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By H. H. Stoek

MINE models have three distinct uses: 1. As exhibits in expositions and museums. 2. As exhibits in law suits. 3. As illustrations in teaching mining engineering. All three uses are in a sense educational. The third, or distinctively teaching function, has not been extensively developed in America as it has been abroad, chiefly because of the cost of the models and the scarcity of model makers. In connection with expositions, such as the Columbian, the Louisiana Purchase, and the Panama-Pacific, a number of very good mine and metallurgical models were prepared with funds furnished by State commissions, by mining organizations or mining companies. At the close of these, expositions, some of these models have been deposited in National or State museums or in educational institutions, but too many of them have been lost, or have been stored, away in some mining company's office or in the basement of some State building, where they have been lost sight of and have gradually fallen to pieces. A visitor to a German mining school is impressed by two facts: 1. The mining laboratories are in general inferior to those in America. 2. The mining museums are infinitely superior -to ours, particularly in models exhibited. One may reply to this comparison by saying that a museum is necessarily a work of time. From the historical standpoint this is, of course, true, but it is not necessarily true in connection with a working museum intended to illustrate current practice. For instance, the oldest mining school in Germany, that at Freiberg, has much excellent historical material, but very little on modern practice, while Berlin, one of the youngest German mining schools, has a most extensive and valuable collection of modern appliances and models. This is true in spite of the fact that one of the best-known model shops is at Freiberg, from which many of, the models to be seen in America have come. Because many of the models in American mining schools have come from

Jan 4, 1917

By Jay A. Carpenter

FIRST of several sessions at the Annual Meeting devoted to mining methods was a joint program with the Coal Division devoted to the use of Diesels underground. Fred W. Stiefel, in the first paper, stressed the saving in original cost and in operation. Wm. B. Harris then presented the paper of which he was a joint author, and S. H. Ash stressed the poisonous nature of nitrous fumes from Diesel engines even in minute quantity. Determination is difficult but in exhaust gases they are present in amount two to five times that of carbon monoxide. Jay A. Carpenter, in the closing paper of the session, stated that state laws in general prohibit the use of Diesels underground, and that almost all mine inspectors are opposed.

Jan 1, 1942

By W. R. Bendy

GRINDING is a large and costly part of Portland cement manufacture. Prior to clinkering in the rotary kiln, raw materials are ground to a fineness of 80 to 90 pct passing 200 mesh. Then, after burning and cooling, the resulting clinker is ground to about 92 pct passing 325 mesh. In the cement industry the most favored method of grinding has always been by impact and attrition of a ball charge in a rotating mill. Other types of mills, in which materials are ground between die rings and rollers, or between die rings and large balls, are sometimes used for single-stage grinding and often for preliminary grinding followed by grinding in ball-type mills. Their efficiency is usually high, but maintenance and repair costs are high also, and the ball-type mill continues to be the most widely used. Together with 4 pct gypsum to retard setting time, the kiln run clinker—consisting of hard, semi-fused lumps that may have been crushed to — 1/2 in.—is ground to a Blaine surface area of 3000 sq cm per gram and about 92 pct passing 325 mesh. Approximately 32 kw-hr per ton, or 6 kw-hr per 376-1b barrel, are consumed in the grinding mills alone, not counting auxiliaries. Open Circuit Clinker Grinding: Many early clinker grinding plants employed two-stage, open circuit grinding. Comparatively short mills of large diameter, loaded with balls 4 in. and smaller, first reduced the clinker to 95 pct passing 14 mesh. Tube mills of smaller diameter and greater length, loaded with balls 11/4 in. and smaller, carried out the fine grinding operation. An early development was to assemble two or more stages of grinding in a single mill having two, three, or four compartments separated by division heads. There were difficulties in balancing the compartments, but compartment mills were popular in the 1920's because the layout was simple and there were no elevators and conveyors. Oversize Particles: Open circuit mills, whether separate ball and tube mills or compartment mills, always encountered the problem of tramp oversize in the product. A small percentage of clinker survived passage through the first grinding stage as particles—perhaps 1/16 in. diam—that were too large for the smaller balls in the following stages to reduce to —200 mesh. When the feed rate was lowered to reduce tramp oversize, there were serious losses in grinding efficiency. Many ingenious designs were perfected to incorporate perforated screen plates or wire mesh screens in the ball mills or in the first compartments of compartment mills. Their purpose was to prevent mate: rial passing out of the first stage until it was small

