenomenally rich ore (better than 2 per cent copper) that characterizes Braden; and it is not in the same class as Chuquicamata whose ore has the excellent tenor of around 1.7 per cent, nor has it Chuqui's immense tonnage of proven ore reserves and potential ore resources. One might say the operations are standard in that there are no basic or radical departures from established practice. A letter from New York supplying me with sundry pertinent facts for which I had asked, makes this comment regarding the answer to one inquiry: "omitted because it is the ordinary equipment found in any well-run mine." The substance of that remark applies generally to the other operations, plants, and facilities. One interesting fact that helps explain this situation should not be overlooked. Until the "new" Morenci in 1942, Andes was the last of the Porphyry copper mines to come into production. It did not do much pioneering because other companies had, of necessity, charted the way in many particulars. The company was organized by the Anaconda Copper interests in 1916 to take over a, group of claims held under option by William Braden who, a few years earlier, had interested

Jan 1, 1957

By H. l. Burghoff, A. I. Blank

J. J. Kanter.*—The authors of this paper have demonstrated that at 500°F their alloy will elongate, under appropriately adjusted stress, one or two per cent over a period of 6000 hr. Then they show that after the alloy has so elongated, it will still elongate anothcr 40 per cent if it is tested at ordinary temperature. I should like to ask the authors how much more than 2 per cent over a period of 6000 hr. their alloy will elongate at 500°F. H. L. BuRghofE.—We do not know, because we have not carried out stress-rupture tests on this material. I believe your point concerning the desirability of stress-rupture testing is very well taken. In the material that we have subsequently tested we have not seen any signs of deterioration. We do not know how much further it is possible to go beyond the 2 per cent before finding grain-boundary separation. We have not encountered any under the conditions of the test. W. E. Kingston.†—IS this particular type of copper susceptible to strain-aging, and if so at those comparatively low temperatures, is that going to affect the shape of the curve? By strain-aging I mean the phenomena that certain ferrous alloys show in which the resistance to deformation increases suddenly during the low-temperature creep cycle, apparently due to some precipitation type of reaction, perhaps analogous to hydrogen embrittlement. H. L. BUrghoff.—I believe that this material is not subject to strain-aging of this type. It is very high in copper content, of course, nearly loo per cent. There are some very minor impurities and it carries a small amount of phosphorus, which, unless it is present as an oxide, should be in solid solution well within the solubility limits. I believe it does not precipitate

Jan 1, 1945

By W. C. Ralston

This note will give the cost of driving an adit at the Melones mine, in 1898, and, for purposes of comparison, the cost of similar work, in 1888, at the Hogsback mine, Placer county, Cal. The property of the Melones Consolidated Mining Company is situated on the Mother Lode of California, on Carson Hill, near Robinson's Ferry, and adjoins on the south the famous Morgan mine. The Mother Lode of California extends for a distance of over 100 miles in length through several counties, with a general strike of northwest and southeast. Three veins (commonly called the east vein, middle vein and west vein) comprise the " lode " in this section. The Melones property is situated upon the east and middle vein, and includes 1407 feet on the east vein and 5166 feet upon the middle vein. A shaft had been sunk on the Reserve mine, which is on the east rein, and within 230 feet of the Morgan mine. At the bottom of this shaft drifts and cross-cuts had been run and a large body of ore developed. It was deemed advisable by the Melones Mining Co., which holds this property under bond from the Melones Consolidated Mining Co., to run a tunnel and develop this body of ore at a greater depth. An option was obtained upon the South Carolina mine, which adjoins the property on the south, and is on the same east vein, upon which a tunnel had been run a distance of 1080 feet. This tunnel was cleaned out and continued to a point within forty feet of the Morgan mine. It passes directly under the Reserve shaft, 425 feet below the 200-foot level. The additional length of tunnel to be run was 1923 feet, and

Jan 1, 1899

By Lawrence A. Garfield

From the bottom of a shallow fissure the near-naked man-animal hacked out a hand-sized chunk of the red rock-like material which, when beaten between other rocks, could be drawn out to the thinness of a flint edge. Unlike flint, however, it did not shatter when, as the point for a spear or arrow, it went wide of its mark and fell amongst the rocks or tree branches. For this reason and others, the red rock- like material was specially sought and much time was spent in trying to break it from the real-rock in which it grew. Only infrequently was a chunk broken free and in this area many hours had been spent to win but a few fragments. What luck then, to remove so large a piece where before nothing but real-rock dust formed whenever the stone hammer hit. Why did this happen? Did yesterday's food-fire, burning on top the red rock, loosen its hold on the real-rock and cause it to break free when struck with the stone hammer? It is not a matter of recorded history that the first heat assisted extraction of native copper from country rock occurred under the circumstances or in the manner related but it is known that crude mining operations using these techniques were conducted by primitive man. In this way the first mineral production may have been achieved and the original example of rapid excavation unknowingly given to the world. Rapid excavation is not a method of removing rock or ore from an insitu condition nor does the term refer to a type of equipment which is specifically employed in mining and underground construction. It is, rather, the nomenclature currently popular in industry-primarily in underground construction- relating to a comparative rate of performance.

