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By J. B. Gayle

The merits of the various methods for dry-quenching coke have been the subject of numerous publications and almost equally numerous controversies for the past 40 years.5/ Most investigators have concluded that dry quenching is advantageous. Some have based their arguments on the improved physical properties of the resultant cokes. Others have claimed little or no improvement and have based their arguments on the economies acquired from the recovery and utilization of sensible heat. The extent to which the method of quenching influences the properties of the resultant cokes is of importance in connection with the operation of both commercial and experimental ovens. On the other hand, the recovery and utilization of sensible heat are economic problems related solely to commercial oven operation and- depend on the method of dry quenching used and the demand for a low intensity energy source. The scope of the present Bureau of Mines investigation has been limited to a comparative study of the properties of wet- and dry-quenched cokes produced from six coals and blends carbonized at flue temperatures of 2, 000° and 2,400° F. in the Tuscaloosa oven.

Jan 1, 1959

By F. Sillers, R. T. C. Rasmussen

"INTRODUCTION This is the third report of investigations by the Bureau of Mines in cooperation with industry to establish the value of electrolytic manganese in the manufacture of ferrous and nonferrous alloys. The manganese was produced by the Bureau at its Boulder City pilot plant from domestic ores and by the process developed by it. 4/ The work was done under the direction of R.S. Dean, assistant director, Bureau of Mines, and R. G. Knickerbocker, chief, metallurgical branch. The first report dealt with the use of electrolytic manganese in the manufacture of stainless steels 5/ and the second with its use in acid electric or open-hearth low- and medium-carbon steel castings. 6/The present report treats of the use of electrolytic manganese in the manufacture of low—carbon rimmed and killed steels. A résumé of these three investigations and two others appeared in the magazine STEEL. 7/ Further reports will be published as tests are completed at some 70 industrial plants. All tests were made on full—scale heats or melts, and the resultant product was processed and used commercially."

Jul 1, 1945

By T. T. Read, F. C. Houghten

"The bad effects upon the health and output of miners that result when the ventilating current in a mine lacks sufficient cooling power have been described by Harrington and Sayers in a previous report (1)*** The normal temperature of the human body is about 98.5°F. and whenever work is done by the muscles, indeed even when sitting still, the normal bodily processes generate heat which must be given off, otherwise the body will become overheated and a number of bad effects will be produced. If it were possible to so enclose a man that he could continue to breathe and no heat could escape from his body he would die within a short time. In a series of experiments made at the Pittsburgh Station of the Bureau of McConnell and Houghton (2) found that a dry-bulb and a wet-bulb temperature of 112.5°F could he borne for only 35 minutes, even when the subject was at rest. A wet-bulb temperature of 100.4°F (dry-bulb 157°F) could only be tolerated for 45°F minute. Under such conditions the bodily temperature rises as much as 45°F above normal and the pulse is accelerated. Very uncomfortable sensations are felt when the pulse rate exceeds 135. The human body, like any other internal combustion engine, must be cooled in order to function properly.Under ordinary circumstances the air surroundings people is enough coder than themselves to permit this heat generated within the boiy to be river off with¬out difficulty. At higher temperatures, or when the rate of work, with its corresponding generation of heat is high, the body can not throw off heat fast enough, so it begins to sweat and the evaporation of the sweat cools the body. But the results of the experiments cited above indicate that in still air, even with the body at rent, it can not adjust its temperature when the air is above 90° wet- bulb. J. S. Haldane (4) says ""at a wet-bulb temperature of 60°F the actual amount of work done by the miner begins to fall off; as the wet bulb temperature rinse farther the work Bona gradually diminishes to the vanishing point. Then the temperatures indicated by the wet-bulb exceeds 85°F hard work in a mine seems hardly or the commercial working of a mine the wet-bulb thermometer should not in generaI, be allowed to rise above 80°F, unless perhaps where there it a good current."

