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LIST OF THE MEETINGS OF THE INSTITUTE AND THEIR LOCALITIES FROM ITS ORGANIZATION Transactions Number Place Date Vol Page I Wilkes-Barre, Pa * May, 1871 I 3 II Bethlehem, Pa August, 1871 I 10 III Troy, N Y November, 1871 I 13 IV Philadelphia, Pa February, 1872 I 17 V New York, N Y * May, 1872 I 20 VI Pittsburg, Pa October, 1872 I 25 VII Boston, Mass February, 1873 I 28 VIII Philadelphia, Pa * May, 1873 II 3 IX Easton, Pa October, 1873 II 7 X New York, N Y February, 1874 II 11 XI St Louis, Mo * May, 1874 III 3 XII Hazleton, Pa October, 1874 III 8 XIII New Haven, Conn February, 1875 III 15 XIV Dover, N J * May, 1875 IV 3 XV Cleveland, 0 October, 1875 IV 9 XVI Washington, D C February, 1876 IV 8 XVII Philadelphia, Pat June, 1876, V XVIII Philadelphia, Pa October, 1876 V 9 XIX New York, N Y February, 1877 v 27 XX Wilkes-Barre, Pa * May, 1877 vi 3 XXI Amenia, N Y October, 1877 vi 10

Jan 1, 1910

Mr. Address Member ,is hereby proposed by the undersigned; as a Associate Junior Member of the American Institute of Mining Engineers. Signatures of three Members or Associates. Place of birth Year of birth Education, when, where and how acquired, with degrees, if any. A technical education is not requisite for membership. Dates Please give record of experience on following page with dates; for example, in the form used by "Who's Who In America" and similar publications.

Jan 5, 1917

By S. R. Krom

IN Mr. Hoffman's papers, and in the discussions attending them, the claim is apparently made for the Sturtevant mill that it produces

Jan 1, 1893

By J. O. Nomland

DuRing the year 1939 the program of the California Arabian Standard Oil Co. in eastern Saudi Arabia consisted of drilling wells to increase the production of Dammam Dome. (This structure is also sometimes referred to as Dhahran Dome.) In addition, in other areas of the concession, wildcat wells are being drilled on geologically favorable structures. In the early wells drilled at Dhahran, production was at a depth of 2000 to 2200 ft. Since discovery of the "Arab zone" below 4300 ft., all of the later wells have been drilled to the deeper productive members. At present there are at Dhahran fivc wells in various stages of drilling or completion. In addition, 15 wells previously were drilled to the upper or lower zones. Although some of the early locations are exceptions, in general the spacing of the wells is at 3000 feet. Prospect testing consisted in drilling one well at Abu Hadriya and one at Ma'agala, about 100 miles northwest and 120 miles west of Dhahran. The first had attained a depth of 8655 ft. without encountering the main Darnmam productive zone, while the second was at a depth of 1372 ft. Both of these wildcat wells are on large dome structures. Production.—During the year 3,933,903 bbl. of approximately 35" gravity oil was produced, all from flowing wells. A part of this production was shipped in barges to the refinery at Bahrein. In early May a 40-mile 10-in. pipe line was completed to the deep-water terminal at Ras Tanura. The ceremony of first opening the valve for flow of oil into an ocean tanker was performed by King Abdulaziz Ibn Saud. Since that time tanker shipments have continued, both to Bahrein and to world markets. Only sufficient gas for camp purposes has been produced. Equipment.—A stabilization plant has been completed at Dhahran and plans have been made for a refinery at Ras Tanura. A modern camp is being built including power plant, central air-conditioning plant, radio station, employees' club and housing facilities for both married and single employees. Both the offices and dwellings are being air-conditioned. There is a hospital, with medical staff and nurses, providing facilities for both Saudi Arabs and Americans.

