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By E. S. Wheeler

The rapid increase in the use of monel metal and malleable nickel in the form of sheet, rod and tube has resulted in a similar increase in the demand for these metals in the form of castings. These castings range in size from small valves and pipe fittings weighing a few ounces to large centrifugal pumps, gate valves and marine propellers, some of the last weighing as much as 24,000 lb. A group of such castings is shown in Fig. 1. A large nickel agitator is shown in Fig. 2. Monel metal castings are widely used in accessories for steam power plants and in a variety of chemical plant equipment where the corrosion resistance, high strength and toughness characteristic of this metal render it particularly valuable. Nickel castings find extensive use in the construction of corrosion-resistant apparatus, and are often used in conjunction with wrought nickel sheet and tube in the fabrication of equipment for handling a variety of chemical and food products, particularly dairy products. In response to this demand for castings, numerous foundries have undertaken the production of castings of these metals and have met with varying degrees of success. The successful production of castings of monel metal and nickel requires careful attention to molding practice, proper melting equipment

Jan 1, 1930

By Carl F. Floe, Michael B. Bever

ACCELERATED by the demands of war, research and development work in nonferrous physical metallurgy has continued at a rapid pace during the past year. In particular, advances have been made in processing and fabrication, especially of the light alloys, and in the surface treatment of metals. Theoretical physical metallurgy, although less active, has not been neglected and the year has brought forth some -notable contributions to our understanding of the fundamental structure of metals and their behavior in service. Of course, much work that has been done cannot be publicly discussed because of wartime restrictions.

Jan 1, 1945

By CLARENCE WM. POY

THE most common difficulty faced by an engineer or mine operator when opening a new property in a new field is the lack of roads and of cheap transportation. This one item often swings the balance of success or failure in starting a project. In Alaska, as elsewhere, such problems are more or less serious. In the boom days around the Valdez district, as well as in other parts of this territory, freighting was accom¬plished by dog teams or horses, or even by men that were willing to put their shoulders into harness, because there were virtually no roads. More important, there was only one time when supplies could be transported, and that was when there was suffi¬cient snow on the ground following a heavy wind. Then, and only then, could one depend on the snow to support horses and sleighs, and be sure that the gulleys, streams, and crevices in the glaciers were filled with snow to avoid pitfalls. These methods were used when one had no roads, no streams in the summer to float a barge, or even a trail for a pack train. If the snow was deep and soft, trans

Jan 1, 1935

By Herbert A. Franke

ANY analysis of the aluminum situation, particularly of the factors involved in the current shortage of the metal, must consider the rapid march of events since the Munich fiasco of September 1938. At the end of 1938, the sole domestic producer of aluminum had more than a year's supply of metal on hand, having added 50,500 tons of output to stocks during the year. Not until war had been declared between the United Kingdom and Germany in September 1939 did the United States begin to make serious preparations for defense and a limited national emergency was proclaimed. Congress reflecting popular opinion, was not disposed to spend huge sums for armaments in 1939, and although 31,413 tons of aluminum was withdrawn from stocks. 107,500 tons was still on hand at the end of the year. When the President initiated a 50,000-airplane program in May 1940 the country was astounded, as previous Congressional authorizations of approximately 6000 planes for the Army by July 1911 and 3000 for the Navy by 1914 had been considered adequate.

Jan 1, 1941

By B. M. Larsen

Jan 1, 1948

By B. M. Larsen

Jan 1, 1948

By Sam Tour

WHAT is a die-casting and what is the die-casting industry? From the literal translation of the words "die" and "casting"' one concludes that a die-casting is a casting made in a die. The casting may be of any metal or alloy or, for that matter, may be of some nonmetallic material capable of being cast, such as plaster of paris or glass. The die may be of any material that will take successive casts so it need not necessarily be metallic in nature. The term "die-casting," therefore, is indeed broad, though in practical usage it has come to mean the casting of metals and their alloys in metallic molds or dies. Even this limitation of the term leaves -a broad field, for castings may be made in a number of different ways. For example, the molten metal may be allowed to run into the die by gravity it may be sucked into the cavity of the die, it may be forced to take the contour of the cavity in the die by centrifiugal force, or it may be forced into the cavity under hydrostatic pressure. In England, castings made by practically all of these

Jan 1, 1935

By Kenneth K. Humphreys, Joseph W. Leonard, Robert L. Llewellyn, William C. McCulloch

