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The first session was held in the rooms of the American Philosophical Society, on Tuesday evening, February 26th. The President, Dr. T. Sterry Hunt, called the meeting to order, and after a few introductory remarks concerning the importance of theoretical and speculative science, which often involves principles of the highest economic value, and, more than all that, serves to enlarge our conceptions of the universe, and ennoble us, by the cultivation which it affords to our most exalted faculties, proceeded to discuss some points in the chemistry of the atmosphere. It is known that there is in the crust of the earth a great amount of oxidized carbon, not only in the shape of coal, but also in the graphite or plunlbago of the crystalline rocks, in the various bituminous shales or pyroschists, which are found in all succeeding rock-formations, and also in the forms of bitumen and petroleum. All the analogies of nature lead us to conclude that these various carbonaceous substances have had an organic origin, and have been generated by the deoxidation of carbonic acid, a process effected by the growing plant, and attended with the liberation of oxygen. He showed that the carbon of a layer of coal covering the whole earth's surface to the thickness of one meter, would, in its production from carbonic dioxide, liberate an amount of oxygen equal to that now present in our atmosphere. But bituminous coal contains also a large amount of hydrogen, derived from the deoxidation of water, which implies the liberation of a farther portion of oxygen. The amount from this latter source would equal, for the various coals and asphalts, from one-eighth to one-fourth, and, for the petroleums, onehalf of that set free in the deoxidation of the carbon which these hydrocarbonaceous bodies contain. From what we know of the composition of the stratified rocks, it is probable that they include an amount of deoxidized carbon and hydrogen many times greater than that contained in a layer of coal one meter in thickness, and, consequently, that the disengaged oxygen in past ages must have far exceeded that now present in our atmosphere. To this must be added

Jan 1, 1879

THE Institute assembled on Tuesday evening, in the building of the University of Pennsylvania. In the absence of President Thomas, Vice-President Raymond occupied the chair. The Institute was welcomed in an eloquent and thoughtful address by Prof. J. P. Lesley, to which Mr. Raymond responded. Invitations were announced from the proprietors of Sellers' Tool Works, Whitney's Car-wheel Works, the Baldwin Locomotive Works, Lewis & Brothers' White Lead Works, the Southwark Foundry, Harrison's Boiler Factory, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Academy of Natural Sciences. The following gentlemen, being duly recommended by the Council as members and associates, were unanimously elected : Alexander, John S., . . . . . Philadelphia, Pa. Biddle, E. R., . New Pork. Britton, J.. Blodget, . . . . . Philadelphia, Pa. Brooks, Maj. T. B., . . . . . Marquette, Mich. Brown, D. P., . Pottsville, Pa. Canfield, Edw., . . . . . . Dover, N. J. Cogswell, W. B., . .Franklin IronW'ks, N. Y. Cornwall, Prof. H. B., . .New York. Edwards, Daniel, . . . . . . Danville, Pa. Estabrook, Juhn D., . . . . . Philadelphia, Pa. Firmstone, William, . . . . . Easton, Pa. Fritz, John, . . . . . . . Bethlehem, Pa. Gignoux, Charles, . . . . . . New Pork. Grant, E. M., . . . . . . . Tuskegee, Ala. Humphreys, A. W., . New York. Ingham, W. A,, . . . . . . Philadelphia, Pa. Keyes, W. S., . . . . . . Eureka, Nev. Kimball, Dr. J. P., . New Pork. Law, Charles, . Pittston, Pa. Neilson, W. O., . . . . . . Philadelphia, Pa. Newberry, Prof. J. S., . . . . . New York. Pearse, John B., . .Steel Works P. O., Pa. Ricketts, P. De P., . . . . . New Pork. Scranton, Col. Charles, . . . . . Ox ford, N. J. Sontag, Hugo, . . . . . . Cologne, Prussia. Steele, Thomas C., . .Summit, Pa. Wharton, Joseph, . . . . . . Philadelphia, Pa.