Jan 1, 1958

By Richard Franchot

IN the inevitable conquest of the blast furnace by metallurgical science in the solution of the problem of how to make more and better iron or to burn less coke, or both, it is highly desirable first to find out why the efficiency of the furnace generally is no better than it is. The immediate need would seem to be a theory to account for the existing facts. Explanation for the quantitative results obtained in current practice has been strangely lacking. One reason for this may be found perhaps in the custom of think-ing of efficiency in terms of coke consumption. Before efficiency can be explained there should be a fairly exact knowledge of what it is. A statement of the pounds of coke used per ton of iron made may have value in indicating comparative results in smelting similar ores with similar cokes, but it tells very little of the efficiency of the operation. When the materials are different, one practice burning 1800 lb. may be less efficient than another using 2000 lb. A better measure is the pig and slag per unit of coke. What is needed is a specific description of efficiency as a' definite quantity having an exact meaning. Such description is afforded by expressing efficiencies in terms of the respective proportions of the fuel energy absorbed in and chargeable to the various actions known to be -taking place in the furnace. Concretely, the energy value of a pound of coke having 85 per cent carbon blown with air heated to 1200° F. is about 7650 lb.-cal. (13,770 B.t.u.). And the work done in smelting a pound of average iron from hematite, comprising reduction and melting with production of a half pound of free running slag from an equal weight of limestone,

Jan 9, 1926

By Frank F. Aplan

INTRODUCTION Coal is a solid, combustible mineral substance resulting from the degradation and alteration of vegetable matter largely in the absence of air. In this natural process of coalification, some non-combustible mineral matter is always associated with the combustible material. Coal preparation or cleaning is the process of removing this inert mineral matter from the coal. Preparation is highly successful in removing the large fragments of inert material, but is not very effective in removing the fine inorganic mineral matter intimately associated with the coal. Of the 600 million tons of coal produced in the United States every year, approximately one-half is produced by coal cleaning methods (1). The bulk of this tonnage is cleaned by coarse or intermediate gravity preparation methods (5 inches to 28 mesh, Tyler). Fine cleaning, say, -28 mesh, is done by shaking tables, washing cyclones, and flotation, or, until recently, the fines were either incorporated into the clean coal or simply discarded--not infrequently, the latter. In 1972, only 13 million tons of raw coal were cleaned by flotation in the United States, and from this 8.4 million tons of clean coal were produced (1). The percentage of clean coal produced by flotation in Europe (England, West Germany, Poland, U.S.S.R., etc.) is substantially higher. However, coal flotation has grown rapidly in the United States from only a few plants in 1950 to 31 in 1960 (2) and 66 in 1970 (1). Virtually all new preparation plants incorporate flotation into their basic flowsheet. The essential difference between ore and coal flotation is that for ores the entire tonnage is ground to flotation size, whereas for coal

Jan 1, 1976

By Russell S. Sage

THE electric motor has steadily replaced the steam and air engine for use in mine hoists, until today a new installation with other than electric drive is a rarity. Much existing steam-driven equipment has been changed over to electric drive. Driving power has grown in capacity since the initial electric unit rated 10 hp installed at Aspen, Colorado, in 1888, to 3000 hp and 4000 hp in the United States, and to 5500 hp in Canada-the largest in the Western Hemisphere. Electric installations now total in the thousands of units, a growth largely made possible by the development of large central electric-power stations and the extension of electric-power service to more mining areas.

Jan 1, 1949

By R. S. Botsford

SPECULATION as to when and under what conditions mining may be resumed in Russia by foreign interests is becoming more interesting. Circumstances have changed so completely that all new projects must give careful consideration to the conditions as they exist at this time. For example, it is now estimated that a certain copper company in Russia can produce copper and put it on board ship at seaboard for 8 1/2c. per lb., crediting the copper with the value of precious metals contained. It is further estimated that in some places gold can be produced at a cost of about one-half of its value; platinum can be produced even more advantageously. Transportation, which is absolutely necessary for mines of coal, iron or manganese ore, as well as for an industry consuming either coal or coke, is not so essential for the operation of a gold or platinum dredge when the dredge has once been put into operation; after that, food is the principal material for which transportation must be provided. During 1922 the operators in the Urals, who had combined in a so-called platinum trust, expected to produce about 2340 lb. of crude platinum but the amount actually recovered during that season was reported as only 1620 lb., most of which came from hand workings; Nicolo Pavda had the principal dredges in operation during that year. In preparation for 1923 operations, about $400,000 worth of repair parts were obtained in England. At least two American-built dredges and one Putiloff dredge are reported in operation at Nicolo Pavda and it is supposed that most of the better dredges in the platinum district are now working.