INTRODUCTION The particular field of application of machines utilizing air currents as the primary separating medium is in the cleaning of the fine sizes of bituminous coal. Approximately 25,400,000 tons of bituminous coal were cleaned by air machines during 1965. They have not found any application for cleaning anthracite. Since the development and introduction of the first successful commercial pneumatic oscillating machine for cleaning bituminous coal in 19 16, by the Sutton, Steele and Steele Co, Dallas, Texas, and the American Coal Cleaning Corporation, formerly of Welch, W. Va., seven other successful pneumatic coal-cleaning machines have been developed and introduced to the American coal-mining industry: 1. Peale Davis: "Pneumo-Gravity" machine. 2. Arms "Concentrator," oscillating table. 3. Hey1 and Patterson oscillating table. 4. "Stump Air-Flow," pulsating air jig. 5. "Super Airflow," pulsating air jig. 6. Ridge air jig. 7. Phillip air jig. While not all coals can be beneficiated by air washing, the air washing of coals that are easy to clean can be readily proved advantageous. Of all the preparation methods, pneumatic cleaning is the most acceptable from the standpoint of delivered Btu cost. This is based on the premise that a percent of moisture is just as detrimental as a percent of ash. The principle of dry concentration has never been determined with scientific accuracy. To the present time the study has been more of an art than a science. It is possible to forecast the results of wet concentration from a study of the washability characteristics of the raw coal but only after applying rule-of-thumb methods of interpretation to the specific gravity and size distribution can it be ascertained that the raw coal is amenable to dry concentration. Air as a separating medium dates back to biblical times as exemplified in the winnowing of chaff from the grain. However, the same application of air to coal serves merely to blow the dust away and size the remaining particles. Pulsating air was the solution to the problem and largely eliminated the necessity for close screen sizing which was required on early separators. Because of the low density of air, a medium of sufficient density has to be built with the material itself. Hence there must be some device to impart to the bed the necessary mobility for proper classification. Also, the

Jan 1, 1968

By AIME AIME

TRANSFER to the Bureau of Mines of the responsibility for conservation and production of helium, and announcement that a proposal has been made to the President for commercial operation of the Los Angeles has attracted new attention to the helium program of the Government. The matter is one in which mining engineers, and the mining industry in general, have a peculiar interest. Helium is a byproduct of the petroleum and natural gas industry. It is found in certain of the natural gases which have themselves been discovered, in the main, in the search for oil. If it is to be produced on a large scale, the conservation and development of the fields will necessarily be done by the men of the oil and gas industry. There is no known or expected source of supply of quantities of commercial importance save in the natural gas fields. Not all gas wells supply helium and none of them supply it in important percentages. If it were necessary to prospect a field, develop it, lay pipe lines and build production plants for the helium alone, the cost would be prohibitive. On that basis helium would necessarily be restricted to essential war uses, where cost is subordinate to need. As a byproduct of the natural gas in certain, at least, of the fields in the United States there is distinct reason for anticipating that it may be produced in amounts and at a cost that will permit its regular use in commercial airships.

Jan 1, 1925

By D. W. Breck

Zeolites were first recognized as a new group of minerals by Cronstedt with the discovery of stilbite in 1756. The word zeolite was coined from the two Greek words meaning "to boil" and "a stone" because of the loss of water when heated in the mineralogist's blowpipe (Breck, 1974). In 1845 it was discovered that certain soils lave the power of retaining ammonium salts Way, 1850). These were the first ion exchange experiments. Later it was discovered that it was the hydrated silicates in the soil that produced this phenomenon. Several years later a paper was published dealing with the action of dilute salt solutions on silicates which showed that this base-exchange principle, which we now call cation exchange, is reversible. The quantitative cation exchange behavior of zeolite minerals, such as chabazite, was studied. As a result any aluminosilicate which exhibited the property of ion exchange was referred to as a "zeolite," even today the term has been applied to clay minerals as well as synthetic organic ion exchange resins.

