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By Wilbert J. Huff

The work of the Explosives Division, Bureau of Mines, United States Department of the Interior, for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1939, is described in the following pages. This paper is the fourth of a series of annual reports covering the activities of the division since July l, 1936.

Jan 1, 1940

By J. W. Griflith, P. A. Mack, C. M. Lang, S. Riling

"N-acetyl-beta(B)-D-glucosaminidase is a N-acetyl-beta((B)-D-glucosaminidase enzyme se¬creted by alveolar macrophages in response to phagocytosis of particulate material. Alveolar macrophages participate in the degradation and fibrosis of pulmonary tissue that results in pneumoconiosis. Known quantities of four characterized respirable dusts were bronchoscopically placed into the right caudal lung lobe of macaque monkeys. Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) samples were collected from dust-exposed right lung and unexposed left lung of the same individuals at 2-week intervals for 12 weeks after dust instillation. The samples were tested for N-acetyl-B-D-glucosaminidase activity to determine if the enzyme levels could serve as an indicator of pulmonary injury induced by generic coal dusts when compared to known fibrogenic and nuisance dusts. Installation of generic quartz, anthracite, or TiO2 dusts produced significant elevations of enzyme activity and increased numbers of macrophages in the dust-exposed lobes. Elevations in enzymatic activity and macrophage numbers were greatest in response to generic quartz dust. These results suggest that quantitative levels of N-acetyl-B-D-glucosaminidase activity may be a useful indicator of acute and chronic lung injury following exposure to fibrogenic and nonfibrogenic dusts.IntroductionCoal workers pneumoconiosis (CWP) is an occupational pulmonary disease associated with the inhalation of coal mine dust. An important external factor in the development of CWP is the composition of the respirable coal mine dust. A cause-and-effect relationship exists between coal mine dust and CWP, but it has not been shown that exposure to generic coal dusts will cause CWP [12]. Numerous immunological, biochemical, and cellular changes occur in CWP; however, in this study, only N-acetyl-beta(B)-D-glucosaminidase (NAGase), protein, and alveolar macrophages (AM) will be examined [7, 32, 33]."

Dec 1, 1996

"Qatar, crude petroleum, production, annualdata MY 1949-51Quality mine, Ark., coal, carbonizing properties TP 667washabilty study RI 496N. Dak., lignite, grindabilty as function ofmoisture, tests, results RI 5167"

Jan 1, 1960

By E. L. Garton

Bureau of Mines routine crude-oil analyses of 88 samples from 60 fields are presented in this report. Similar analyses from other fields in California have been published in previous reports listed in the appendix, page 52. Yearly production of crude oil in California and the percentage of United States production represented by California production for 1948-54 are given in table 1. [ ] Analyses in this report are of samples from the fields listed in table 2, with production data for 1953, cumulative production through 1953, and year of discovery of each field. Information regarding the source and general characteristics of the samples is included in table 3 with a summary of analytical and computed data.

Jan 1, 1956

By James J. Snodgrass

The Bureau of Mines designed and constructed a series of calibration models for geophysical borehole logging. A nominal hole diameter of 3 inches was selected as representative of typical core holes drilled for mining and engineering purposes, although additional hole diameters of 2, 5, and 8 inches are provided in one of the models for determination of empirical correction factors for variations in hole diameter. The physical properties of the models were determined by laboratory analyses of drill core samples and evaluated statistically for reliability. This report outlines the location of the models, elements of design and construction, and results of the laboratory tests. The models are available at the Denver Federal Center, Denver, Colo., for use by Government agencies and private industry to calibrate logging equipment for measurements of density, sonic velocity, magnetic susceptibility, and electrical resistivity.