Jan 12, 1923

By William P. McConnell

At the dawning of the first century of AIME, mechanical handling of bulk materials was largely confined to movement of grain and light mill products by belt and screw conveyors, but grain handling experience inevitably led to the use of the belt conveyor for coal, ore and other heavier materials. In 1891, the first major U.S. conveyor installation for heavy minerals was completed at the Edison, N.J., plant of the New Jersey & Pennsylvania Concentrating Co. Functionally, this plant revealed its grain elevator heritage. Overlooked at the time of design or, perhaps more accurately, not fully recognized, were the dramatic differences between grain and minerals in both operating conditions of the system and the physical characteristics of the material to be conveyed. This inevitably caused problems, but from the ashes of these problems rose solutions. The Edison plant became a proving ground from which came two significant developments by Thomas Robins-the first conveyor belt designed specifically for impact loading and abrasive materials and the three-roll conveyor idler. As an installation with more than 50 conveyors in widths of 20-30 in. and belt centers of up to 500 ft, the plant was a landmark, for it established the belt conveyor as a vital method of trans- porting heavy, abrasive materials.

Jan 1, 1971

By B. M. Larsen, K. Heindlhofer

THIS paper describes a relatively simple electrical apparatus that, through the close analogy between the flow of heat and of electricity, enables one to solve quickly and with satisfactory accuracy many complex problems in heat flow. This device, developed in 1935, has proved especially useful in the solution of certain practical problems relating to the design and efficiency of regenerators for an open-hearth furnace or coke oven, yielding within a few hours information that would take weeks or even months to acquire by mathematical1.2 or experimental3 methods of comparable accuracy. Its description now is prompted by growing interest in such analogues, as shown by several recent papers.4.5 The analogy between flow of heat and of electricity appears to have been recognized first by Maxwell who, in his famous Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism (1881) says: The analogy between the theory of the conduction of electricity and that of the conduction of heat is at first sight almost complete. If we can take two systems geometrically similar, and such that the conductivity. for heat at any part of the first is proportional to the conductivity for electricity at-the corresponding part of the second, and if we also make the temperature of any part of the first proportional to the electric potential at the corresponding point of the second, then the flow of heat across any area of the first will be proportional to the flow of electricity across the corresponding area of the second. .. Thus, in the illustration we have given, in which flow of electricity corresponds to flow of heat, the electric potential to temperature, electricity tends to flow from places of high to places of low potential, exactly as heat tends to flow from places of high to places of low. temperature He noted, however, that this analogy is restricted: ... there is, however, one remarkable difference between the phenomena of electricity and those of heat. Suspend a conducting body within a closed conducting vessel by a silk thread, and charge the vessel with electricity. The potential of the vessel and of all within it will be instantly raised, but however long and however powerfully the vessel be electrified, and whether the body within be allowed to come in contact with the vessel, or not, no signs of electrification will appear within the vessel, nor will the body within show any electrical effect when taken out. But if the vessel is raised to a high temperature, the body within will rise to the same temperature, but only after a considerable time, and if it is then taken out it will be found hot, and will remain so till it has continued to emit heat for some time. The difference between the phenomena consists in the fact that bodies are capable of absorbing and emitting heat, whereas they have no corresponding property with respect to electricity. According to this statement the application of the analogy would be limited to problems of steady flow that do not involve heat-capacity effects. In spite of this

Jan 1, 1945

By H.A. Bedworth

AlloTs of copper and silicon have been known for one hundred years or more but the commercial development of this type of alloy has taken place during the past few years. In 1905, Sperry l proposed the use of copper-silicon alloys for springs and other purposes for which copper-tin bronzes were used. Some attention was given to this proposal at the time but no one succeeded in producing a practical alloy containing more than a fraction of a per cent. of silicon. The equilibrium relations of the copper-silicon system were studied first by Rudolfi2 and later by Sanfourche 3 and Corson. 4 The constitution of the system has also been recently investigated by Matuyama, 5 and in the laboratories of the American Brass Co. by Smith. 6 Some of the physical properties of the copper-silicon alloys have been investigated by Norbury7 and by Geiss and Van Liempt.8 Summarizing the results of various investigators of the constitution of copper-silicon alloys, the solubility reaches its maximium value, 6.7 per cent. silicon, between 721" and '782" C. At 852" (1. the solubility is 5.25 per cent., while at 400" C. it is only 4.1 per cent. silicon. The copper-silicon alloy begins to get so hard at about 3 per cent, silicon that it is difficult to manage. It was found by Jacobs that the addition of manganese to this alloy considerably improved the working