Jan 1, 1940

By Gregory J. Comstock

THERE is a growing interest in the possibilities presented by the manipulation of metal powders, which justifies an attempt to summarize their character and potential value. A summary of this kind presents an opportunity for making a classification of metal powder products into several general types. Our present knowledge of the finer and more abstract aspects of many of the principles involved in metal powder technique is extremely limited. Any conclusions as to the ultimate value of the process will, therefore, for the present at least, be of doubtful value unless they are substantiated by its products. The number of such products is increasing. A study of their diverse and unusual characteristics; an examination of the methods by which they are made, and a consideration of the reactions that take place during their fabrication, in so far as we can define them, should afford as good an evaluation of this interesting development as it is possible to make at this time. A critical study of this kind results in a formidable list of special attributes, which apparently ate characteristic of applied powder metallurgy. A comparison of these special effects with the end products and well defined limitations of the melting and casting process indicate that often they may very well be considered as being special advantages. They are subject, of course, to certain not as yet so well defined limitations of their own. Based on current products only, a necessarily condensed summary of the more striking special attributes of the metal powder process follows. MANIPULATION OF HIGHLY REFRACTORY METALS The powder process presents a means of manipulating highly refractory metals, which cannot be cast and formed in the usual melting and casting process. Tungsten, molybdenum and tantalum are the classic examples of the adequacy of the metal powder process for meeting unusual conditions of this character. The development and application of these metals by means of it, and their importance in the electrical

Jan 1, 1938

By C. Pin, J. Bruce Wagner

In order to demonstrate the role of defect chemistry in the solid state to a process-metallurgy reaction, laboratory experiments were carried aut to remove copper from liquid lead using lead sulfide which had been doped to provide definite concentrations of cation vacancies. The removal of copper decreases in the order: bismuth- or antimony-doped PbS, undoped PbS or tin-doped PbS, and silver-doped PbS. The data are explained using the simple mass -action law and in terms of the exceedingly rapid interstitial diffusion of coppw in PbS to vacant cation sites. Results are in agree-ment with thermodynamic predictions and certain industrial practices that copper may be removed from lead below the limit of its coexistence with pure Cu,S and pure PbS. The role of defects in solids has been exploited in semiconductors and many device applications, in explaining tarnish formation, dissolution rates, and mechanical properties. The application of these principles to many process-metallurgical problems has not received as much attention. It was the purpose of this study to illustrate the role of defect structures of solids in a process-metallurgical application. When lead is refined, the ore, galena (PbS), is reduced by a series of operations to liquid lead (lead bullion) containing impurities such as copper, bismuth, antimony, arsenic, and silver depending on the original composition, the fluxes added, and the particular type of operation, see Fig. 1. In order to produce a pure lead, a series of refining operations are carried out. A typical lead-bullion analysis before drossing is shown in Table I. Copper is removed first as its presence increases the zinc consumption during the desilverizing process. For preliminary copper removal the lead bullion is brought to a temperature of 440°C in a kettle of 60 metric tons capacity. Some tar (or sawdust or resins) is usually added and the kettle is cooled slowly to 400°C while the liquid is stirred. A solid phase, called a dross, floats on top of the liquid and the particles of the solid phase adhere to the tar. This "hot dross" is collected. It contains mostly lead and copper which are partly oxidized and/or sulfurized if the lead bullion contains some sulfur.*

Jan 1, 1963

By J. R. Low, M. B. Reynolds, L. O. Sullivan

The effect of neutron bombardment upon the stability of type 347 austenitic stainless steel has been investigated by a magnetic technique. The relation of the ferrite content of a stainless steel to its magnetic properties is given, and an apparatus suitable for the measurement of the ferromagnetic saturation induction of small specimens is described. Results of measurements on irradiated specimens are tabulated. Exposure to a neutron flux was found to cause a slight increase in the ferrite content of type 347 stainless steel, the change increasing with increasing length of exposure and with increasing initial ferrite content. The similarity of the effect of irradiation to the effect of annealing is pointed out. Possible effect of irradiation upon density of austenitic stainless steel is discussed. COMMERCIAL austenitic stainless steels are alloys of iron, chromium, and nickel, plus small quantities of other elements. Although these alloys are normally used in the austenitic condition, this state is thermodynamically metastable at ordinary temperatures and transformation to a more stable state takes place under favorable conditions. In the austenitic state, these stainless steels have the face-centered-cubic crystal structure characteristic of y iron, but the stable state at room temperature is a mixture of austenite and body-centered-cubic ferrite. The transformation from the pure austenitic condition may be brought about by cold working the alloy at a temperature below that at which the aus- tenite becomes thermodynamically unstable (about 400°C), the completeness of transformation increasing with increasing severity of cold work and decreasing temperature. The behavior of the austenitic stainless steels under ordinary conditions of use is rather well known. However, use of these alloys in a nuclear reactor introduces a new variable: the effect of neutron bombardment upon the transformation from the austenitic to the ferritic state. It was with this in mind that a study of the radiation stability of austenitic type 347 stainless steel was undertaken. Magnetic Technique for Ferrite Determination Commercial austenitic stainless steels such as type 347 undergo little transformation under normal conditions of fabrication and use. In view of this fact, it seemed likely that neutron irradiation would change the ferrite content of the alloy but little. The method chosen for measurement of the effect of neutron irradiation was thus limited to one which would be quite sensitive to small changes in the ferrite content of the alloy. Of the properties of the stainless steel which can be measured, the magnetic characteristics are most sensitive to the quantity of ferrite present.