Jan 1, 1976

By W. A. Calhoun, M. M. Fine

"One of the most important wartime activities of the Bureau of Mines was the search for new sources of mineral necessary to the prosecution of the war. Part of that effort was in the form of metallurgical service extended to other government agencies engaged in purchasing and stock piling some of the more critical and strategic materials.Fluorite was one of the materials stock piled by the Metals Reserve Company. The fluorite was usually in the form of coarse metallurgical con¬centrate purchased in the United States and abroad. The material was stock¬piled to insure an adequate reserve of fluorite for the metallurgical industries. The domestic production of metallurgical fluorite containing a minimum effective calcium fluoride content of 55 percent,4/ however, gradually increased until production was at least equal to consumption. The stock-piled metallurgical fluorite, therefore, soon became a surplus commodity.On the other hand, the supply of acid-grade fluorite, containing a minimum of 97.5 percent calcium fluoride and n maximum of 1.5 percent silica,5/ was never entirely adequate. Increased consumption of acid-grade material in the aluminum, petroleum, and chemical industries kept that material on the critical list during the war.Under the circumstances, it was felt that a study of the possibility of producing acid-grade fluorite from the metallurgical stock piles would be of some benefit to the war effort. Consequently, samples of fluorite from several of the Metals Reserve Company stock piles were tested by the Bureau of Mines at the request of the War Production Board.Two groups of samples were submitted for testing. One consisted of metallurgical fluorite purchased from Mexico and stock-piled in the El Paso and Laredo, Texas, stock piles of the Metals Reserve Company. The second group of samples was from the stock piles at Gila, N. Mex.The sample submitted from the El Paso stock pile consisted of about 5,000 pounds of minus 4-inch material. Mineralogically, the sample consisted of fluorite contaminated by calcite, chert, quartz, and small amounts of iron and alumina. Although some of the fluorite was reasonably free from gangue at minus 1-inch, much of it remained locked in sizes as fine as 65-mesh.The Laredo sample was about 5,000 pounds of material from five different piles. The samples from each stock pile, A to E, inclusive, were analyzed separately to determine whether the grade of the material in the piles varied markedly. As there was little difference in the analyses, the samples were combined in proportion to the tonnage represented to make a composite sample for testing. The composite sample consisted of fluorite with small amounts of quartz, calcite, and barite. Most of the fluorite was the dark-colored, opaque variety. A small amount of iron-oxide staining was present, and traces of muscovite, clay, pyrite, and tourmaline were noted. The quartz was present as crystals in vugs, and as finely disseminated grains in the fluorite. The druzy quartz and the calcite were free at minus 10-mesh, but the disseminated grains, some of which were 1 to 15 microns in size, were not entirely free at minus 270-mesh. A petrographic estimate indicated that 65 percent of the silica was locked in the 150- to 200-mesh."

Jun 1, 1946

By John C. Machisak

Injury data and experience, with related employment statistics, at coal mines in the United States for 1960 are presented in this publication under the following general sections: A General injury experience: Tables 1 to 6: Current data on number of injuries, decree of injury, frequency and severity rates, average severity, and related employment and production data by work location. B Selected injury experience: Tables 7 to 38: Current data on principal agencies of injuries, distribution of injuries by part of body injured, days of disability, extent of hand and machine loading, experience by employment and production groups, and various other operating factors and physical conditions related to the occurrence of injuries at the Nation?s coal mines.

Jan 1, 1962

By Christopher J. Bise

The objectives for the research project, "Coal Mine Injury Analysis: A Model for Reduction Through Training," were to identify and develop a means to indicate deficiences in human performance, job skills, and/or knowledge at a given mine site that are amenable to alleviation through training or job redesign, and to provide ;I set of analytical tools and training resources that will enable mine training personnel to effectively incorporate the noted deficiencies into a personalized model training program. The findings of this research project are contained in Light separate volumes. Volume I represents the Executive Summary of the study and provides a broad overview of the project's individual areas of emphasis and deliverables. The additional eight volumes provide greater detail on the development of a Model Mine Training Program based upon Professional Database Analysis, Incident Reporting, Loss Control, Job Safety Analysis, Risk Assessment, Cost/Benefit Analysis, and Mine Safety Management.