Jan 1, 1929

By H. A. Bedworth

AlloTs of copper and silicon have been known for one hundred years or more but the commercial development of this type of alloy has taken place during the past few years. In 1905, Sperry l proposed the use of copper-silicon alloys for springs and other purposes for which copper-tin bronzes were used. Some attention was given to this proposal at the time but no one succeeded in producing a practical alloy containing more than a fraction of a per cent. of silicon. The equilibrium relations of the copper-silicon system were studied first by Rudolfi2 and later by Sanfourche 3 and Corson. 4 The constitution of the system has also been recently investigated by Matuyama, 5 and in the laboratories of the American Brass Co. by Smith. 6 Some of the physical properties of the copper-silicon alloys have been investigated by Norbury7 and by Geiss and Van Liempt.8 Summarizing the results of various investigators of the constitution of copper-silicon alloys, the solubility reaches its maximium value, 6.7 per cent. silicon, between 721" and '782" C. At 852" (1. the solubility is 5.25 per cent., while at 400" C. it is only 4.1 per cent. silicon. The copper-silicon alloy begins to get so hard at about 3 per cent, silicon that it is difficult to manage. It was found by Jacobs that the addition of manganese to this alloy considerably improved the working

Jan 1, 1929

By C. E. Gregor

Current modern trends in mining show that hoisting shafts are being expected to fulfill an important ventilation function. However, where rigid guides and supporting structures are mandatory, ventilating power costs will be high, unless the transverse structures (shaft sets) are streamlined. In the complex configurations of hoisting shaft furniture patterns, either for original design purposes, or for the adjustment of an existing shaft, a useful degree of aerodynamic optimization, by reduction of overall resistance, can only be effectively evaluated by model studies in a special purpose wind tunnel, as described herein. The author has shown that, in one particular case, an annual power cost saving of more than $50,000 was indicated, mainly by the selection of buntons and dividers of improved aerodynamic profile. Mining companies are now realizing the advantages that can accrue through proper attention to the aerodynamic aspects of mine shaft design. With progressive demands of civilization for an ever greater supply of coal and metals, and with greater depths of working, higher rates of extraction, advanced degrees of mechanization, and improved standards of environmental health and work comfort, shaft design is becoming an extremely important aspect of mining operations. In addition, because the cost of sinking, equipping, maintaining, and operating a mine shaft is continually increasing, there is a greater incentive to use a shaft for the maximum duty, consistent with economy. The current natural tendency is therefore to sink multi-purpose shafts, to install as much equipment as is safely and effectively possible to operate; and then, over and above all these functions, to use the shaft to its maximum possible ventilating capacity, as a major, or auxiliary, airway. Clearly, this latter additional function can only be employed at a significant cost, since the most economic operating airways are smooth-lined and devoid of internal rigid furniture. It is true that hoisting functions can be carried out in such shafts if rope guides are used, but only under restricted conditions. Where a manway must be provided, fixed guides and supporting structures are mandatory, and ventilation costs become accentuated. It is generally recognized that the prime element of cost in ventilating a mine can be represented by the power required to drive the fan unit. It is also known that the largest component of total mine resistance is that of the downcast shaft, where this shaft is equipped with rigid guides for hoisting purposes. The pressure loss varies directly as the resistance of the shaft, in accordance with a modification of the Atkinson equation p = RQ2/3600. Furthermore, the air horsepower drawn is given by the equation AHP = (p x 0/33000. Therefore, the power required to drive the fan unit varies as the resistance of the shaft and the cube of the air quantity. Clearly, if Q is a specified minimum, then the only way to minimize the pressure loss (and the power costs) is to reduce the shaft resistance R. (See Table I for a list of symbols.) The resistance to airflow of a shaft equipped with rigid guides and supporting structural sets consists of two components which, for the sake of analytical simplicity, can be regarded as additive. 1) Frictional resistance, represented by the viscous frictional forces within the boundary layer, as air flows along the surfaces of the walls and the periphery of the vertical elements (guides, pipes, cables, ropes, etc.) of the furniture. The friction loss can be readily calculated by the Atkinson equation, after selection of a suitable value for the friction factor K from the McElroy compilation.' KxLxO xQ2 5.2 xA3 Friction loss can be minimized by lining the shaft walls (particularly if of circular or elliptical cross-section) with a smooth continuous lining of monolithic concrete.