Jan 1, 1971

By Thomas L. Kesler

I all of the 14 million tons of kaolin produced in Georgia through 1949 had been mined from a single deposit 20 ft thick, it would represent a mined-out area of less than 1 sq mile. This measure of depletion is in such strong contrast with the large size of the area shown in Fig. 1, from which most of the output has come, that there has developed an optimistic outlook concerning future supplies of kaolin equal in grade to that already mined. Dozens of mines are widely but not evenly distributed within this area, which consists mostly of parts of Twiggs, Wilkinson, and Washington counties. There are scarcely half a dozen kaolin mines elsewhere in the state that have been appreciably productive, although the areas in which they occur may have good possibilities. Most of the efforts to find new deposits, therefore, will be confined to the area shown in Fig. 1, for it is here that the industry has established its facilities, and prospecting is encouraged by relatively numerous outcrops and opened deposits of kaolin. The Ocmulgee and Oconee rivers drain the area. They and their main tributaries have flat, swampy floodplains covered with alluvium and for the most part thickly wooded. The divides between these streams are intricately dissected by the minor tributaries, which are spring-fed in steep-walled, cirque-like heads. Gullying and under-cutting are active along the streams but are partly controlled by unusually dense vegetation. The mean altitude is about 350 ft above sea level, and locally the relief ranges up to 200 ft. The area is near the inner margin of the Coastal Plain, and is underlain by Cretaceous and Tertiary formations. Its general location is shown in black in Fig. 1. The division between the Coastal Plain and the Piedmont plateau is actually a very sinuous line, the fall line, marking the extent to which erosion has stripped the Coastal Plain sediments from the southeastward-sloping surface of the crystalline rocks of the Piedmont. Cretaceous Host Formation The kaolin deposits, which are described in the succeeding section, occur sporadically in lenslike bodies in a thick series of poorly sorted clayey sands constituting the lowermost of the Upper Cretaceous formations, the Tuscaloosa. The basis for this correlation has been reviewed by Cooke.1 The same formation has been termed the Potomac group by Ladd2 and the Middendorf formation by Smith' in reports on the kaolin deposits. In another report, Veatch4 called the formation the Tuscaloosa but correlated it with the Lower Cretaceous. The Tuscaloosa in this area consists of fine to very coarse sands, commonly cross-bedded, which contain widely different proportions of white, pink, and yellow kaolin and considerable white mica. A few of the coarser beds contain quartz grains up to 3 in. in length, with bodies of pure white kaolin of equal size that appear to have been formed by the weathering of feldspar grains in place. In the kaolin-producing area, gravel and cobbles occur mainly at the base of the formation. Fig. 2 shows the relations of the Tuscaloosa and its kaolin deposits to the adjacent formations. Its base, on the eroded surface of the crystalline rocks, dips southeastward 50 to 60 ft to the mile, according to LaMoreaux.5 The upper surface of the Tuscaloosa is also an unconformity,

Jan 1, 1952

By Francis Pyne

THE following notes are presented in an endeavour to point out the disadvantages attending the use of chrome brick in reverberatory furnaces used in the treatment of materials that are too valuable to allow any great amount of metal absorption by the brick. Several years ago one of the large Eastern copper refineries decided to utilize basic material in place of siliceous material in the walls of their reverberatory furnaces for the treatment of very foul blister copper, as the latter rapidly corroded the siliceous linings. It was also expected that there would be less slag formation, with a consequent decrease in the cost of treatment and a reduction in the metal losses. Magnesite brick were first used, but while the corrosive action of the foul material was greatly reduced, and the amount of. slag formed was very much less, the magnesite proved to be unsatisfactory in certain parts of the furnace, because of its tendency to crack and span badly when subjected to the alternate heating and cooling that takes place in a reverberatory refining furnace. This made many repairs necessary, and consequent frequent interruption in the operation of the furnace, which, together with the high price of the magnesite brick, ran up the cost of maintenance to an unreasonable amount. It was, therefore, decided to substitute chronic brick for magnesite brick in the parts of the furnace affected. The results, as far as the reverberatory furnace was concerned, were very satisfactory. The corrosion due to the action of the foul blister was small and the amount of slag formed was no greater than when using magnesite, and the tendency to crack and spill shown by the magnesite was eliminated. Gradually the use of chrome brick was extended to all furnaces; those treating blister copper as well as those melting cathodes, and the results were so satin-, factory that the siliceous roofs were replaced by roofs of chrome brick except in certain places where experience showed a more satisfactory performance on the part of the silica brick.