Jan 1, 1903

THE Institute assembled on Tuesday evening, October 24th, in the hall of the Franklin Institute, Mr. Frank Firmstone, VicePresident, in the chair. Mr. J. Price Wetherill, of Tremont, Pa., read a paper on An Outline of Anthracite Coal Mining in Schuylkill County, Pa. The paper was discussed by Messrs. Coxe, Rothwell, Heinrich, Harden, and Symons. The second session was held on Thursday evening. Mr. A. L. Holley, Chairman of the International Committee, appointed by the Institute to consider the nomenclature of iron and steel, offered the following report of the committee, signed by all the members: WHEREAS, The recent production of soft, cast, malleable compounds of iron by the Bessemer, the Siemens-Martin, and the crucible steel processes appears to demand a new nomenclature of iron compounds, for the following reasons: 1st. The term "steel," by which these soft products are commercially and professionally designated in England and in the United States, does not completely distinguish them from previously existing "steel which would harden and temper. 2d. A nomenclature recognized in all languages seems desirable, as well for commercial as for scientific purposes, especially as lawsuits, already commenced, depend on the meaning of the term " steel." 3d. Although homogeneity, due to fusion, is usually recognized, and is by this committee recognized as the most definite characteristic of both hard and soft steel, this quality may be equally well expressed in other terms, thus leaving the old term, " steel," to define the malleable compounds of iron, which will harden and temper. Therefore, resolved, That this committee recommends the following nomenclature : 1. That all malleable compounds of iron with its ordinary ingredients, which are aggregated from pasty masses, or from piles, or from any forms of iron not in a fluid state, and which will not sensibly harden and temper, and which generally resemble what is called " wrought iron," shall be called Weld Iron (German, Schweisseisen; French, fer soudé). 2. That such compounds, when they will from any cause harden and temper, and which resemble what is now called puddled steel," shall be called Weld Steel (German, Schweiss stahl; French, acier soudé).

Jan 1, 1921

By AIME AIME

THE 1941 fall meeting of the Iron and Steel and the Institute- of Metal, Division held at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Philadelphia, during the first three days (Oct. 20-22) of the National Metal Congress was well attended as usual, and the seven technical sessions and the joint round table on order-disorder transformations were this year of considerably more than routine interest. Despite unseasonably warm weather, a scarcity of hotels (there were rumors, apparently well-founded, that , some of the metal man attending the Congress had to stay in tourist camp), and a multiplicity of technical and other ions of the co-operating societies that gave the Congress this year the general air of a three-ring circus the A.I.M.E. sessions attracted audiences that ragged from seventy or eighty up to 350

Jan 1, 1941

By W. J. Taylor

IN making heating gas with anthracite coal for roasting ore during the past few years, I hare tried many forms of gas generators. So far, the most successful and satisfactory one has been what we call a fluxing producer, which is simply a small cupola or blast furnace, in which we charge with the coal, say, 30 or 40 per cent. of basic blast-furnace cinder, to unite, when melted, with the ash or earthy matter in the coal, and carry it off as cinder. The producer we have in use at Chester, N. J., has pore of the lines of a blast furnace than a cupola, the hearth being 24 inches diameter and 24 inches high. It then enlarges on an angle of about 25 degrees from a perpendicular to 4 feet, and then is drawn into 3 feet on top ; total height, 12 feet. We use one water coil-tuyere 12 inches above the bottom, and blow through a 11/2-inch nozzle. The depth of coal above the tuyere averages about 6 feet. The producer. is blown with

Jan 1, 1881

By Charles F. Manness

In the great increase of product which has been accomplished in the American Bessemer plant, through improvements in machinery and refractories, and by more perfect skill in their manipulation,