Jan 1, 1956

CONTENTS PAGE GEISMER, H. S.-Coal Washing Practice in Alabama. Discussed by William Kelly, H. S. Geismer, H. D. Pallister, L. E. Bryant, Milton H. Fies, Elmer F. Harris, James A. Barr, George G. Crawford, E. C. Wright, George S. Rice, R. V. Norris 1 MILLER, F. W.-Byproduct Coking in Alabama. Discussed by Theodore Swann 4 FIES, MILTON H.-Alabama Coal Mining Practice. Discussed by Milton 11. Fies, R. V. Norris, R. D. Hall, L. E. Bryant, George S. Rice, H. S. Geismer 5 MUSSEY, H. E.-Blast-furnace Practice in Alabama. Discussed by C. A. Meissner, Franklin H. Crockard, H. E. Mussey, W. H. Oldham 14 Coal Washing Practice in Alabama Discussion of paper of H. S. GEISMER, presented at the Birmingham Meeting, October 1924, and issued, as Paper No. 1363-C, with MINING AND METALLURGY, September, 1924. WILLIAM KELLY, Iron Mountain, Mich.-Is the dry-cleaning method used? H. S. GEISMER.-Neither the dry-cleaning process nor the Chance sand-liquid method has been tested in Alabama; but all other methods used for cleaning bituminous coal have been largely brought to perfection in this state. H. D. PALLISTER, Tuscaloosa, Ala.-Have you the results from the recent work on the tables with reference to fine coal? H. S. GEISMER.-None of the iron-producing companies has adopted the tables, though three commercial operators have installed tables within the last six months. I tried to learn the results, but they were not willing to release the data just now. At the mines producing domestic coal, fines present a difficult problem; until within the past six months all the fine coal was wasted. The operators are trying to recover some of it on the table. L. E. BRYANT, Rockwood, Tenn.-Is there any connection between the sulfur content of the sludge and the effect of the sludge on vegetation?

Jan 7, 1925

By Herbert H. Kellogg, Nathaniel Arbiter, Arthur F. Taggart

The experimental work herein described is presented in support of the following broad hypothesis: Conditioning of metals and metallic sulphides by amine collectors involves metathetic reaction at the solid surface between the collector and an oxidized metallic compound, to produce a coating comprising an amine-bearing compound of low solubility in the system. The type of reaction is different in acid and in basic solutions; both types may occur simultaneously in near-neutral pulps. Experimental The experiments comprise contact-angle tests with a variety of metals and metallic sulphides and extraction teats on ground chalcocite. Contact-angle tests were made principally on metals. Covellite paralleled metallic copper in amine solution at pH 8.8 (Table 3) and in alkaline water, but maintained an angle of about 70° in Io-3 HCl solution, where metallic copper lost its angle. The tests with anionic collectors (Table I) indicate that the behavior of metals in general is parallel to that of their minerals in anionic solutions. It is believed that this is generally true with cationic collectors also, but the covellite test is a warning against a broad assumption to this effect. All test specimens were mounted in Transoptic.* All tests in conditioning solution were preceded by a test in distilled water; cleaning and polishing were continued in every case until the angle in water was zero. Subsequent transfers into and out of solutions and test cells were made in such a way as to prevent exposure of the surface to air.1 The amine used was primary laurylamine, Armour and Co., AM-1120. It was used in the form of the hydrochloride, obtained by precipitation with gaseous hydrochloric acid from an ether solution of the amine, and purified by two recrystallizations from ether-alcoho1.2 Inorganic and other test reagents were standard laboratory grades. Temperatures were not controlled; the probable range of test-solution temperatures is 650 to 80°F.