Jan 12, 1917

Until a comparatively few years ago, interest in tantalum was limited almost wholly to its scientific investigation, but its extreme resistance to the action of even the strong mineral acids, its great avidity for the common gases, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen, and its capacity for transforming alternating to direct current are winning for it a place in our industrial life. Tantalum is not attacked by any single acid except hydrpfluoric, nor is it affected by solutions of alkalies. Aqua regia, which readily dissolves both platinum and gold, has no action on it. This resistance to the common corrosive agents is an outstanding property of tantalum and accounts for many of the applications to which it has been put. When heated, tantalum reacts readily with oxygen and nitrogen and absorbs large volumes of hydrogen, 740 volumes being taken up at a dull red heat. This capacity for absorbing gases is being utilized to an increasing extent in the manufacture of vacuum tubes, in which tantalum is used for the metal parts, especially for grid wire. It is said to be a superior metal for this purpose, particularly in power and sending tubes, because of its low secondary emission. The use of tantalum in the manufacture of electrodes, dishes, spatulas and other laboratory apparatus appears to be fairly steady. There has been some development in its use for dental instruments, surgical tools, pen points, hypodermic needles and acid-proof pumps. Recently it has been used in the manufacture of spinnerets for the rayon industry, of nozzles for the manufacture of artificial casings for sausages and of lining for plant equipment. Tantalum in Electrolysis It has been known for some time that certain substances permit the passage of an alternating current in one direction more readily than in the other. Tantalum possesses this property to a marked degree.' When an alternating current is passed through a cell with tantalum electrodes and sulfuric acid electrolyte, a thin film is soon formed at the

Jan 1, 1930

By V. F. Marsters

SEEPAGES Of oil in Ecuador have been known for many years. The locality first to receive attention, and still worked in a modest way, lies on the north shore of the Santa Elena peninsula, between La Puntilla and Salinas. Operations were first conducted largely by local capital. Later, foreign companies acquired large blocks of land, where they have done considerable drilling. For details concerning present drilling activities in Ecuador, we are indebted to Leon Price, an American resident engineer of Ecuador. The information solicited, came to the author through the office of the American Consulate,' with permission to use it. The coastal plain bordering the Province of Tumbes, Peru, continues to the northeast, but narrows on passing the Zarumilla River. From this, point northward it widens toward Santa Rosa. In fact, the pampas, as shown on the official Wolf map, correspond fairly well to the areal extent of the coastal plain as far as Guayaquil. This is shown in a general way on the accompanying map. The author understands that the Guayaquil embayment is bordered on all sides by the coastal plain, as recognized at Tumbes and farther southwest, and that it can be followed without a break as far north as Palmar. This view is supported by the mapped area regarded by Mr. Price as favorable or possible oil territory. Moreover the islands in the Gulf of Guayaquil are the same geologically as the coastal edge, being composed of Tertiary sediments. The author understands also that Tertiary formations occur north of Palmar. According to a report by Mr. Cardon, of Guayaquil, Tertiary sediments are exposed in the region of San Francisco and extend to and beyond Pta. Calera. There is also reason to believe that at least the lower part of the valley of the Santiago River is occupied by Tertiary sediments, which probably border the coast line and extend into the River Mira basin, and into Colombia.

Jan 7, 1922

AlfreD H. Cowles, Cleveland, Ohio (commuaication to the Secretary*):—Mr.Gillette's paper and his deductions seem to me of the very greatest importance, if the validity of his conclusions and figures can be confirmed. His work seems to solve an unfinished problem that I attempted to solve on the same lines about two years ago, at a time when I was preparing a paper' on another subject for the American Electrochemical Society. The following paragraph is quoted from the paper referred to: "I feel convinced that a further study of the heats of combination now known for so many compounds, which merely express in other terms their voltages of disruption, will show us the allowance that must be made as a departure from unity in the case of each element, for the intrinsic charge of its elementary molecule, and thereby render possible the creation of a table of apparent relative atomic capacities for electricity, similar to the table of atomic weights. With the numerals of this table known, thermal reaction or energy-transformations will be read with the same ease that we now read and trace the shifting of mass

