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Jan 1, 1940

Jan 5, 1953

WE the undersigned, being all persons of full age and citizens of the United States, and a majority residents of the State of New York, desiring to form a corporation pursuant to the provisions of the Membership Corporations Law for the purpose of incorporating, as provided in Section 5 of Article I. of said law, the existing unincorporated association known as American Institute of Mining Engineers, do hereby make, acknowledge and file this Certificate for that purpose, and do Certify as follows I. That the American Institute of Mining Engineers is an unincorporated association organized and existing with the object of promoting the arts and sciences connected with the economic production of the useful minerals and metals and the welfare of those employed in these industries by means of meetings for social intercourse and the reading and discussion of professional papers, and to circulate by means of publications among its members and associates the information thus obtained.

Jan 1, 1923

By KENNETH CITTISGHAM

During the year 1945, the total number of wells drilled in Ohio, including the. non¬productive wells, was 1034. For the 10-year period ending with 1945, the average completions per year were 1125, the least number being 910 in 1938, and the maximum 1561 in 1941. The proportion of dry holes in 1945 was 37 per cent?about the same as for the year 1944 but exceeding the 10-year average, which was 34 per cent. The number of oil wells completed exceeded the number drilled in 1944 by about 30 per cent, the average initial per well being the same in both years. Gas-well completions were approximately 10 per Cent less than in 1944, with the average initial per well about 5 per cent greater. The difference in number of oil and gas wells in the two years was in Berea and Clinton completions, as the number of oil wells increased about 30 per cent, owing to greater activity in the two sands named, while the number of gas wells decreased because of fewer completions therein.

Jan 1, 1946

By Edward W. Parker

IF one is to place any credence at all in the reports published in the daily press, the subject of conservation has been a very lively topic of conversation during the past 60 days, and it does not appear that the temperature of the summer months has been in any way moderated by the discussion. It is a subject in which we are all vitally interested and to which, so far as our mineral resources are concerned, both the Institute and the Geological Survey have liberally contributed. The report of the National Conservation Commission, appointed by President Roosevelt, contains a series of papers on the conservation of mineral resources, all of which were prepared by members of the Geological Survey and were compiled largely from information previously collected by that Federal bureau in the performance of its regular duties. It is not the purpose of this paper to reiterate in extenso any of the material already published. The contributions of the Survey officials to the Commission's report have been published in a separate document as Bulletin No. 394. This docunient is for free distribution and may be obtained upon application to the Director of the Survey. In the preparation of this paper I desire merely to make a few suggestions regarding the possible necessity of some restraint upon or control of one branch of the mining industry with which I have been somewhat closely associated for the past 20 years-that of coal. Most of the members of the Institute are cognizant of the suits brought by the government against the anthracite-operators in Pennsylvania, or the combination of interests commonly known as the ? hard-coal trust." No defense of any illegal combination in restraint of trade is intended, but there are some facts which should not be lost sight of, and unfortu-\

Nov 1, 1909

By George W. Riter

(Canal zone meeting, November, 1910.) A DISTINGUISHED engineer, the active head of a large mining company, has said that surveying attains the dignity of a profession only in the hands of a few men-the few who know how to keep notes that will be understood by even a novice without further word of explanation. Of all mine-records, survey notes are perhaps the most important. The maps made from them serve as a working-guide, and as framework for other data ; and when, from any cause, access to underground workings is shut off, the surveyor's record often becomes invaluable. So seldom does a surveyor have a chance to check underground surveys by making a closure, that he is compelled to rely on the precision of each step of his work for the accuracy of the final result. When data are fully recorded on the spot, the notes, even in the hands of second parties, become evidence of the care and precision with which the surveying was done. It is worth a great deal to be able to pick up the work of a former surveyor where it was left o$; and to be able to carry it forward without retracing from the beginning. The purpose of this paper is to describe the survey-note system of a mine now under my direction, in which underground surveys had to be relied upon entirely for the proper division of rich ore-bodies between neighbors, thereby placing a premium on accurate surveying and permanent records. In survey-work, it soon turns out that paper is the least item of expense, and that little is gained by trying to economize note-book space. For many purposes it is best to record notes on cards or loose-leaves, which may be left in the office at the end of the day's work, and need not be carried into the mine again, there to become smeared with grime and grease. With the loose-leaf or card system, all notes relating to the same local-