Dec 1, 1923

By Steven J. Page, John A. Organiscak

The amount of airborne respirable dust generated from break- age of different coals varies widely. This research was conducted to identify the facets of airborne respirable dust liberation from the coal product. Laboratory crushing experiments were conducted on a range of low to high volatile bituminous coals to investigate the various factors influencing airborne respirable dust generation. Bituminous coal samples from 8 mines (5 U.S. and 3 Polish) were uniformly prepared and processed through a double roll crusher located in a low air velocity wind tunnel. Experimental factors studied included inherent coal seam constituents, specific energy of crushing, product size characteristics, dust cloud electrostatic field, and specific quantity of airborne respirable dust generated. The results of this investigation build upon previously published results, which indicated that a combination of several factors are associated with the generation of airborne respirable dust. One factor involved is the effect of coal rank, described by the inherent moist fuel ratio, on the product size characteristics, defined by Schuhmann size function parameters. However, since coals of high moist fuel ratio (high rank) are generally more extensively cleated, it is suggested in the present work that the degree of cleating is directly responsible for the quantity of respirable-sized particles produced in the crushed product material for eastern U.S. coals. This is implied by the relationship of ash content and at least one mineral constituent (pyrite, determined from pyritic sulfur analysis) to the percentage of airborne respirable dust. To validate this hypothesis, a description is offered that is based on known coal petrography. Another key factor is the effect of air dry loss moisture in the coal seam on the breakage-induced electrostatic field of airborne dust. The air dry loss moisture factor appears to control the amount of airborne respirable dust that is liberated from the product. The resultant effect of these factors is that different percentages of coal particles smaller than 10 µm are dispersed as airborne respirable dust with a well-defined peak in the normalized airborne respirable dust for a narrow range of air dry loss moisture - ash ratios. A clear delineation of coals, based on well-known proximate analysis characteristics, that generate the most respirable dust appears to be possible. It was also shown that the dust-generating characteristics of coals could be reasonably described by both the moist fuel ratio

By William R. Barton

COLUMBIUM (niobium) and tantalum are similar refractory metals with closely related properties and uses and close association in ore deposits. Until recently both metals, particularly columbium, were essentially laboratory curiosities. However, since the beginning of World War II, applied technology, under the impetus of national security requirements, has realized many chemical, electronic, nucleonic, and missile and rocketry applications, where high temperature or corrosive environments require the use of columbium or tantalum. At the same time, advances in these fields have resulted in intensive research on the geological distribution, resources, metallurgy, and properties of these two metals; their alloys and compounds; and the development of a full-fledged columbium-tantalum industry. The future appears to promise continued acceleration in such studies and ever-increasing demand for these elements. The raw material supplies of columbium are abundant, and the extractive metallurgy of columbium is well enough advanced to assure adequate supplies of the element at reasonable prices to meet any projected demands. Although the extractive metallurgy of tantalum is similarly well developed, raw material supplies are so limited that, lacking new ore discoveries, an increase in demand to five times the 1959 level would severely tax ore-production facilities. Approximately 120 tons of tantalum and about one-half as much columbium was produced in 1959. Additional quantities are consumed as compounds or additive alloys such as ferrocolumbium and ferrotantalum columbium (55).3