Jan 1, 1881

By Henry S. Munroe

The plan of organizing a summer class of students of tha Bchool of Mines, for the practical study of mioing and miner's work, rewived at the outset the following cordial indorsement: ...." 1 have thonght over the plan proposed by you of taking the students to the mines during the summer, acd of having them actuaily ttrke part, under the direction of skilled worktnbn, in dl the various kinde of mining work; and of using them as a cerps of engineers to make inside and outside surreys, particularly with a view to the detailed study of the geology of the mine. I have no beitation in saying, that if the students have been previously instructed in the theoretical part of thrir studies, by lectitras and practice during the winter, the plan would be an admirable one. Of courae experience will suggest modiflcations of detail. Frorn the work you have done at our mines this spring, I feel sure that you would be perfectly competent to curry out your plan, and 1 shall gladly aid you in uny wny I can. " Yours, sincerely, The plan of the proposed summer school thus indorsed by Mr. Coxe was adopted by the trustees of Columbia College, and an appropriation of one thousand dollars, or so much thereof ss might be necessary, was voted for the experitneat. A volunteer class of thirteen students was formed, and the first summer school was held at Drifton, in July and August of that year (1877). The following extract, from an editorial notice in the iden of the organization of the school and the work required of the stiudens. "The students, on reporting to Professor Munroe, were divided into sqoade of two or three men each, and on Monday, July 2d, were aesigned to the qre of skilled miners, selected for the purpose by the mine boss, for instruction in gangway work. Half of the students worked in the morning and the other half in the atternoon, one squad at a time with each miner, The times of going and coming to and from work were so arranged that each student spent four to four and a half hours in the mine each day. While in the mine they assisted the miner to load his car, thereby learning readily to distinguish I slate ' and

Jan 1, 1881

By J. Henry Harden

I desire to call the attention of the Institute to a new form of drawing-board trestle. With the ordinary four-legged trestle, commonly used, one has not the means of adjusting the height of the board to the draughtsman. To obviate this inconvenience, and at the same time to enable one to incline the board, I have devised an arrangement of curved and straight slots and thumb-screws, by means of which the hoard can be raised three or more inches, and placed at any desired angle of inclination on either side. Figures 2, 3 (Plate I) show side and end elevations of the trestle for a single board, and Figure 4 for two boards. The latter form is adapted for use in schools, or where it is desired to economize space.

By W. J. Taylor

Some eight years ago I became interested to a considerable extent in one of the well-known deposits of sulphury iron ore in New Jersey, and, as a consequence, soon became interested in the subject of the elimination of the sulphur. On investigation I found that no department of pig-iron manufacture had received less attention than that of roasting or calcining ores for the elimination of sulphur, carbonic acid, water, etc. My first devices to eliminate sulphur mere naturally in the limekiln line, with solid fuel mixed with the ore, in the same way = common lime is burnt with small coal. While this process will succeed tolerably well for carbonates or calcareous ores, even though they contain sulphur as sulphates, I soon found it would not answer for our magnetites, which are very hard and dense, carrying from 2 to 5 per cent. of sulphur as pyrites, and become very sticky as soon as any attempt is made to roast them at a high heat. Some laboratory experiments developed the fact that the nearer the gaseous current surrounding the hot ore approached in composition pure atmospheric air the more rapidly the sulphur was oxidized, while in an atmosphere composed largely of carbonic oxide, carbonic acid, and nitrogen, it seemed almost impossible to reduce the sulphur more than one-half, which was a confirmation of the well-known Pact that just one-half of the sulphur in pyrites volatilizes very easily, and that the trouble is mainly to remove the remainder. It was thus apparent that the atmosphere surrounding the ore was of as much importance as the temperature..• This led to the trial of a kiln to heat the ore by conduction through the brick. It was divided into ore-chambers, which were surrounded with flues, through which the products of combustion of gaseoua fuel passed without coming in contact with the ore. We did not, however, succeed by this arrangement in getting more than a cherry-red heat, which, of course, was too low to accomplish anything. I had at this point become convinced— 1st. That gaseous fuel only would accomplish the work successfully. 2d. That since a high temperature was required to insure a rapid oxidation of the sulphur, and also to make the ore open and porous,