Jan 1, 1993

By W. R. Crane

Recent papers on support of roof and top rock in mines representing present practice in so far as it hits been described by engineers in all of the principal mining countries, cover a relatively aide range of topics. The papers abstracted herein include such subjects as the testing of materials of support, failure and movement of rock above workings, effect of excessive pressures on rock masses, axed the application in mines of timber, metal, concrete, packing, and filling support. It is not within the scope of this paper to present a logical and orderly discussion of the elements of support and their application to conditions influenced by the material worked or the method of mining. Only the essential facts of a paper appear in the abstracts, the idea being to give a fairly clear picture of the behavior of various types of support under brows conditions and to put into concise form important information concerning present practice, modifications of practice, and the trend toward new practice. With such valuable facts from others experience made readily available, it Is hoped that the engineer with particular and often trying problems may obtain suggestions that will be immediately helpful.

Jan 1, 1932

By A. J. Barry

Recent developments in mechanizing longwall it mining in Europe have aroused considerable interest among American coal-mine operators because this method provides an opportunity to improve safety, production, efficiency, and recovery. The success of longwall mining in Europe has depended to a large degree on development of effective roof-control systems. One of the major contributing factors in designing these systems is development off improved supports, which combine high load-bearing capacities with controlled yield characteristics, to use in the face areas. Other factors that relate to successful longwall mining involve knowledge of the structural properties of the strata above end below the coal bed being mined, movements of these strata induced by mining, and effects of the strata movements on the strata itself, as well as on the support system used. Extensive studies of the above factors relating to long-wall mining have been made in coal-mining countries abroad, and corresponding studies (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)3/ of room-and-pillar operations have been made in this country. Although descriptions and results of experiments of mechanized longwall operations in the United States have been published (6, 7, 8), this is the first instrumented study of roof behavior on a longwall operation. In view of the possible widespread application of this method of mining to American coal mines, where underground mining conditions are different from those found in European mines, an investigation was conducted at a mechanized longwall operation inn the Lancashire No. 15 mine, Barnes & Tucker Co., Cambric County, Bakerton, Pa., to study the factors that affect roof control. This report describes this investigation and discusses the results. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This investigation was made under a cooperative agreement between the Bureau of Mines and the Barnes & Tucker Co., Barnesboro, Pa., end was conducted in the Lancashire No. 15 mine located at Bakerton, Cambria County, Pa. The authors acknowledge the cooperation given by Richard Z. Todhunter, Sr., president, Richard T. Todhunter, Jr., general manager, and other mine officials and employees of the Barnes & Tucker Co. Mr. Edward Thomas, chief, Roof Control Section, Bureau of Mines, Washington, D. C., and Dr. Leonard Obert, chief, Applied Physics Branch. College Park, Md., collaborated in the planning and promulgation of the program investigation.

Jan 1, 1954

By G. M. Kintz

In safety work a study of past accidents is of value in determining means of reducing future accidents of the same character. This is particularly true with reference to coal-mine explosions. Data from publications of the United States Bureau of Mines and from published reports of the State inspector of coal mines of Colorado are presented in this circular in the belief that they will be of value to operators by indicating methods of preventing future coal-mine explosions. The tables included are complete only with regard to major disasters. The Bureau of Mines considers as a major disaster one in which five 'or more men are killed. However, this circular also includes a considerable number of minor disasters, Various explosions in the coal mines of Colorado from 1883 to 1932, inclusive, are listed with information available as to their probable cause, number of men killed and measures which, if they had been in use at that time, might have prevented them. John McNeil, first Colorado State coal-mine inspector, on page 43 of his first report for the period ended July 31, 1884, made the following recommendations for the prevention of explosions in the coal industry: True causes could be traced either to insufficient ventilation, carelessness and lack of rigid discipline in carrying on energetic ventilation and other precautions needed to be enforced in a mine giving off explosive gases. *** When any quantity of fine coal dust is observed in an entry, air course, or room it should be made damp and be removed from the mine, and thus beep every place as free from dust as possible. *** A system of bratticing close up to the face of each and every place in the mine from crosscut last made (whether gas should just then show its presence or not) which should not be more than 50 or 75 feet according to the nature of the mine.