Apr 1, 1911

By L. E. Porter

The demand for crude oil on the Pacific Coast during the year 1945. was so acute that the California crude supply had to be augmented by tank-car imports from the Texas and Rocky Mountain fields. Crude imports reached a high of 64,800 bbl. per day during June, with a total of 14,259,000 bbl. imported during the first 11 .months. The U. S. Navy also implemented the crude output from California pools by drilling and completing approximately 300 wells in the Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 1 (Elk Hills), from which an established production of 65,000. bbl. per day was reached in late February and maintained until Aug. 17, 1945, when it was reduced to its preprogram level of 15,000 bbl. per day. Even with the conclusion of the Pacific war on V-J day (Aug. 14), the military petroleum product requirements have permitted little material reduction in output of California crude to prewar rates. During the year, a total of 327-760,000 bbl. of crude was produced, or 19 per cent of the total crude production within the United States during the same period, as compared with 310,996,000 bbl. or 18.4 per cent of the nation's crude production in 1944.

Jan 1, 1946

By JOHN JERMAIN

In my opinion, the explanation of the fuel-requirements involving the conception of heat available and necessary above a critical temperature, as advanced by Johnson 1 and elaborated by Howe, Raymond and others,2 affords a theoretically correct basis for such an accounting. It is the purpose of this paper to set forth a first crude attempt to construct a formula which shall show quantitatively the relation between the various factors affecting fuel-economy, and afford a means of comparing the enormous amount of data on the fuel-consumption of various blast-furnaces, at various times and under various conditions of operation. I have also applied this formula to a large number. of individual cases, and have, by its means, compared the furnace-practice of several important iron-making districts. II. DERIVATION OF FORMULA FOR FUEL-REQUIREMENTS. The general expression for the fuel-requirements of the blast-furnace, which I believe to be theoretically correct as to form, is as follows Carbon per ton of iron = Heat per ton of iron necessary in hearth above Tc./Heat per pound of carbon available in hearth above Tc. XFactor of rate of driving. +Carbon dissolved by CO2 of flux. +Carbon dissolved incidental to reduction of ore. + Carbon dissolved in pig-iron. (NOTE.-Tc = critical temperature.) Since, according to Johnson's theory, fuel-economy is usually limited by heat available and necessary in the hearth, rather than by the total heat supplied and necessary, we may write Carbon needed in hearth = Hn/Ha in which Hn is the heat per ton of iron necessary in the hearth above some critical temperature, and Ha is the heat per pound of carbon available in the hearth above this same critical tem¬perature. 1 Trans., xxxvi., 454 (1906). 2 Trans, xxxvi., 792 to 798 (1906) ; Trans, xxxvii., 216 to 237 (1907).

May 1, 1911

By S. F. Shaw

Tars paper is a review of the principal details of cyanide practice in several of the modern plants in America, mainly during the year 1908. Two of the mills, the Goldfield Consolidated and the Vets, Colorado, are not yet prepared to give data, the former having started about Jan. 1, 1909, and the latter not yet being completed. These two mills embody most of the latest methods and are therefore described as far as possible. I. CRUSHING. The principal methods of crushing ores for treatment by the cyanide process are with gyratory and jaw-crushers, stamps, Bryan and Huntington mills, and tube-mills. The first stage is usually done by gyratory or jaw-crushers, in a few cases sup-\

Jul 1, 1909

By David B. Reger

New discoveries of gas in the southern counties featured the petroleum industry in West Virginia during 194;. Drilling for oil increased slightly over 1944 and a small increase of initial production resulted. Out of 28 wildcats drilled, there were 16 gas discoveries and 12 dry holes. No commercial oil was found in the 28 wells.