Jan 1, 1881

By P. H. Mell

Can the auriferous slate deposits of the Southern mining region ever be successfully worked ? is a question that has been often asked me by persons seeking investments in Southern mines. As the subject is one that has given me much thought during the past few years, I have decided to present my conclusions to the members of the Institute for their consideration. Those who have had the opportunity of exploring the region mentioned above, will readily reall to mind numerous localities, to which their attention was directed by would-be miners, as "rich and desirable properties," in which there were but few quartz seams running in every direction through fine-grained talcose slate. Most of the gold in such formations was always found disseminated through the slate, and but a small percentage contained in the quartz. Such are the deposits I propose to discuss in this paper. Of course there are many excellent quartz mines in the South that are paying the owners good profits, and many more to my knowledge, that are not being worked for obvious reasons. But it is out of the question to suppose that these slate deposits can be practically

Jan 1, 1881

By Charles A. Ashburner

VERY little is known of the economical value of the cod-bells of the State of Texas. The first authentic statement in regard to their occurrence is that contained in the reports of the United States Exploratians for the Pacific Railroad, near the 32d parallel of latitude, published in 1863-55. Professor William P. Biake reports, "that a number of seams of bituininorls coal, varying in thickness from two to four feet, have been opened along the Brazos River, in Young County, about one hundred and fifty miles west of Fort Worth." Dr: Shurunrd also states, " that the claracteristic fossil fornis of the Carbeiferaas Era have been found with this coal, and considers the age of the formation established. Foesils obtained from the carboniteroas limestone remove all doubt of the age of these deposits."† In the spring of 1879, I was called upon by some Eastern capitalisets to make an examination of the Brazos coal-field, in order to obtain the thickness, extent., and value of the coal which could be mined and be'made merchantable fir stearn, heating, and metallurgical purposes. The demand for coal in this section of the country is great, and a fuel which in our Eastern markets might be considered of inferior quality, would here find a ready sale. It must be remernbered that the market value of a coal does not depen'd upon its absoltite purity, but upon its actual value in heat units which it is capable of prodwing. A poor coal which can be cheaply milled near the consuper, is infinitely more remunerative to a mining company than a superior coal whose cost to the consumer is greatly increased by high mining charges and railroad freights. The value of the Texan coals does not depend upon their purity but upon their low first cost and nearness to a market. A glance at a geological map of the United States, will show that the Brazos coal-field is the extreme southwestern extension of what may be called the Missourian, Fourth or Western, bituminous coal

Jan 1, 1881

By Jacob Reese

I have discovered a new method by which steel and other metals may be burnished by the automatic action of the burnishing machine, and by which the cost is greatly diminished, and more perfect work produced. And in addition to the polishing and burnishing action of

Jan 1, 1881

By William Metcalf

One of the first questions that naturally occurs to one who handles steel is, " Why does steel harden?" To answer this question the chemist and physicist have devoted much thought and experiment, and while they have enriched our store of knowledge of the nature and composition of steel, it cannot be said that they have yet solved the problem involved in its hardening. In this communication I desire to direct attention to a line of investigation yet new, in the hope that it may receive the attention. of those who have the time and ability to pursue it. I refer to magnetism. There are so many parallels between the action of magnetism on iron and steel and their behavior under different processes of manipulation that it would seem. as if there must be some connection between tile forces at work in the different cases, if, indeed, there be not an identify of force in all of these cases. Magnetism, as me know it, may be merely the visible manifestation of forces, which may serve as a guide to lead us to an exact knowledge of the structure, tile strains, and the resistances with which me have to deal in iron and steel. If a magnet be brought close to a pile of iron filings, the little pieces of iron will fly to the maguet and attach themselves to it, with their longer axes lying in the direction of the force. If molten cast iron be poured into an iron mould,—a chill,—the iron upon crystallizing will form needlelike crystals, with their long axes normal to the surfaces of the mould. • If the iron is at the proper temperatare and the quantity small, compared to the mass of the mould, the whole of it, will be chilled, or set, in 'the hard needlelike crystals