Jan 1, 1968

By A. C. Veatch

Jan 1, 1921

By Philip Drinker

IN THE mining and metallurgical industries, numerous problems arise requiring determinations of solid and of liquid particles suspended in air. Frequently, these problems are of local interest and involve purely economic or operating difficulties; on the other hand, toxic effects from the inhalation or the ingestion of substances suspended in air may be a matter of concern. For checking up process improvements or for determining ventilation efficiencies in problems of this general nature, various methods have been proposed. Although simpler methods are often satisfactory, precipitation combines several desirable features that other methods lack. This paper is, therefore, devoted to a discussion of portable alternating-current precipitators applicable to the quantitative determination and microscopy of dusts, fumes, and smokes in air. Small particles suspended in gases, such as air, are referred to in the literature as aerosols or suspensoids. Of these terms, suspensoids appears to be preferable as being more nearly in keeping with words in everyday use. In problems involving air pollution by small, particles-by suspensoids-it is convenient to distinguish three broad classes based on the size, the degree of dispersion, and the method by which the particles become suspended in the air. Dusts.-Particles or aggregates of particles, 150 to 1 micron in diameter, that are thrown into the air by mechanical agencies are termed dusts. Examples are silica, talc, cement, organic dusts such as hard rubber, starch, and cocoa; flocculated fume and smoke products. Fumes.-Particles, 0.2 to 1 micron in diameter, formed from chemical or physicochemical reactions are known as fumes. Examples are ammonium chloride, lead and mercury, zinc and magnesium oxides, fogs, and acid mists.

Jan 3, 1925

By M. J. Marcinkowski, Gordon E. Lakso

An extensive investigation has been made of the deformation behavior associated with the Fe3Si super-lattice using transmission electron microscopy techniques. Above 243°K the stress-strain curve exhibits three stages. Stage I occurs at a very low stress level and is related to the generation of perfect superlat-tice dislocations. Stage II is characterized by an extremely rapid rate of work hardening and is associated with the Taylor type locking of these superlattice dislocations. Finally Stage III is related to dynamic recovery processes since the work hardening rate is very small. Below 243ºK, only Stage I is observed, but it occurs at a much higher stress level. This latter observation is related to the generation of imperfect dislocations in Stage I with the consequent production of second nearest neighbor antiphase boundaries. The reason for this is that insufficient thermal energy is available at these low temperatures to generate the complete and perfect superlattice dislocations. It has been shown that the fully ordered FeCo alloys, i.e., those possessing the B2 type structure, exhibit three distinct stages of work hardening whereas the corresponding disordered alloys show only one.&apos;" This difference in behavior between the disordered and ordered alloys has been attributed to the fact that dislocations in the former case travel only as ordinary 1/2ao(111) types whereas in the latter case the move through the lattice as coupled 1/2a0(111) dislocations separated by an antiphase boundary (APB), i.e., the so-called superlattice dislocation. Although some preliminary work has been carried out concerning plastic deformation in ordered alloys possessing the DO3 type superlattice,3 no detailed analysis similar to that described in Refs. 1 and 2 has been attempted. Specifically, it has been suggested that the superlattice dislocation in this particular type structure should consist of four ordinary 1/2ao<111> types bound together by first and second nearest-neighbor APB&apos;s. Fe3A1 and Fe3Si are the two classic alloys possessing the DO3 type lattice; however, because of the somewhat higher ordering energies associated with the FesSi alloy, which in turn assures that dislocations will travel through the lattice as perfect superlattice dislocations under at least some conditions, it was chosen for the present investigation. Because of the extreme brittleness of Fe3Si, all deformation was done in compression. Stress-strain curves were obtained using both polycrystalline samples as well as single crystals. In the latter case the crystals were oriented so that deformation could be controlled either by single or double slip. They were then wafered parallel to and at various angles to the operative slip planes. These wafers were in turn examined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques in order to determine the extent of the interaction from the dislocation configuration contained therein. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE The alloys used in this investigation were arc melted under helium from electrolytic iron of greater than 99.90 wt pct purity and transistor grade silicon of 99.99 wt pct purity. A typical analysis of interstitial impurities showed 120 ppm 0, 15 ppm N, and 65 ppm C Because of the extremely low ductility of the Fe3Si alloys, it was necessary to spark cut 0.230-in. diam polycrystalline cylinders 0.400 in. long from arc-melted fingers using a thin-walled brass tube as a cutting tool. The polycrystalline alloys could not be recrystallized since very little strain was induced in preparation. However they were annealed at 1273°C for 15 min in evacuated vycor capsules to relieve any cooling stresses that may have developed during solidification and then air cooled. The resulting grain size of the alloy was 0.50 mm. According to warlimont4 1273ºC is just within the single phase field where FesSi possesses the DO3 type lattice. In addition because of this high critical ordering tem-ature, air cooling from this temperature was believed sufficient to fully order all of the Fe3Si samples used in the present investigation. For the same reason, no attempt was made to achieve any degree of disorder by quenching. In fact, rapid quenching from 1123°K caused cracking. Such cracking was first suggested by sato5 with respect to the experimental observations of Glaser and Ivanick.6 Single crystal compression specimens were spark cut from single crystal ingots grown in a Bridgman type furnace. The iron and silicon for the crystals was prealloyed by arc-melting two 130-g buttons which were cut into small pieces before remelting in the furnace. This procedure resulted in a long-range inhomogeneity of 0.5 at. pct Si between the top and bottom of the 2-in.-long single crystal ingot, which was assumed to be negligible in the present investigation. The single crystals, after orienting and spark-cutting, were about 0.37 in. by 0.37 in. in cross section and about 0.5 in. long. True stress-strain curves were obtained using an Instron Tensile Testing machine in conjunction with techniques described previously. 1,7 The strain rate was 0.05 in. per in. per min. Prior to testing, the ends of all the compression cylinders were hand polished using a special jig to insure parallelism after which the sides of the samples were electrochemically polished to eliminate stress risers and to facilitate slip line observations. Test temperatures between 77" and 823°K were obtained using various cooling and heating media as described in Ref. 7 while at the upper end of this temperature range, a mixture of equal