Jan 1, 1943

Jan 1, 1929

NEW MEMBERS The following list comprises the names of those persons who became members during the period Apr. 10, 1919, to May 10, 1919. BEAVER, JAMES J., Supt., Mech. Ore Loaders, Tennessee Coal, Iron & R.R. Co., Box 62, Bessemer, Ala. BLACKWELDER, ELIOT Geol. & Prof. of Geol., Univ. of Ill., Urbana, Ill. BRAECKE, GUSTAVE E., -Min. Engr., Mgr., Societe Curas et Soldado, La Carolina, Spain. BRINK, CYRIL GORDON, Reduction Officer, Charge of Reduction Works. Fairview Devonian Montrose Gold Mines, Ltd., P. O. Sheba, Transvaal, So. Africa. COMERFORD, JOSEPH S., Chief Chem. & Met., American Manganese Steel Co., New Castle, Delaware. DROSDOWSKI, N. C. V., Asst. Supt.,, The Spassky Copper Mine, Ltd., Karagandy, Akmolinsk, Oblast, Siberia. DUNGLINSON, GEORGE, JR., Asst. to Gen'l Mgr., Norfolk & Western Railroad, Bluefield, W. Va. FARAGHER, PAUL VANCE, Research Fellow on Light Metals, Mellon Institute, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Jan 6, 1919

By B. H. Caudle, L. H. Silberberg

Reservoir depletion by natural water drive is typified by the movement of water from an aquifer into the adjacent oil-bearing formation. Prior studies of this type 01 water movement have generally neglected the resistance to flow in the aquifer and its effect on the movement of water into the oil bearing zone. A method for designing and operating scaled models of such reservoir systems is presented. Experimental data on a model of an edge-water-drive reservoir are shown and discussed. INTRODUCTION Most petroleum reservoirs derive at least a part of their productive capacity from water influx. This water may be injected from the surface or it may come from an aquifer adjacent to the oil zone. In either case, the reservoir engineer must be able to estimate the advance of the water as a function of either the elapsed time or the fluid produced. This paper describes a type of fluid flow model which includes the effect of viscous and gravitational forces in the reservoir and the surrounding aquifer. Natural water influx can be divided into three general (but widely overlapping) categories according to the direction of flow in the aquifer. These are shown schematically in Fig. 1. Fig. l(a) illustrates an edge-water-drive mechanism. In this case, water advances updip along the stratum but the movement of water is essentially horizontal and very little of the oil is actually underlain by water. The bottom-water drive (Fig. l(b)) is characterized by a thick aquifer underlying the oil zone. The water movement is generally vertical in the aquifer. The third category is illustrated in l(c). Referred to as the "thin oil column", this type of oil accumulation consists of oil over water in a relatively thin stratum. Fluid movement is horizontal in both the oil and water zones, except close to the producing well. One characteristic which all three of these types have in common is that part of the water flow takes place in the water invaded region of the oil reservoir while the remainder of the water flow occurs in the aquifer. The resistance to the flow of water usually will not be the same in these two regions. This occurs because the porous rock normally contains only water in the aquifer, while the water-invaded region always contains microscopic globules of bypassed oil (residual oil) which interfere with the flow of water through the rock. The production history of any type of a water-drive system is a function of two phenomena — where the water goes, and how it displaces the oil in the area invaded by the water. It is usually impractical to study these two phenomena at the same time. In most cases one type of analysis is used to predict the gross movement of water in the reservoir, while a different type of analysis is employed to determine the amount of oil to be recovered from the gross volume contacted by the water. The portion of the oil reservoir which is invaded by water is mainly a function of the resistances to fluid flow in the several parts of the flow system. This gross water influx in the three types of natural water drive typically results in water cusping to the production wells either from the side or from below (water coning). In 1747, Muskat described a greatly simplified mathematical model for predicting the area invaded by water in a bottom-water-drive reservoir.1 This model used the Laplace equation and suitable boundary conditions to describe the isopotentials and streamlines in the flow system. The use of this model assumes that (1) the reservoir rock is homogeneous in nature, (2) the oil and water mobilities are equal, (3) there is no oil flowing in the water invaded region, and (4) external forces — such as gravity — do not affect the flow. This method has been used for both natural water drives and water injection projects. In this, as in most models, the method of images is used to reduce the size of the model necessary to describe the reservoir. The assumption of equal viscosities and permea-