Jan 1, 1933

By M. P. Board

The U.S. Bureau of Mines, under a cooperative agreement with Hecla Mining Co., conducted a rock mechanics study at four widely spaced horizons in a deep mine shaft in northern Idaho. The objective of the project was to measure and analyze rock deformation and lining behavior during construction of a deep shaft in a high in situ stress field within an isotropic rock mass. Rock mass displacements were monitored with multiple-position borehole extensometers. Liner stress and strain were measured with concrete pressure cells and embedment strain gauges. This report discusses the general trends and magnitudes of data from the four test sites, and relates the data to a proposed anisotropic constitutive model for the rock mass. A design procedure is then outlined for specifications of liner thickness and support installation sequences for future shaft sinking.

Jan 1, 1989

By Eldon K. Stanek

The material presented in this chapter is a review of the work done during the period from June 23, 1972 to June 22, 1973 which was reported in detail in the first annual report for Grant No. 60122088 which was submitted on June 29, 1973. This report has appeared in the National Technical Information Service as bulletin number PB230 972/AS. 1.2 ANALYTICAL PREDICTIONS OF INDUCED VOLTAGES AND CURRENTS The basic building block in this analytical work is the development of an equivalent circuit. The equivalent circuit for the cable depends on all of the distributed parameters of the cable, although the series inductance and resistance are of primary importance. The cable resistances are generally available from handbooks or from cable manufacturers. On the other hand, the cable inductances are not usually available from either handbooks or the manufacturer's published data. Thus, it is useful to present the results of the derivation of the inductance matrix and a few intermediate steps.

Jan 1, 1975

By Danton L. Paulson

Elevated temperature electrical resistivity measurements were made by the Bureau of Mines on arc-melted, spin-cast, and hot-pressed columbium carbide¬carbon (CbC-C) and zirconium carbide-carbon (ZrC-C) materials up to 2,000° C. The CbC-C materials displayed electrical resistivity values ranging from 35.20 microhm cm at 23° C for hot-pressed material containing 12 wt pct carbon to 242.64 microhm cm at 1,622° C for arc-cast material containing 17.0 wt pct carbon. Electrical resistivity values ranged from 29 microhm cm at 20° C for arc-cast ZrC-C containing 16 wt pct carbon to 279 microhm cm at 1,951° C for hot-pressed ZrC-C containing 21 wt pct carbon. Data from a previous report were included to establish comparison between the electrical resistivities of the CbC-C, ZrC-C, and HfC-C systems.

Jan 1, 1969

By John C. Cook

This was a study to identify and evaluate known technologies employing electromagnetic resonance phenomena in solid minerals for their identification and assaying, particularly assay logging of exploratory boreholes. A comprehensive literature search and study revealed some little known NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) techniques developed by Professor G. J. Béné's group at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. These are suitable for use in weak, inhomogeneous magnetic fields. Laboratory NMR tests of numerous U.S. ore minerals showed good identifying signals from phosphates, fluorspar, bauxite, oil shale, and spodumene (lithium) ores, but not from the copper, lead, antimony or manganese ores tested. Use of EPR "signatures" for such ores is suggested. A conceptual design for an NMR assay logging system is proposed.