Jan 1, 1962

By William Seymour, L. D. Schmidt, J. W. Myers, W. T. Reid

"This investigation was conducted by the Bureau of Mines as part of a program of the Solid Fuels Administration to encourage the utilization of anthracite fines, the objective being to determine the practicability of using anthracite fines in the manufacture of packagedThe experimental loss of packaged fuel covered by this report were made at a commercial plant using the Glenn Smith process and ordinarily making packaged fuel from Pocahontas screenings. These lots included several made from straight antimacite mines and others made from various blends of anthracite fines with four different bituminous coals. In all cases an asphalt binder was used. Determinations of the physical properties and the cobustion characteristics o the various samples of packaged fuel were made by the. Bureau of Mines at the Central Experiment Station.The physical tests indicated that a packaged fuel of sufficient strength for ordinary handling can be made from straight anthracite coal or from a wide variety of blends of anthracite fixes with bitunimous coal, using asphaltic binder. However the combustion tests indicated that packaged fuel made from anthracite alone tended to crumble excessively during burning and that as much as 30 to 50 percent of a caking coal may be required In the mixture to produce a block having satisfactory combustion characteristics.The authors wish to acknowledge the. splendid cooperation of Messrs. H. W. Kelly, J. L. Mooney and C. H. Stoss of Columbus, Ohio, who were chiefly responsible for obtaining the materials and making all the arrangements necessary for the production of the packaged fuel for testing.Thanks are due to the officials of Carnegie Institute of Technology for the use of their Olsen. Testing Machine and to H. M. Cooper and W. A. Selvig of the Bureau of Mines for analyses and tests."

May 1, 1946

By Kenneth Maas

The Bureau of Mines devoted portions of the 1987-1988 field seasons to investigate the mineral aggregate industry in Juneau, Skagway, Haines, and Gustavus, Alaska, as part of the Juneau Mining District study. Statistics compiled for current suppliers include location, activity, reserve estimates, expected mine life, and types of commodities available. Each population center, except for Gustavus, is well endowed with suitable mineral aggregate to last at least 20 years. The Bureau of Mines quantified the mineral aggregate resource in many large potential sites within each area. Sampling, engineering and soil-index testing, site descriptions, deposit dimensions, and gold recovery information is described. Refraction seismic studies performed at three localities revealed gravel thicknesses in excess of 40 to 80 feet. In the Juneau area the Herbert/Eagle Rivers outwash area, East Fork Lace River. Antler/Gilkey Rivers, and Grizzly Bar (Taku Inlet) individually contain in excess of 60 million yd3 of excellent-quality aggregate with minor accessory gold credits. Haines is also well endowed with aggregate resources; large, quality deposits occur along and at the confluences of the Chilkat, Katzehin, Klehini, Tsirku, and Kicking Horse Rivers. Large deposits of granitic aggregate exist in the Skagway River and East Fork Skagway River.

Jan 1, 2012

By Christopher Mark, Gregory M. Molinda, Timothy M. Barton

The Coal Mine Roof Rating (CMRR) was first presented at this Conference nine years ago. Since its introduction, the CMRR has been incorporated into many aspects of mine planning, including longwall pillar design, roof support selection, feasibility studies, and extended cut evaluation. It has also become truly international, with involvement in mine designs and funded research projects in South Africa, Canada, and Australia. The purpose of this paper is to bring the mining community up to date with recent improvements and applications of the CMRR. The most important new development is a streamlined process for determining the CMRR from exploratory drill core. Just three types of information are now required: •Fracture spacing (or RQD) •Uniaxial compressive strength (or axial Point Load Testing) •Diametral Point Load Testing The moisture sensitivity adjustment has also been changed, and new research has related the immersion test to slake durability. Most recently, the CMRR has been implemented in a computer program, which can be obtained from NIOSH free of charge. The program facilitates calculation of the CMRR from either underground or drill core data. Values from many locations can be saved in a single file, and an interface with Autocad allows CMRR contour plots to be integrated into mine planning.