Jan 1, 1975

By George C. Coupland

Ecstall Mining Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Texas Gulf Sulphur Company, is the owner and operator of the Kidd Creek Mine including the concentrator complex located near Timmins, Ontario. Canada, approximately 450 miles north of Toronto. The mine, concentrator and Timmins form a triangular arrangement with a 17-mile rail link connecting the mine and concentrator and both of these facilities 18 and 14 miles respectively by road from Timmins. A core drilling program in the spring of 1964 established the presence of a large massive sulphide orebody which was to become the Kidd Creek Mine. Texas Gulf Sulphur had been conducting an intensive search for base metal in various parts of Northern Ontario and Quebec since 1957. Of several thousand anomalies detected in airborne electromagnetic surveys, several hundred warranted ground inspection, but only one of more than sixty drilled became a commercial orebody, the Kidd Creek Mine. The geophysical exploration work has been well covered in a paper written and presented by Van Donohoo, presently a Vice-President of T.G.S., at the American Mining Congress in San Francisco in October 1969. GEOLOGY The orebody lies within a series of overturned rhyolitic flows and pyroelastics with a major peridotite intrusive to the east. The hangingwall and footwall are composed chiefly of intermediate volcanics, andesite and dacite. The southern end of the orebody appears to terminate abruptly against greywacke while the north end is bifurcated and the structure obscured.

Jan 1, 1970

By N. A. Gjostein

The real and apparent dependence of the surface self-diffusion coefficient, Ds, of gold on crystallo-graphic orientation has been investigated by isolated scratch smoothing and grain boundary grooving experiments. No systematic variation of Ds with orientation was found along the [100] zone. In view of the experimental scatter in these results, however, only aniso-tropy ratios, p, greater than -1.3 would be detectable. Anomalously low values of Ds were found on the [0ll] and [110] zones when the diffusion direction lies along (the scratch or grain boundary groove is perpendicular to) these zones. By comparing these results with a previous y plot study of gold, it is hypothesized that this is not an intrinsic diffusivity effect, but rather it results from a decreased driving force for mass transfer at orientations where the y-plot curvature is negative and appreciable in magnitude relative to y. The characteristics of this type of anisotropy do not appear sEVERAL investigations1-7 have dealt with the anisotropy of the surface self-diffusion coefficient, Ds, of metals as measured by the decay of single or multiple to be in agreement with the hypothesis of fast diffusion along ledges in the surface structure. In certain cases the Fourier method of determining Ds, described in Paper I of this series9 was compared with the second moment analysis in order to determine whether or not the method of analysis affects the anisotropy ratio. While the type of analysis does influence the magnitude of the anisotropy ratio, this effect is not associated with the shape of the profile, but rather is connected with the iterative volume diffusion correction used in conjunction with the second moment analysis. It is further demonstrated that the volume diffusion correction can be too large by either method when the y-plot curvature effect is large. Certain orientations exhibit an unusual temperature dependence of Ds ; this is discussed in terms of the y-plot curvature effect and/or the influence of impurities on Ds . scratches in the surface. Depending on the system investigated, both large1"3'6'7 and small4'5 anisotropies in Ds have been found. Although adsorbed impurities undoubtedly play an important role in determining the magnitude of the anisotropy,8 there are other factors that can give rise to an apparent anisotropy in Ds, thus obscuring the true nature of an intrinsic anisotropy in

Jan 1, 1968

By Paul Billingsley

THE purpose of this paper is a comparison, based on genesis, of the ore deposits associated with the igneous rocks of the central Montana Rockies. Considered separately, without attention to their origin, the orebodies appear to be distributed haphazard, with no fundamental laws controlling their position and character. It is believed, however, that if all the factors be weighed, this apparent confusion will to a large degree disappear. The, first essential to such a comparison is detailed knowledge of the individual mines, as to their geographic position (see Fig. 1), their mineralogical character, and in particular the derivation of their ores.1 The authors of this paper have pursued such an investigation for the past 6 years, and have accumulated a mass of evidence that enables a preliminary correlation to be attempted. It appears that the majority of ore deposits are genetically related to one or another of the igneous

Jan 4, 1917

By Lucien Eaton

THE use of filling in mines is less common in the United States than it is in Europe, where in some places it is required by law. In most cases the filling is placed by hand, and the material used for this purpose is the waste from development and that sorted from the ore in the stopes. When these sources provide an insufficient supply, additional rock must be quarried on surface or mined underground, or some other material :st be used. In different parts of the world sand, clay, gravel, culm, nulated slag, mill tailings, and even ashes, have been used as filling material in place of or in conjunction with rock. Of all the materials used for filling the best is probably clean sand. Gravel, finely crushed rock, granulated slag and coarse mill tailings are almost as good, and the methods used for placing and confining sand will apply equally well to any of these. The advantages of sand are its comparatively slight compressibility and the ease, economy and convenience with which it may be placed. On account of the voids, which necessarily occur in fills made of coarse waste, such fills will compress 10 to 25 per cent before they develop their full strength, whereas clean sand seldom compresses more than 5 per cent. Sand is especially desirable when practically complete filling is required, and sand derived from mill tailings, especially when not thoroughly cleaned, has been remarkably effective in sealing off and extinguishing mine fires. When natural sand is available on surface, or when it can be obtained from the mill tailings or tailings dump, the cost of using this material for fill will probably be considerably less than that of rock. In this paper it is not proposed to discuss all methods of filling, butt to describe some of the methods used for placing sand fill and to make a brief comparison of their merits.