Jan 1, 1966

By L. C. Raymond

Valuations in the mineral industry differ from those of other enterprises because mines and oil wells have a definitive life so cannot be considered a perpetuity. This requires that in any mineral-property evaluation the recovery of invested capital is necessary during the life of the property. Capital writeoffs for nonextractive industries are assumed to be continuously plowed back to sustain the operation and produce yields on the capital invested. The extractive or mineral industry, however, generally attempts to return to the investor both interest and principal during the life of a property. Normally this is done currently and the dividend includes both items. Where the mineral properly possesses large reserves and the life factor approximates a perpetuity, the return on investment is generally comparable to that of industrial stocks. The valuation of a mineral property, at best, is based on educated estimates and judgment factors. This is particularly true as it relates to estimating selling prices over a long term or assessing the quality of management. Also, it is possible to make various assumptions as to rapidity of working out the deposit, varying time for start-up of operations, varying earning rates, so as to obtain different results with the same basic facts. Thus it is not surprising that two engineers, irrespective of their abilities, may not agree exactly even when given the same facts, but their results should be close enough to be used in establishing a fair value for trading purposes. The valuation is no better than the source of basic data and the soundness of judgment factors. Fundamentally the basic principles of mineral valuation are similar for base metals, sulphur, oil, or any other mineral. Each mineral, however, requires an engineer to have a knowledge of such factors as its occurrence, distribution, mining and processing methods, and marketing problems in order to gather and analyze all the facts and data that have a bearing on the earning potential of the property. PRESENTVALUEOFAMINERALPROPERTY In essence the present value of a mineral property is a sum of money in today's dollars that future earnings from the property are worth. It differs

Jan 1, 1959

A. A. CENTER*—This paper reminds me of the beginning of the work of the Electrolytic Zinc Company of Australasia. Early work for this Company, as some of you may know, was done at the Bully Hill Plant in California. After working there for some time Herbert Gepp, now Sir Herbert, came to the Anaconda Co. plants in Montana where I met him. He spent some months there, in fact almost a year if I remember rightly. That was when we were breaking in the new electrolytic zinc plant at Great Falls, Montana. From there he went back to Australia and started in on the plant there. I believe they had an original plant of about 20 tons per day of cathode zinc. We heard from them for some time, until they were able to go along on their own, and they have done very well ever since as you have heard. Their practice, (the flow sheet, the leaching practice), has been quite different as reported in the paper and apparently they are still following that practice to some extent. While the earliest work on selective flotation was done down in Australia, the big companies there, strange to say, were far behind the American companies in taking it up; and it is only in comparatively recent years they have gone to the alkaline circuit and dropped out thereby more of their iron and lead. The zinc plant now is up to a capacity of 100,000 tons a year and I believe that may be notched up to about 105,000. T. H. WELDON*—I would like to ask

Jan 1, 1950

By E. H. Phillips, A. F. Keenan

6.2-1. Historical Development. Hammering on hand-held drill steel was the earliest type of percussion drilling. It was not until 1838 that Singer developed a steam-operated drilling machine that lifted a drilling bar and let it drop by gravity. J. J. Couch of Philadelphia patented the first percussion drill in 1849. His machine was a steam drill which literally hurled the drill bar at the rock and retracted it by means of a ratcheted wheel. Later J. W. Fowle added automatic rotation of the steel. In 1871, Simon Ingersoll patented a rock drill mounted on a tripod which permitted drilling holes at any angle, vertical to horizontal. Up to the turn of the century, percussion drills in use were piston-type drills. The drill steel was solid and attached to an extension of the drill piston. Hole cleaning was accomplished by the pumping action of the steel in the hole. Down-holes were drilled wet and cleaned with a blow pipe while up-holes were drilled dry, allowing the cuttings to drop out by gravity. The forerunner of our present hammer drill was the free-piston drill which was first patented in 1884, by Sargent. Because solid drill steel was used, it did not successfully clean down holes. J. G. Leyner solved the problem of applying the hammer drill principle to down-hole and horizontal-hole work in 1897. The key was to pass com- pressed air and water through hollow drill steel to clean the hole. Leyner's work on valves and rotation mechanisms increased the blows per minute of hammer drills from 300 or 400 up to 1800 and more blows per minute and made possible the first lightweight drilling machines. The development of automatic feeds followed. 6.2-2. Percussion Drills. TYPES OF DRILLS. There are two types of percussion drills in use today; the piston drill and the hammer drill. In the