By H. B. Hill

Virtually from the date of its discovery in December 1928 the Oklahoma City oil and gas field, Oklahoma County, Okla., has attracted national and international attention. The history of the field has been associated closely with rules and regulations pertaining to production control and proration practices. Early development was rapid, and Oklahoma City soon attained the distinction of being the first major field in which the producing wells were over a mile in depth. Before the structural features of the reservoir had been disclosed every outpost well was considered a "wildcat", so complex appeared the underground geology. The wells not only were deep and the reservoir pressures high, but the production from the early wells was a high A.P.I. gravity oil, accompanied by large volumes of gas. Several "blow-outs" and fired occurred during the early development, and the close proximity of these now unusual events to a large city gave the field much publicity, both local and national. Later, when its production threatened to demoralize the market for oil and its products, the Oklahoma. City field again attracted wide publicity. The then little understood geology of the underground reservoir and the diversity of ownership of the land overlying the producing structure made orderly development and production difficult to enforce. Proration was enforced with difficulty, and the rate of production from the field continued to increase until, on August 4, 1931, martial law was declared in all prorated fields of the State, and most of the wells in the Oklahoma City field wore shut in. On October 9, 1931, permission was granted to reopen and produce the wells in the Oklahoma City field. The order permitting production of the wells provided that during the period beginning October 10 and extending to October 20, 1931, all wells in the field that had not produced more oil than specified under the earlier proration orders and that had been shut in for the required 65-day period were permitted to produce 5 percent of their last potential during that 10-day period.

Jan 1, 1936

By F. X. McCawley

The Bureau of Mines, in pursuing its goal of extending the life span of strategic materials, conducted field corrosion studies at the East Mesa Known Geothermal Resources Area (KGRA) in the Imperial Valley, Calif., to determine the optimum materials of construction for use in geothermal mineral energy resource recovery plants. These studies included characterization of geothermal environments and in situ corrosion testing. The corrosion resistance of 10 alloys exposed to 5 brine and steam process environments was evaluated using the low-salinity, high-temperature brine from geothermal well Mesa 6-1. Of these alloys, Hastelloy C-276, Hastelloy S, Incone1 625, titanium-2nickel, and 316 L stainless steel had excellent resistance to corrosion in all of the process environments; E-Brite 26-1 and 430 stainless steel had fair resistance. Although general corrosion rates for 4130 steel and 1020 carbon steel were substantially higher than those of the other iron-base alloys, these two alloys could prove useful in low-salinity process environments because of their low cost. Aluminum alloy 5005 was the least corrosion resistant alloy and pitted severely. Scales formed on all of the alloys in every process environment. Calcite, aragonite, and an amorphous silicate were the major components of the scales.

Jan 1, 1980

A preliminary program dated April 25, 1974, was prepared for Development Engineering, Inc. (DEI) on research and development. for laboratory, field and other engineering studies on the disposal of retorted oil shale. This program was revised and published as a final document dated December 17, 1974. The document included discussions on the peculiarities of retorted shale materials to be investigated and discussions of the various laboratory and field tests which would need to be conducted to define their physical and chemical properties. The proposed research and development program was divided into eight work phases as follows: I Program Development. II Exploratory Laboratory Tests on Old U.S.B.M. Retorted Shale. III Laboratory Tests on Pilot Plant Retorted Shales, IV Laboratory Tests on Retorted Shale from the Semi-Works Plant, Field, Test Plots and Ponds. V Field Compaction Tests. VI Infiltration Pond Tests. VIII Final Report.

Jan 1, 1975

By Sam S. Taylor

The disposal of oil-field brines by injection into subsurface formations other than fresh-water-bearing strata is a positive method of eliminating the harmful effects of mineralized water on fresh-water supplies, vegetation, and aquatic and other animal life. The methods used most generally for the disposal of brines produced with oil are (1) impounding in evaporation ponds, (2) controlled diversion into surface streams, and (3) injection into subsurface formations. Various States recognize one or more of the methods as legally authorized procedure. As a general rule, impounding brine in ponds and solar evaporation have not been entirely successful, principally because of the large volumes handled; the porous nature of the soil, and the low rate of evaporation. Likewise, the diversion of brine into freshwater streams by controlled dilution has not proved satisfactory in some areas, especially in parts of Kansas and Oklahoma where the rainfall is relatively low, because it has been impossible to obtain enough fresh water for such dilution.