Jan 1, 1932

Who's Who in Mineral Engineering - The 1978 Membership Directory of the Society of Mining Engineers of AIME

Jan 7, 1978

By Carroll Forbes

INTRODUCTION MANY different shapes of drill bits are in use with hammer drills, but little definite information is available whereby to judge which one of these shapes is the best. The following investigation was undertaken in order to determine what effect, if any, the shape of the cutting edge has on the cutting speed and wearing qualities of drill bits. The bits tested were those in common use, namely, the 4-point or cross bit, the 6-point bit, the Z bit and the "Carr" bit. The rock in which the tests were made was the red granite from southeast Missouri. It is a coarse crystalline granite containing an unusually large amount of quartz and is extremely hard, and on account of its uniform texture is admirably adapted to this work. While tests in other rocks might show somewhat different results, nevertheless it is the opinion of the authors that the relative cutting quality inherent in the shape of the bits would be the same in all rocks. Other qualities, such as mudding freely, freedom from fitchering, etc., might make one bit more desirable than another in softer rocks. DESCRIPTION OF BITS TESTED The 4-point bits were the usual shaped bits commonly made on the Leyner sharpener with 14° taper on the wings and a 90° angle between cutting edges. Some tests were run at 85 lb. pressure with a 4-point bit made with a 5° taper on the wings. This was made by using the Carr bit die. The 6-point bits were the usual shaped hits made on, the Leyner sharpener. The Carr bits were made with a 5° taper and an angle of 100° between cutting edges.

Jan 8, 1917

By Howard N. Eavenson

AN analysis of the bituminous coal situation by an authority who traces the production, mining, safety, markets and labor trends in comparison with other fuels. BEFORE 1918 the production of coal experienced a steady growth, with slight recessions in ouput in only twelve years (1837, 1841, 1852, 1855, 1861, 1874, 1876, 1889, 1894, 1905, 1909, 1914), and in each of these cases the loss was recovered in the following year and the increase continued. In each decade the output was doubled. Prices, while not high, allowed some profit. In 1918 during World War I, an output of 580 million tons was reached and with the exception of 1923 this total was not again reached until 1942, in World War 11. Losses of output in this period were much greater than ever before; in 1932 the total was 270 million tons less than in 1918 or 1923, and the loss after 1923 was not recovered until 1942. The greatest output was 631 million tons in 1947.

Jan 1, 1950

By C. F. Cornell, R. C. Emmett, D. A. Dahlstrom

FOR many years the disk-type and cloth-covered drum filters have found widest application in liquid-solids separation, which uses continuous filters. The disk type is less expensive, occupies less floor space per square foot of filtration area, and requires negligible down time for filter media changing. However, because filter cloth is billowed out by the blowback in the cake discharge, it is very short-lived if the scraper blades are set too close. Consequently cake weight is very important in assisting cake discharge, which normally necessitates a minimum cake thickness of 3/8 to ½ in. Also, the vertical position of the disks eliminates the possibility of efficient cake washing for removal of soluble values. The disk-type filter is generally limited, therefore, to applications that require no cake washing and form relatively thick cakes within the normal range of filter cycle times. The conventional cloth-covered drum filter is a more flexible unit, permitting wider variation in the percentage of cycle time devoted to cake formation, dewatering, or washing, as required by the application. Thinner filter cakes can be discharged because a horizontal line across the filter medium at the location of the scraper blade is equidistant from the edge of the blade at all points. The scraper blade therefore may be set a short distance from the filter medium or, where wire winding is not used, a floating scraper can be utilized so that the contour of the cloth can be followed. The drum filter is generally employed when there are difficult filtering slurries with resultant thin cakes or when cake washing to recover soluble values must be practiced. Difficulties sometimes encountered in continuous filter operation can be summarized in the following four categories: 1) Low filtration and/or washing rates due to blinding of the filter medium. 2) Poor cake discharge resulting from sticky cakes, filter medium blinding, or too thin a cake for the particular type of filter. 3) High filter media costs caused by short life and frequent down times for cloth changing. This results from blinding or from abrasion by the scraper blade when cakes are thin. 4) Blowback of filtrate at cake discharge because not enough air passes through the cake to purge the drainage area and filtrate lines during dewatering. To reduce or eliminate blinding tendencies several modifications have been tried, for example, cover-cleaning showers, blowback under the feed slurry, and snap-blow cake discharge. In many cases, however, this simply retards the rate of blinding, since the filter medium is kept clean at its outer surface only by these methods. As blinding usually occurs within or on the back of the medium, the operator is finally forced either to remove the cloth and scrub the medium intensively with a cleaning solution or acid-rinse it on the filter—all resulting in down time, short cloth life, and additional costs.