Jan 1, 1946

By R. W. Raymond

AT the Pittsburg meeting of the Institute, in March, 1910, the death of Mr. Metcalf was announced, and Col. H. P. Bope, of Pittsburg, delivered in memory of him a brief but eloquent address, which, though expressing the sorrow of Mr. Metcalf's friends, and, in general terms,. the debt of gratitude which his country and his profession owed to him, was not intended to be a complete survey of his life and work. With Colonel Bope's permission, and with the aid of some of the statements in his address, I substitute for it, in our Transactions, this more detailed, yet still inadequate memorial. As Colonel Bope justly remarked, the men who could do justice to this theme-such men, as Jones, Chalfant, Bennett, Oliver, and Park-passed away before Metcalf, leaving him almost the last of the generation of great steel-makers who made Pittsburg the Sheffield of America, and who discharged a double function, as the rear-guard of the old metallurgical practice and the van-guard of the new. I knew many of them; would that I were better qualified to celebrate their achievements. William Metcalf was born Sept. 3, 1838, at Pittsburg, Pa., where his father, Orlando Metcalf, was an eminent member of the bar. At the age, of sixteen, he entered the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, at Troy, N. Y., from which he was graduated in June, 1858. Returning to his native city, he became an assistant engineer in the Fort Pitt Foundry, of which. he was made Superintendent in 1859. This famous establishment produced the largest castings and heaviest machinery then known in the United States;-and Mr. Metcalf's intense, intelligent and incessant study of his business prepared him as a manufacturer for a patriotic service to his country more valuable than, as a soldier, he could have rendered in the field. The call came in 1862, when the government needed, above all things, a supply of field, naval and siege artillery. The

Apr 1, 1911

By William H. Spice

Drilling activities in South Central Texas for the year 1945 continued the steady increase over the past two years, while new fields discovered for the year included four new gas fields and one field extension. In the 30 counties included in this area, which comprises district No. 1, Oil and Gas Division, Railroad Commission of Texas, 141 exploratory wells were completed, compared with 61 drilled in 1944 and 29 drilled in 1943. Of these 141 tests, 55 were field well and 86 were wildcats; 38 were completed as oil wells, S as gas and gas-distillate producers, and 95 were abandoned as dry. Atascosa and McMullen Counties were the most active in the district, accounting for 73 of the wells drilled.

Jan 1, 1946

By Sydney H. Ball

I. INTRODUCTION. DURING the past 50 years the attention of mining-men has been turned to Africa, and within the past decade prospecting-expeditions sent into Central Africa have resulted in the opening-up of several mines. Having recently spent two years in the Belgian Congo for the Société Internationale Forestiere et Miniere du Congo, it is our purpose to outline briefly the mining-conditions in that part of Central Africa. Before it became, in 1908, a Belgian colony, this region was known as the Congo Free State. II. LOCATION AND AREA. The Belgian Congo lies in southwestern Central Africa, west of the continental divide, is illustrated in Fig. 1. It has a coastline of but 20 miles on the Atlantic, but widens rapidly eastward to points 5° north and 14° south of the equator. Its area is 908,000 sq. miles, which is almost one-quarter that of the United States and Alaska, or more than one and one-half times that of Alaska. Stated in other terms, its area is nearly one-third that of the United States, exclusive of Alaska and the insular possessions, or more than that of all the United States east of the Mississippi river. III. TOPOGRAPHY AND DRAINAGE. From north to south, Africa is made up of three topographic elements: 1, the Atlas mountains, a highly-accentuated region

Apr 1, 1910

By Joseph W. Richards

THIS method of briquetting flue-dust, or flue-dust mixed with fine ores, or, in a few exceptional cases, coke-dust, has come into large commercial use in Europe, and a small plant is already in operation in the United States. It promises to become of such great importance to the iron industry of the United States that the following description will certainly interest the majority of our pig-iron producers. Discovered in 1908, the process rests upon the observation of Dr. Schumacher that blast-furnace flue-dust, while possessing of itself no binding or cementing properties, acquires strong cementing properties if mixed with a very small amount of certain salt solutions, the amount of which is so small that the resulting cementation appears to be rather by catalytic action of the salts added than by the mass-action of such chemicals. To be more specific, fresh blast-furnace flue-dust mixed with from 5 to 10 per cent. of its weight of magnesium chloride or calcium chloride solution-that is to say, with from 0.25 to 2 per cent. of its weight of magnesium chloride or calcium chloride-acquires the property of setting within a short time, from 15 to 60 min., and forming a hard cemented briquette. Alkaline solutions appear to have no action such as described, and they even interfere, if present, with the action of the magnesium and calcium solutions. When treated in this way the flue-dust briquette sets very hard, apparently from pure excess of cementing- and setting-power. It is, therefore, possible to . mix with the flue-dust a considerable proportion of inert ore or like material, which has no setting-power by this process, and thus to make a compound briquette containing large quantities of ore mixed with flue-dust, but in which the flue-dust may be regarded as the cement or binding-material. A particularly strongly cementing flue-