Jan 1, 1939

By Peter G. Groer

The commonly used exact methods (1-2) to determine the WL measure the total a activity or the total number of a counts during three preselected time periods. Due to the half-lives involved (TRaB = 26.8 min, TRaC = 19.7) I these methods take 3S minutes to complete the a activity Ra measurements. Methods using the total a counts, obtained at times less than about one RaB half-life after the end of sampling run into statistical 214 problems. These methods are almost blind to RaB (Pb214) as a consequence of its relatively long half period (see above) and the fact that RaB is a ß emitter. The way out of this dilema is to measure RaB directly through its ß activity. Since RaB's daughter Rae (Bi214) is also a ß emitter, the two f3 spectra have to be separated to obtain RaB alone. How this is accomplished 1s described in subsequent sections describing the theory of the IWLM and its calibration. 2.0 THEORY The IWLM samples air for two minutes and counts this airs ample for two minutes starting 3 sec after the end of the sampling period. The instrument has three channels. The lower a channel, the upper a channel, and one ß channel. The total RaA counts observed are accumulated in the lower a channel, the total RaC? counts are stored in the upper a channel. The total ß counts from RaB and RaC are recorded in the ß channel. These three quantities are functions of NA, NB, and NC, the unknown concentrations

Jan 1, 1975

By E. C. Lane

[This is the tenth in a series of retorts on properties of commercial motor fuels, made in accordance with a cooperative agreement between the Cooperative Fuel Research (C.F.R.) Committee e end the Bureau of Mines of the United States Department of the Interior. The first report rave data on motor gasolines sold during .e winter of 1935-36.3/ The present report presents analytical data for 1,732 samples, representing the products of approximately 50 companies, which, as in previous surveys, include both lame and stall suppliers. In addition, the Pacific coast is represented by data that were averaged by the Pacific Coast Technical Group before being submitted and are published exactly as they were received. As in previous surveys, the data are divided into the three groups of samples of regular-price, premium-price, and third-grade gasolines, and each group has been averaged separately. he number of samples, items, and brands comprising each groan), exclusive of those of the Pacific coast, are as follows: Regular price, 934 samples, 230 items, and 50 brands; premium price, 465 saris samples, 184 items, 40 brands; third-grade gasolines, 360 samples, 177 items, and of these terms as used in the surveys are follows: Sample: The individual supply of gasoline obtained at the filling station and analyzed in the laboratory.]

Jan 1, 1941

By S. A. Allen

The Eufaula bauxite district of Barbour and Henry Counties in southeast Alabama covers an area approximately 14 miles long, 6 miles wide at the eastern extremity near the Chattahoochee River, and 10 miles wide at the western end near the east fork of the Choctawhatchee River (see figs. 1 and 2). The long axis of this polygon bears a little south of east.

Jan 1, 1949

By H. S. Auvil, L. D. Schmidt, H. G. Graham

"Several studies on the bulk density of coals prepared for byproduct-oven use were undertaken during the war by the Bureau of lanes in cooperation with the Office of the Solid Fuels Administrator and with the advice of the Coke Production Committee. The primary purpose of these studies was either to produce more uniform coke or to increase the throughput of existing facilities or both; the goal was increased Production of steel for war. As these studies were made, detailed reports were sent to the individual companies with whom the Bureau cooperated; also two reports,5/6/on the general subject of bulk-density control were published. In the course of the work, data were gathered that now prove of value in judging the merit of carious methods of testing bulk density and the limits of application of each method in byproduct-oven operations.Since the cessation of hostilities, the .Bureau section (Coke Production Survey Section) that conducted this work has been liquidated, but it was felt advisable to prepare a report on the accumulated experience so that it would be in a form available for the use of the industry and also as a base for any further research on the control of fluctuating bulk densities in coke ovens.It is hoped that the data and experiences recorded herein will be of material assistance to the many who have had difficulty in obtaining reproducible results in bulk-density testing. Since the data were gathered in the course of extending aid to individual plants in minimizing the deleterious effects of fluctuations in bulk density of oven charges on the quality and quantity of coke produced, certain desirable phases of an over-all investigation were not covered. However, on certain of these phases qualitative indications are available and the policy followed herein is that suggested by the American Society for Testing Materials Manual on Presentation of Data7/ that lacking quantitative information, relevant material should be included even though it ""may be qualitative in character, some may even be vague."""