Jan 1, 1968

By John I. Yellott

Since the days of Newcomen and Watt, when men first sought to turn the energy of fuels to useful purposes, coal-generated steam has supplied most of the power needed for both stationary and mobile applications. The low efficiency and large water requirements of the nineteenth century steam-power plant caused many engineers to turn their thoughts toward more direct means of converting heat into power. As far back as 1791, John Barber secured an English patent on a combination' which he might well have called a "gas turbine." He proposed to generate producer gas from coal or charcoal, to burn it under pressure in air obtained from a reciprocating compressor, and to drive a turbine wheel with the resultant hot combustion products. With the optimism characteristic of the inventor, he hoped that the turbine would not only operate his compressor but also perform useful work. There is no record that Barber ever built his machine, but if he had done so he would have learned that useful power can result from such a combination only when both turbine and compressor are highly efficient and when the temperature of the gas entering the turbine is not far below 1000°F. Hot-air prime movers continued to attract attention, and both Stirling in England and Ericsson in America2 built reciprocating engines that operated with some success upon coal-heated air. The internal-combustion engine, burning liquid fuels, supplanted the hot-air type, and, for the first time, challenged the supremacy of both the steam cycle and its familiar fuel, coal. Liquid Fuels Compete with Coal As the increasing use of the automobile multiplied the demand for gasoline, the supply of residual fuel increased rapidly, and heavy oil declined in price to the point where it became competitive with coal. First in the marine field and later in stationary plants in areas adjacent to refineries, oil began to be widely used. Oil's greater convenience and higher heating value per pound of weight or per cubic foot of bunker space have caused it to take over much of the marine field. The introduction of the highly efficient diesel engine, capable of burning a fuel that is cheaper than gasoline, again threatened the position of coal, for the operating costs of the diesel became directly competitive with those of coal-burning equipment. In isolated power plants and smaller marine installations, the diesel provided the medium by which oil again successfully invaded fields formerly dominated by coal. The diesel engine, provided with an electrical transmission, found an excellent application in railroad service. The high availability of diesel-electric locomotives, resulting in part from freedom from water

Jan 1, 1947

By Mark C. Malamphy

During colonial times, Brazil was famous for the richness of her alluvial gold deposits. Paul Ferrand has estimated that the gold produced during the period from 1700 to 1820 was the equivalent of some 64 million pounds sterling. Since that time, most of the more prolific alluvial deposits have been exhausted. A few gold mines are still functioning, notably the Morro Velho mine, which is one of the deepest mines in the world. Today, the gold production of Brazil is insignificant when compared with world figures, but there are still many gold-bearing regions and it is probable that in at least some of them profitable returns would result from an exploitation program taking advantage of all the most modern innovations in gold mining and ore treatment on a large scale. In order to demonstrate the value of some of these abandoned prospects and stir up interest in increasing the national gold production, the government has stimulated research. Experimental plants have been and are being established in various places, and tests on large quantities of ores are being carried out on a semicommercial basis. The Geological Survey of the State of Minas Geraes is very active in this line and the Federal Institution is also showing an increased interest in the matter. One of the lesser known gold-bearing regions of Brazil is in the vicinity of Lavras, in the State of Rio Grande do Sul. Gold was first reported from this region in the early part of the nineteenth century. In 1811, D. João VI sent an experienced prospector from Minas Geraes to investigate the validity of the reports. According to the reports of Baron Eschwege, he succeeded in extracting some 30,000 Oitavos (about 105 kg.) during the first few years, but the production costs exceeded the value of the gold obtained.