Jan 1, 1881

By S. Stutz

Coal, like most other minerals, only exceptionally occurs in a sufficiently pare state to he directly available for general manufacturing purposes. And even where this is the case, the small coal or slack is usually more impure than the lump coal, as the slate, clay, etc., from the roof and bottom of the vein become mixed with it in the handling it undergoes. These impurities often exceed ten or more per cent. in addition to the impurities of the coal itself. The most common impurities of the coal are slate, or shale, clay, and sulphur. The latter occurs in different forms, but moat frequently as bisulphide of iron, or iron pyrites, and as sulphate of lime, or gypum. In both cases the impnrities add greatly to the amount of ash, and where they are present in considerable quantities the raw coal, and still more the coke made from it, is unfit for the manufacture of iron. Coke will coutain on an average at least fifty per cent. more ash and sulphur than the ram coal from which it is made. To the manufacturer of iron every additional per cent. of ash which his coal or coke contains is a source of additional expense, seemingly small, and yet very important in the aggregate. In the blast-furnace, for instance, the ash must be heated up to the melting-point, and, since it is composed largely of refractory substances, the consumption of carbon in melting it will be equal to at least one-half of its weight; that is, a certain part of tile coke is consumed for the melting and fluxing of the ash and is lost. Besides this, it is well enough known to the iron-master that coke containing lees ash makes the &lag or cinder more liquid and less incliner1 to stick to the walls of the furnace. Fuel containing much sulphur produces generally a white iron, poor in carbon, while from the same ore arrd flux, with a pure fuel, a good foundry iron might be obtained. The work of separating slate, sulphur, etd, from the coal has as yet only been successfully accomplished by the washing process. This process depends for its success on the differences in the specific

Jan 1, 1881

By P. D. Merica, J. R. Freeman, R. G. Waltenberg

Contents Page Constitution of Commercial Aluminum.................. 4 Solubility of CuAl2 in Aluminum at Different Temperatures........ 9 Effect of Magnesium on Solubility of CuA12 in Aluminum ......... 15 Solubility of Mg4Al8 in Aluminum at Different Temperatures........ 15 Solubility of Metals and Metal Compounds in Aluminum.......... 20 Summary and Conclusions......................20 Aluminum and its alloys have been the subject of much investigation1 during recent years, in the course of which the principal features of the constitution of most of the binary alloy systems with aluminum have been determined. Except in the case of a few metals—silicon, bismuth, cadmium, lead, zinc, and tin—an aluminum-rich compound is formed in each binary system, which forms a eutectic with the aluminum or its solid solution with this compound: Thus such compounds as FeAla, CuA12, Mg4Al3, and NiAls are formed, which are found in aluminum-rich alloys of their respective series as eutectics with the aluminum solid solution. These compounds are, in all cases, hard and brittle and their presence affects profoundly the physical properties of the alloys in which they occur. Within the zinc-aluminum system a compound, Al2Zn,, is formed that decomposes at lower temperatures. Silicon and tin each form a simple eutectiferous series with aluminum; bismuth, lead, and cadmium are only partly miscible in the liquid state with it. The extent of the solubility in aluminum, in solid solution, of these compounds or of the elements themselves, in the case of those series in which compounds are not formed, is of the greatest importance in

Jan 1, 1921

By T. Egleston

The materials containing copper which are refined in the United Statrs, are, for the most part, the natiye noppers of Lake Superior. IJntil quite recently but little pig copper Was made for sale, and that came principally from the pure sulphorous ores of New England and the Sonth, and was generally sdd to reSneries not far from the ore filrnaceu. A stnall aiuoiint found its way into the'niarket which was produced either as the by-product of the treatment of gold and silver ores, or as the result of the treatment of impure copper ores; but both these grades, on account of the impurities they contained, were loolced on with stlspicion, and were not sought for. A11 the grtlGis of pig coppcr are sold by the unit of oopper contents, a great redtiction being made in the price when impurities are present. There are at the present time only three works which treat native copper, the two of the Detroit and Lake Superior copper Company, and the works of C:G. Hussey & Co., in Pittsburgh. There are a few works ivhich smelt sulphuroris ores and refine their pig; bo sides these t1le1-e arc a few siuall works where gig copper is refined uuly. Some of these purcIlase blscir copper, refine scrap, or simply refine such grades of ingot copper as are found in the market, but nlostly that from Lake Superior, for the purpose of getting it into swh shapes that can be handled cpmtriercially to advantage, such as in making large plates or high grades of wire fir electrical purposes. A nomher of such works are situated in the Xaugaturk Vatley aud elsewhcre in New England. The recent discoveryof vnlt~sblc ores in Ariarona makm it probable that within a few year8 the refining of capper In the United States will make great develupments. Up to the time of the discovery of the mines on Lake Superior, only a very small quantity of native copper had ever been foond, not sufficient to justify the erection of worlrs fbr its special treatment. It had, besides, never been found in very large maweq so that the discovery of greabblocks of it presented serious difficulties, not oolp in mining it,-I- but in bringing it into a merchantable condit'ion. It seemed a very simple process to melt these large maws,