May 1, 1912

By Allen H. Rogers

THE need for coordinated effort on public problem by engineers has long been felt. Early in June there will assemble in Washington a conference composed of delegates from all the engineering organizations in the country. The call for this conference is issued by the Joint Conference , Committee of the four national societies as the completion of its work on the organization of a congress composed of delegates representing all the engineering organizations of the United States. The plan for this confederation was presented at a joint meeting of the administrative boards of the national founder societies on Jan. 23, 1920; and was unanimously approved in principle by that meeting. The work of the committee since that date has consisted in drafting a constitution of the organization to be presented at the conference for discussion and, after such amendments as may be adopted, acceptance.

Jan 1, 1920

By MILNQR ROBERTS

THE Nicola Valley coal-field is small, but it seems likely to become important because of its commanding position in a rich region that is developing rapidly. Bituminous coking coal in workable quantity has not been found at any other point between the Crow's Nest Pass region, about 400 miles to the east, and Vancouver island, 250 miles westward. The Canadian Pacific railway reached the Nicola valley two years ago; two other lines, the Canadian Northern and the Great Northern, are building towards the valley. The vast region between the Rocky mountains and the Pacific coast, extending northward for several hundred miles from the international boundary, which has been the scene of extensive mining- and smelting-operations for many years, is filling up with settlers, who are attracted by the wealth of minerals and timber, the rich soil of the valleys, and the fine climate. The Nicola river, flowing westward through the valley of that name in the Yale district, discharges into the Thompson river, which is the eastern branch of the Fraser. The transcontinental line of the Canadian Pacific railway crosses the mouth of the Nicola river at Spence's bridge, 178 miles from Vancouver. From Spence's bridge the Nicola branch line ascends the valley for 40 miles to Merritt, the coal-center, and continues 7 miles farther to the town of Nicola. Thus the haul from the mines at an elevation of 2,000 ft, to saltwater is 218 miles down river grades. The Nicola branch will be continued about 150 miles farther eastward to Penticton, where it will connect with an extension of the line through the rich Kootenay and Boundary districts. The Canadian government has granted a subsidy of $6,000 per mile, to which the pro-

Jan 1, 1910

By BLABIEY STEVENS

THE object of this paper is to present a theory of the formation of fissures which seems to be supported by all available data. The investigation is, in the main, an exact one, and irregularities of the rock-structure are generalized. From the conclusions drawn a general classification of fissures is made, and this should be of practical use in the comparison of mineral deposits. The theory also throws some light on the equilibrium of the earth's crust and the depth of action of surface-waters. Incidentally, additions are made to the theory of earthquake-slips. Former Theory. It has been previously pointed out that the '"jointing" of homogeneous rocks occurs in two sets of planes, at right angles to one another, and making angles of 45° with the directions of greatest and least principal stress.' The theory by which this fact is explained does not, however, account for fissures and faults, because normal faults are usually more vertically, and reverse faults more horizontally, inclined than 45°. The "jointing law" is based on the following axiom: "In a homogeneous mass under pressure, rupture must take place on the lines of maximum tangential stress." 2 This law applies, with fair approximation, to the tests on jointing which can be made in the laboratory, and as nearly as can be expected to the natural jointing-planes in rock-masses, where the stresses are not very great; but it entirely fails to account for fissure-fractures.