Jan 1, 1978

By H. N. Dunning

A comprehensive research program designed to aid development of new and improved methods for more complete production of petroleum from partly depleted reservoirs is being conducted at the Bureau of Mines Petroleum Experiment Station, Bartlesville, Okla. Water flooding has accounted for much of the petroleum produced by secondary-recovery methods; however, a considerable portion of the crude oil commonly remains in place after water flooding has been terminated. In recent years the possibility of increasing the efficiency of water flooding by using surface-active additives has received wide attention. In general, the results of laboratory research have shown that use of detergents as water-flooding additives will reduce the residual petroleum in porous media (1).3/ Some less extensive field tests have supported this conclusion but have not been entirely conclusive (2). Later studies (3, 4) have given conflicting evidence as to the relative worth of detergent additives for water floods in water-wet (hydrophilic) or oil-wet (hydrophobic or lipophilic) reservoir materials. The results of these studies emphasize the need for a more complete understanding of the fundamental principles involved in displacing petroleum from reservoir surfaces by injected fluids. Accordingly, a comprehensive research program was initiated to investigate the practical and fundamental aspects of detergency in petroleum production.

Jan 1, 1953

By W. D. Mcmillan

During the fall of 1943 the Bureau of Mines put down four churn-drill holes totaling 435 feet of bore at the McGregor zinc lead mine near Potosi, Washington County, Mo., after the property had been examined by John Soule, an engineer of the Bureau, in the fall of 1942. A small production of lead and barite ore had been maintained at this property for many Years from shallow deposits in residual clays. A few shafts had penetrated the underlying dolomites and exposed a network of narrow fractures containing galena, sphalerite, barite, and marcasite. The drilling by the Bureau tested conditions at depths ranging from 80 to 130 feet. This report sets forth the data resulting from the work.

Jan 1, 1948

By T. A. Henrie, E. K. Kleespies

Carbon reduction of rutile and ilmenite in nitrogen and ammonia atmospheres was studied as a method of preparing titanium nitride . Ammonia was a better nitriding agent than nitrogen . The contact between the solid reactants , carbon and rutile , was a prime factor in nitrogen atmospheres and was of lesser import in dissociated ammonia . The reduction process for conversion of rutile to the nitride required carbon . The nitriding of ilmenite- carbon mixtures produced titanium nitride and elemental iron .

Jan 1, 1964

By Edward G. Cunney

Track in underground bituminous coal mines was investigated, and technology was taken from other industries in order to obtain information on conditions that impair the safety and efficiency of the track and to develop guidelines and useful information on the construction, inspection and maintenance of mine track. Volume 1 contains information on the investigations, observed track conditions, useful technology from railroads and other industries, derivations of track condition descriptors and recommended limits, conclusions, and recommendations. Volume 2, Guidelines, contains recommended standards and practices for mine track. It includes the relation of track conditions to safe speeds; descriptions and limits for measurable track features such as gage; descriptions of conditions for track components that are normally not measurable, such as subbase soils; construction requirements and techniques, inspection requirements and methods; and methods for managing and performing track maintenance work. As a research product, it does not repeat the summary or derivations. Volume 3, Inspection Handbook, summarizes recommended standards and procedures from Volume 2 and provides related information for' ready reference by inspectors in the mines. As a research product to be used in mines, it does not repeat the summary, derivations or references.

Jan 1, 1977

By W. W. Adams

Coal mining in the United States, had a somewhat higher death rate per million man-hours of exposure among the employees in 1937 than in 1933 to 1936. However, the rate in 1937 was lower and therefore more favorable than that in any year since 1921 but previous to 1933. The nonfatal injury record, which began in 1930, was lower and therefore better in 1937 than in any other year since 1930. Separate figures covering bituminous-coal mines in all States showed a lower fatality rate in 1937 than in any year since 1920 but before 1933, and a lower nonfatal injury rate than that of any year since 1930 except 1933 and 1936. Reports for anthracite mines in Pennsylvania revealed a better safety record for fatal accidents in 1937 than in any year since 1930 except 1933, 1934, and 1936 and a better record for nonfatal injuries than in any year since 1930 except 1933.

Jan 1, 1940