Jan 1, 1904

By GLENVILTE A. COLLINS

(Presented at a Meeting of the Spokane Local Section of the Institute, Feb. 17, 1912, and accepted for publication in the Bulletin. ) WHILE I am not at the present time engaged in active mine-management, my duties permit of extensive study and examination of many mines, mills, and reduction-works in various places throughout the United States. Being much interested in efficiency-work in general, and an ardent reader of writings on this subject by Frederick W. Taylor and others, as applied to manufacturing-plants, and having served my apprenticeship from mucking to the engineering design of ore-dressing and underground plants, I hope that this paper will lead others to investigate the field more fully, to the improvement of general mine- and mill-operations, as well as the advancement, intellectually, physically, and financially, of the employee and his relations with the employer. If a man who is prepared to look closely and observe broadly starts in Canada and zig-zags from camp to camp to southern Mexico, taking time casually to inspect mines, mills, and smelters, he will be pitifully impressed by the great difference in customs, and the general waste of labor, time, and money throughout the country. He will so seldom observe a dollar's worth of results given in exchange for a dollar spent that he will form a poor opinion of operating-efficiency and management. This highly-scientific department, requiring an amount of skill and executive ability equaled in few, if any, of the professions, certainly falls short of the standard established in our greater manufacturing industries. It is easily said that this is due to the diversity of conditions in mining, milling, and smelting. But on second view it must be admitted that there is room for tremendous improvements in nearly every mining-organization. The proposal of such improvements is often met by the argument that any mine

Sep 1, 1912

By A. B. Kinzel

MUCH work has been done recently in an attempt to analyze the physicochemical mechanism involved in the production of steel by the open-hearth process. . This has resulted in reducing the process to a series of interrelated phenomena obeying the usual laws of mass action and diffusion. Of these, the reaction of the iron oxide and carbon in the molten steel is of most interest from a technical point of view as it con-stitutes the main action in the usual steelmaking processes. A. L. Feild1 has formulated a basic differential equation expressing the open-hearth reactions and Hefty has done considerable experimental work on the determination of a number of constants involved in the basic open-hearth reaction. In considering the application of the law of mass action. to the reaction FeO +C ?? CO +Fe, the iron will be taken as constant, as is the case in the open hearth and the carbon monoxide pressure will be assumed' constant at one atmosphere. From this xy = m at equilibrium, where x is the percentage weight of carbon, y percentage weight of iron oxide and m the weight-concentration equilibrium constant. While it is customary for physical chemists to express equilibrium constants in terms of molar concentrations, the constant is here expressed as the product of the percentage-weight concentrations for ease of comparison with the constants quoted by Herty and by Feild, and for more ready applicability to the open-hearth reactions. Herty and his associates have attempted to calculate the value of this constant from data on open-hearth heats. So many variables affect these results that an adequate calculation presents very great difficulties. A value of 4 X 10-2 was first arrived at, but this was later changed to 1.6 X 10-2. Feild, in order to illustrate the operation of the differential equation of the open hearth, has assumed a value considerably lower than Herty's, namely, 1.0 X 10-2, the largest value consistent with certain theoretical

Jan 1, 1929

By Horace Williams

IN VIEW of the frequent occurrence of petroleum in other parts of the world, it seems odd that so large an area as is contained within the borders of Brazil should be without this product. This apparent deficiency may be due, however, to our ignorance of the regions in which-it, may exist. In some places, indications point to the probable existence of petroleum in ages gone by; and while the presence of petroleum pools may be problematic, in several regions conditions not unfavorable to their occurrence exist. Yet, Brazil has enormous oil resources in the rich oil-shales in different parts of the country. Many of these shales are very rich and only suitable processes for the extraction of the oil are lacking. At the present time, only a few small experimental plants are producing oil by distillation from these shales. These plants have been the subject of recent investigations by the Geological and Mineralogical Survey, a. pre-liminary report of which is in the hands of the printer. The only regions where studies have not been made are the upper Amazon, the Acre, the Rio Negro, and the Peruvian frontier, which really seems to be the most promising field for, explorations of any in the country. In the vast plateau region of the interior north of the 20th parallel of latitude, granites, gneiss, mica schists, and, very old metamorphosed sedimentaries predominate. Later, sedimentaries occupy a minor position and, where found in the interior, represent a thin veneering resting on the older rocks. At several places near the coast they have a greater development and contain considerable beds of oil-shale and may, in some cases, offer conditions favorable for the occurrence of oil. Such deposits are found in the Permian rocks of central-and southern Maranhão; in the Tertiary and Cretaceous beds along the coast of Alagôas Sergipe, Bahia, and perhaps farther south in Espirito Santo; and in the Parahyba embayment north of Cape Frio and in the interior Tertiary basin of eastern Sao Paulo.