Jan 1, 1881

By A. I. Krynitzky, Henry S. Rawdon

The most commonly used material for terminals in spark plugs is commercial nickel wire, because of its relatively high temperature of melting, excellent heat conductivity, and slow rate at which the metal is oxidized, even upon continued heating at high temperatures. The grade commonly used for this purpose averages 97 per cent. nickel, the remainder being manganese, cobalt, iron, copper, with traces of other impurities always found in commercial nickel. A peculiar and interesting type of deterioration that occurs in these nickel terminals during the service life of the spark plug was recently brought to the attention of the Bureau of Standards. Commercial spark plugs vary greatly in their size and shape and the terminals differ considerably as to their relative size, shape, number, and arrangement with respect to one another. Although this defect was studied in detail in only one form of spark plug, the deterioration is a characteristic of the material, i.e., of nickel wire, rather than of the particular type of spark plug in which it was noted and studied. The mechanical features of the plugs, however, have a considerable bearing on the time required for the deterioration to become serious. The results of this study of the deterioration of nickel terminals in service should be of value to the makers of all types of spark plugs in which the terminals are made of this metal. CharacteR of Deterioration of WIres During Service Macroscopic Appearance and Properties of Changed Wire.—The nickel terminals in which the deterioration was studied were taken from spark plugs having a central terminal with the ground or side terminals attached firmly at both ends to the shell of the plug. In some of the plugs, two side terminals were used, one on each side of the central one. Although both terminals were found to have deteriorated to some extent, the attack of the central one was quite negligible compared to that of the side ones. These latter wires had developed, in service, transverse cracks that, in many cases, were as sharp and definite as a knife-cut. After a separation occurred, the breach widened by loss of material from the

Jan 1, 1921

H. H. Campbell, Steelton, Pa. (communication to the Secretary) : I wish to thank Mr. Webster for the copious quotations he has made from my writings, as he has given nearly all the arguments I wish to advance. It is necessary to note, however, his statement that most of his experiments were made on universal-mill plates, and that these were not subject to my condemnation of irregularity. I think this is a mistake. It is well known that universal-mill plates are finished under very different conditions of temperature, with the express purpose of regulating the tensile strength. This is a perfectly legitimate practice; but it renders almost worthless any calculations on the relations of the chemical and physical equations when the influence of such finishing is omitted. Another important point Mr. Webster has not answered at all. I have shown by an excerpt from his own table that two entirely different formulæ may be constructed; and it is undeniable that one is as valid as the other, since Mr. Webster started with no premise at all save an assumption that the effect of carbon was constant. This was an assumption pure and simple, and hence has no special virtue. The whole result of Mr. Webster's investigation is not that the effect of carbon is a constant, and that those of phosphorus and manganese are variables. On the contrary, there are two answers, with nothing to show which is right. We learn that if carbon is a constant, then phosphorus and manganese are variables; but that if phosphorus and manganese are constants, then carbon is a variable. This is a distinct advance over complete ignorance, but it is not final and satisfactory from either a mathematical or metallurgical standpoint. Regarding my own formulæ, I would say that they are used regularly in the testing-laboratories of the Pennsylvania Steel Company. The tensile strength of every heat is calculated

Jan 1, 1899