Jan 1, 1934

Jan 1, 1965

By Charles R. Fettke

The outstanding event of the year 1929 in the Appalachian area was the intensive drilling activity in the Bradford and Richburg pools of northwestern Pennsylvania and southwestern New York State, particularly the former, in connection with the continued extension of the five-spot system of water-flooding. More new development work was undertaken and completed than during any previous year since reclamation methods were first applied. This was due in part to an excellent price for oil and in part to discovery of the fact that more intensive methods (five-spotting) yielded greater profit. While several oil wells of comparatively large initial production were completed, no new oil pools of significance were discovered in the Appalachian area during the year. A number of small gas pools were opened in areas already surrounded by producing wells and at least three others in areas located some distance from any producing pools. Petroleum Development According to statistics of the U. S. Bureau of Mines, 33,7,57,000 bbl. of petroleum were produced in the Appalachian field during 1929 as compared to 31,060,000 bbl. in 1928.' Of the total 1929 production, 23,391,618 bbl. consisted of Pennsylvania grade oil as compared to 21,096,710 bbl. in 1928. The 1929 Pennsylvania grade production represents an increase of 37.4 per cent. over that of 1924. This increase can be attributed largely to the rapid development of water-flooding in the Bradford and Richburg pools. The Bradford field of northwestern Pennsylvania and adjaccnt portions of New York State experienced the busiest year since the boom days of the early eighties. Wells completed during the year totaled 2679.2 In spite of the high prices asked for acreagc, which in some of the choicest territory has been as high as $6000 an acre, a considerable number of properties changed ownership during the year. There is at present a pronounced tendency to consolidate the great number of small individually operated properties into larger units.

Jan 1, 1930

By F. N. Rhines, B. H. Alexander

MUCH attention has been directed to the effects of grain size upon the properties of alloys, but there has been scant study either of the conditions that determine the pattern and dimensions of den-drites in metal systems, or of the influence of their shape and size upon the overall properties of cast-ings. The aim of the research that is about to be described has been to investigate the effect of vari-ous factors upon the mode of formation of dendrites in alloys by measurements of the distance between adjacent dendrite arms (dendrite spacing). Early investigators, including Grignonl and Tschernoff,2 showed that a metal dendrite is com-posed of a tree-like system of stalks and branches arranged in a simple geometrical pattern. North-cott and Thomas3 demonstrated that, in the face-centered cubic solid solutions of copper-base, these stalks and side arms all lie in (100) directions in the crystal. Several investigators, including Sauveur and Chou,0 Sauveur and Reed,' and Martin and Mar-tina have reported that the addition to steel of alloy-ing elements, such as nickel, chromium, and molybdenum, not only makes the dendrites easier to reveal by etching, but makes them coarser. The latter authors8 proposed that the coarsening of the dendrites is roughly proportional to the increase in the temperature range of freezing, caused by adding the alloying elements. Sauveur and Chou6 showed, in addition, that the dendrites are coarsened by a decreased rate of cooling of the casting. Measurement of Dendrite Arm Spacing Among the physical conditions that could be ex-pected to have an influence upon the dendrite arm spacing, that appears in a cast metal, are: composi-tion, rate of freezing, crystal structure, and type of constitution. The relationships obtaining between these variables and the dendrite dimensions have been examined, in the present research, by measur- ing the arm spacing in a wide variety of alloys, listed in tables II through VI. Alloy compositions are recorded in the tables by showing the symbol of the major metal followed by the percentage and symbol of the alloying agent; thus, "Al-10Ag" is an aluminum-base alloy containing 10 pct of silver. Although none of the alloys were analyzed, an im-pression of their degree of purity may be obtained from that of their component metals given in table I. Five hundred grams of each alloy was made by melting in small clay-graphite crucibles in an elec-tric muffle furnace. After alloying the temperature was adjusted to 50" to 75°C above the liquidus and the melts were poured into cast iron molds, at room temperature, the molds having a wall thickness of 1 in. and a cavity 11/2 in. sq in cross-section. Each ingot, thus cast, was sectioned at mid-height and the sectioned surface was polished and etched for metallographic examination. Dendrite spacing meas-urements were made at three positions, namely, ad-jacent to the mold wall, midway between the wall and the center of the ingot, and at the center (desig-nated e, m, and c respectively, in the tables). A typical series of microstructures is presented in fig. 1. For each measurement, the average was taken of the dendrite spacing of several grains covering a zone about 2 mm wide. Only those grains which had a major dendrite axis nearly in the plane of polish were selected in order to eliminate corrections for orientation differences from grain to grain. Although the dendrite spacings were measured to the nearest thousandth of a millimeter, the values listed in the tables are thought to be significant only to the nearest hundredth of a millimeter. The larg-est difference in readings found, when various ob-servers rated the same specimens, was 0.012 mm; the largest difference between corresponding meas-urements upon duplicate specimens was 0.027 mm.

Jan 1, 1951