May 1, 1946

By Oliver C. Ralston, Dorsey A. Lyon

The data reported in this bulletin are largely the result of experiments conducted by the Salt Lake City station of the Bureau of Mines in cooperation with the department of metallurgical research of the University of Utah. The work on lead is only one of the phases of the investigations carried on at that station during the years 1914 to 1916. The results of similar work with zinc ores and with copper and other ores will be published in future reports of the bureau.

Jan 1, 1918

By G. R. Peterson

To determine the availability of lead and zinc from demonstrated resources, the Bureau of Mines evaluated 235 mines and deposits in 31 market economy countries. Of the 235 mines and deposits evaluated for this study, 186 were evaluated as zinc operations, 30 as lead operations, and 19 as copper operations. Demonstrated lead-zinc resources of market economy countries in 1981 were approximately 4.3 billion metric tons (t) of ore containing 221 million t of zinc and 97 million t of lead. Of these amounts, approximately 154 million t of zinc and 70 million t of lead are estimated to be recoverable. The analyses indicate that demonstrated resources in market economy countries should be sufficient to satisfy projected demand for primary lead and zinc through the balance of the century. The U.S. lead industry will continue to have a comparative advantage over the rest of the world industry, barring any drastic increase in the cost of compliance with pollution control regulations. It appears that the comparative disadvantage faced by the U.S. zinc industry will probably intensify owing to the relative quantity of lower cost zinc resources in other countries, especially Canada, Australia, Mexico, and Peru.

Jan 1, 1985

This report describes the activities and publications of the Bureau of Mines Health and Safety Research and Testing Center, Pittsburgh, Pa., for the fiscal years 1960-65. It includes a discussion or work being conducted on roof control, dust explosions, ventilation, health, coal mine fire control, and electrical-mechanical testing, and an abstract of each paper published during the report period.

Jan 1, 1966

By J. S. Miller

This report presents a complete coverage of results from Bureau of Mines preliminary research and the field application of explosive fracturing techniques to prepare oil shale for in situ recovery of shale oil. Small-scale surface tests were conducted to determine the feasibility of using a nitroglycerin-base explosive for creating rock fractures. Prior to underground testing, surface and near-surface tests with liquid explosives showed that explosions in sheetlike layers simulating underground fractures would propagate effectively. Successful surface experiments were conducted using layers of explosive placed between glass plates and explosive-saturated sand confined in small-diameter metal tubes. The tests in glass-plate reservoirs and metal tubes demonstrated that nitroglycerin would detonate and the explosion would propagate in cracks as thin as 1/32 inch and through distances up to 12 feet. In a shallow field test, nitroglycerin was detonated in a vertical crack in limestone and produced extensive fracturing. Explosive fracturing tests were performed in oil shale formations on seven sites near Rock Springs, Wyo. The procedures included (1) displacing and detonating nitroglycerin in natural or hydraulically induced fracture systems; (2) detonating nitroglycerin in wellbore shots; (3) displacing and detonating nitroglycerin in induced fractures followed by wellbore shots using pelletized TNT; and (4) detonating wellbore charges using pelletized TNT. The research on oil shale formations demonstrated that nitroglycerin displaced in a natural or hydraulically induced fracture would detonate, and the explosion would propagate through the explosive-filled fracture. Shooting a pattern of wells in oil shale at 100-foot depth with wellbore charges of pelletized TNT developed a satisfactory interwell fragmented zone. Tests performed on other sites at depths to 385 feet caused fragmentation of rock around the wellbore and provided interwell communication. Fourteen methods used to evaluate the extent and degree of fragmentation in the explosive fractured oil shale are discussed.

Jan 1, 1974