Jan 1, 1959

By H. J. Gerritsen

From presently available components a portable, rugged, reliable apparatus can be built which will be able to detect methane concentrations of 0.1% and lower in air. Sensitivity and design considerations of the apparatus are given. Ways to build even simpler and cheaper apparatus in the future are indicated. Traditionally the problem of detecting and monitoring the presence of dangerous gases present in small concentrations in air has been a difficult one. Whether canaries,' or sophisticated chemical or thermal conductivity methods are used, they seem to be either slow, cumbersome, or otherwise not completely satis factory. A seemingly natural way of gas detection is to measure the strength of absorption undergone by light of a wavelength that the gas to be detected absorbs. This method has been difficult to apply in view of the low power output over a narrow wavelength range in the infrared from traditional glow bar light sources. Besides, the apparatus to select such a narrow band of wavelengths is quite costly and complex. The use of a laser solves these problems simultaneously. Although a variety of lasers are available to detect a variety of gases (such as carbon monoxide or methane) whose early detection would be desirable, this paper deals exclusively with the use of lasers for methane detection. ABSORPTION SPECTRUM OF METHANE IN AIR The absorption spectrum of pure methane is very well known.2-4 There are four fundamental vibrations, all occurring in the infrared of which only two absorb strongly. They occur at 3.3 µ and 7.7 µ. The absorption spectrum is quite complicated due to the fact that the methane molecule can rotate in a variety of rotational quantum states. These rotational states are furthermore split by anharmonic forces such as the Coriolis force.4 When methane is present in air at atmospheric pressure, much of the very fine structure due to the anharmonic force is washed out since the pressure broadening is of the same magnitude as the splitting due to anharmonicity. For most of the spectrum at 3.3 µ, the rotational lines are typically separated by 0.01µ while the individual linewidth is 0.0001 µ. It is thus very important that the laser emit at a wavelength that coincides with one of these rotational lines. Before elaborating on the point that such a laser exists and how it performs, it is necessary for later discussion to point out that in the

Jan 1, 1967

By H. O. Hofman

At the Lake Superior meeting, September, 1904, Messrs. A. Gibb and R. C. Philp presented a paper entitled " The Constitution of Mattes Produced in Copper-Smelting,"' in which they concluded that ferrous and cuprous sulphides formed the chemical compound, 5 Cu2S, FeS. They arrived at this inference from the observed fact that a matte containing Cu,S, 90.4, and FcS, 9.6 per cent. (or, in round figures, Cu2S, 90, and FeS, 10 per cent.), did not contain any metallic copper, while one with more than 10 per cent. of FeS readily dissolved copper, and with less than this amount retained copper in mechanical suspension. Although they determined the melting-points of five mattes containing from 32.6 to 80.1 per cent. of copper, they did not draw a freezing-point curve, as the necessary apparatus was not available. A microscopical examination of 11 polished samples gave them a grayish-black field of very uniform appearance, except that five of the specimens showed the presence of metallic copper. The object of the present investigation was to supplement the above paper by drawing the freezing-point curve of the ferrous sulphide-cuprous sulphide series, and to see how the constitution could be further revealed by microscopical work. The results obtained lead to conclusions very different from those of Gibb and Philp. While their paper bears the date 1904, it was published only in 1906.2 In the meantime, Bolles3 had presented his paper, " The Concentration of Gold and Silver in Iron-Bottoms." The raw material which formed the basis of the research was a matte containing Fe, 61.68, and Cu, 11.20

Jan 1, 1908