Jan 9, 1920

By H. R. Shidel

THIS paper summarizes the results obtained from the preliminary cementing of wells in an effort to cut off the bottom water. The object of this work was two-fold: (1) To prevent the oil sand from becoming flooded. (2) To plug off bottom water, thereby preserving the individual well and reclaiming production. Valuable suggestions and help have been given by the following named: Messrs. Kyle and La Velle, of the U. S. Bureau of Mines; Magnolia Petroleum Co.; Freed Oil and Gas Co. The cementing work was carried out under the personal supervision of L. J. Snyder. In an unpublished paper on the "Water Problem in the Augusta Field," S. K. Clark reaches the following conclusions: (1) That the great amount of water present is bottom water, occurring in the Varner sand, the main producing or the 2500-ft. horizon. (2) That the only striking connection between structure and water is in the area of the marked fault on the Ralston, E. C. Varner, and F. Varner leases in sections 8, 9, 16 and 17. (3) That the oil occurs in porous streaks, generally separated by fine-grained, well cemented sand, which is barren. Possibly two, or three such pay streaks may be found. That under a pay, fine-grained sand occurs, which is presumably barren at the time of drilling, but soon reveals water. The writer takes partial exception to the last point, because well defined shale, slate, lime, or hard sand breaks have been encountered in a great many cases, separating the pay streaks under which water is often found. This is not an invariable occurrence, as cases have been noted when the oil has been followed immediately by water in the same stratum. In an effort to overcome the water menace, the following methods of plugging were tried: (1) Plugging with wood, lead, and limit plugs. (2) Plugging with sand pumpings.

Jan 10, 1918

By Frank Clemens Smith

The occurrence of the tellurides of gold and silver, even in small quantities, is so rare that their metallurgical treatment has engaged little attention. A residence of several months at one of the few mines in North America the product of which consists entirely of such ore, has led me to arrange a method for its economical treatment. The mine referred to is the Huronian, situated a few miles distant from Jackfish Lake, in Ontario, Canada. The plan proposed is for this peculiar case, and is put on record as possibly suggestive and helpful .in any similar instance, should it occur. Since freight-rates from the mine to the nearest railroad-point were extremely high, and for other economical reasons, the method proposed is modified by the use, as far as possible, of the machinery already at the mine, and is so arranged that bullion instead of concentrates would be obtained as a final product. The ore-vein at the Huronian mine varied in width from about 4 feet at the surface to 2 feet and less at the lowest level—125 feet —and dipped southeast about 88. The rock consisted, on both foot- and hanging-walls, of soft, green Huronian slates carrying much highly crystalline but barren pyrite. The ore carried an inconsiderable amount of galena with iron and copper pyrites, argentite, hessite, sylvanite (or petzite), and probably altaite, the telluride of lead. Near the surface the ore showed considerable native gold, but this disappeared with greater depth. Two complete analyses of minerals containing tellurium are here attached, as they establish the presence of two important compounds: I. Analysis of a mineral supposed at the mine to be sylvanite, but agreeing more closely in composition with petzite (Ag, Au)2 Te: Ag = 41.062 Au =23.691 Te =32.007 Pb = 0.071 SiO2= 0.097 Fe = trace 96.928

Jan 1, 1890

By Van Der Muelen P. A.

SOME time ago, the writer received from W. 0. Borcherdt, Manager of the, works of the Bertha Mineral Co. at Austinville, Va., several specimens of a dense yellowish slag-like material, containing cavities showing clear needle-like crystals, and representing a product formed by the fumes of zinc oxide and basic lead sulphate from the oxide furnace, attacking the firebrick lining of the flues. The matrix, which is of a greenish-yellow color, is made up chiefly of an amorphous glass, carrying numerous crystals, the latter being well-defined, clear, and transparent, but colored a very light yellow by small amounts of ferric oxide. A number of the crystals were carefully separated from the matrix and tested with the blowpipe. They have a fusibility of about 2, yield a globule of lead and a coating of lead oxide before the blowpipe on charcoal, and contain some zinc. Their hardness is 5 to 6. 1 Fig. 1. Under the microscope the crystals appear to be made up of a prism, with narrow faces, and a fairly large pinacoid, but unfortunately show no terminal faces (Fig. 1). Between crossed nicols they gave parallel extinction in. the three planes containing the crystallographic axes, and are therefore orthorhombic. The index of refraction is high. A number of the best crystals were measured on the reflection goniometer, the angles given below representing the average of measurements made on different individuals. mm = 46° 52' mb = 66° 34' a:b:c = 0.4334:1 :?

Jan 5, 1917