Aug 1, 1909

By J. J. Rutledge

I. DESCRIPTION OF THE CLINTON ORES AND ASSOCIATED POCKS. THE Clinton rocks in Stone Valley comprise (1) thick layers of deep-red shale, (2) layers of reddish-gray shale interspersed with beds of sandstone and thin beds of extremely fossiliferous limestone, and (3) yellowish-gray shales alternating with thin layers of olive-colored shales. These layers of shale are all very thin and are at no point massive.1 A bed of gray-white sandstone varying in thickness from 12 to 30 ft. occurs in the tipper portions of the Clinton shales. This is called the ore sandstone, a name given to it by Rogers and adopted also by the Second Pennsylvania Geological Survey. It is the surest guide to the presence of the iron-ore bed, which lies below its lower edges at distances varying from 10 to 20 ft. This ore sandstone, in the valley, lies generally at very low inclinations, but often is locally subjected to considerable changes in dip. At its outcrop this ore sandstone weathers very easily and yields a rather sparse crop of stone, Composed of dirty, iron-stained boulders. Upon the roads these boulders are quite well rounded, and bear fragments of crinoid stems and other fossil forms. The ore sandstone exhibits at many points evidences of former movements in this very great thickness of the shales, and as it is the only stratum in this series competent to transmit and record stresses due to structural movements, its evidence is of considerable importance in determining the occurrence of movements in times past.

Nov 1, 1908

By AIME AIME

A COMMITTEE, representing a number of the larger oil companies in California, met in San Francisco on Nov. 12, 1919, for the purpose of discussing the depletion deductions to be allowed in computing the Federal income taxes under the Internal Revenue Act of 1918. It was the general sense of the committee that a system based on sound engineering principles should be formulated for estimating the value of oil properties, so that better and more uniform results might be obtained by the various companies in filing their returns with the' Bureau of Internal Revenue. A subcommittee, consisting of five petroleum engineers, was thereupon appointed to collect information and draft a report. The committee consisted of G. C. Gester, Carl H. Beal, J. H. G. Wolf, E. G. Gaylord, and E. D. Nolan; this report is the work of that subcommittee.

Jan 1, 1920

By C. A. Stewart

I. INTRODUCTION AND GENERAL STATEMENT OF RESULTS. The field-work upon which this paper is based was done in the summer of 1910, and was made possible by the courtesy of the Imperial Copper Co., which gave me access to its property. For their kindness in this respect I wish to express my thanks to W. F. Staunton and Meade Goodloe. Moreover,. B. F. Smith and G. B. Gentry, mining engineers in the employ of the company, gave invaluable assistance by placing maps,. etc., at my disposal, and by discussing with me the problems of the district; and it is a great pleasure to acknowledge this indebtedness to them. In order that the significance of some of the details that follow may be better appreciated at first reading, a general outline of the conclusions reached is given here. In the Silverbell mining-district a series of Palaeozoic limestone blocks is completely surrounded by post-Palaeozoic igneous rocks, intruded in the following order: alaskite, alaskite-porphyry, biotite-granite, andesite, and quartz-porphyry. The biotite-granite is believed to represent a differentiation of the. magma from which the alaskite-porphyry came ; and this conclusion-has an important hearing on the origin of the ores. The intrusion of both alaskite-porphyry and biotite-granite was followed by the emission of magmatic waters, which sericitized and silicified the alaskite-porphyry and granite, and produced in the limestone, by the addition to it of silica, iron, and alumina, great masses of garnet, quartz, and wollastonite. Following close upon these solutions came metal-bearing magmatic waters, which impregnated porphyry, granite, and alas kite with cupriferous pyrite, and deposited in the garnet zones chalcopyrite and copper-bearing pyrite that make important bodies of contact-metamorphic ores. Secondary enrichment has taken place in the disseminated ores in the igneous rocks,. raising their copper-content to 2 per cent. in some cases,. and extensive drilling has been undertaken to block out these deposits. East of the contact-metamorphic deposits there is a fissure-vein of lead-silver ore in the quartz-porphyry. This rock is distinctly younger than the alaskite-porphyry and the granite; and the lead-silver ores belong, therefore, to a period of mineralization distinctly later than the copper-deposition.

May 1, 1912