Jan 1, 1970

The Committee on Nominations begs to submit the following names as its nominees for the respective offices indicated: For President, SIDNEY J. JENNINGS, New York. For Vice-Presidents, WALTER H. ALDRIDGE, New York; MARK L. REQUA, San Francisco. For Directors, J. E. JOHNSON, JR., New York; ALLEN H. ROGERS, Boston; HOWARD N. EAVENSON, West Virginia; ROBERT M. RAYMOND New York; WILLET G. MILLER, Canada.

Jan 12, 1916

By John M. McAnerney

In 1955, the U.S. Army started to experiment in Greenland with tunneling in glacial ice and later in frozen glacial moraine. By 1960, long adits and experimental rooms had been successfully excavated. Full mechanization with coal-cutting machinery was most efficient in ice but drilling and blasting were necessary in bouldery moraine. In 1963, the U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, (USA CRREL; redesignated U.S. Army Terrestrial Sciences Center July 1, 1968) started a tunnel in the frozen silt of central Alaska near Fairbanks. The original adit of 360 ft (109 m) was successfully driven in the permafrost by a twin-rotor tunnel-boring machine, the Alkirk Cycle Miner. The workings were enlarged in 1966 and 1967 by standard mining techniques in which jackhammers, steam points, and augers were compared. A mechanical coal cutter was tried to supplement drilling and blasting. In 1968, airblasting techniques were used successfully for breaking out the frozen silt. All mine products were loaded mechanically and hauled by self-dumping shuttle car. Pneumatic methods of transport were tried for both dust removal and for conveying blast products up to 3-in. maximum size. Studies of the effects of natural winter ventilation through a shaft showed that tunnel closure could be reduced by lowering the adjacent ground temperature. It is concluded that underground openings in frozen ground should be cut and maintained at well below freezing temperatures to hold deformation to a minimum. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND This chapter deals with aspects of tunneling not previously discussed in the conference papers in this book. The chief differences are that the three tunnels lie entirely within frozen material and are relatively small, since they were constructed mainly for research. The primary objectives of the research were to develop underground shelters for military per-

Jan 1, 1970

By A. W. Schlechten, R. F. Doelling

Parkes&apos; process crusts were vacuum distilled using a shortened Pidgeon retort. Zinc was effectively removed below 800°C and recovered as a zinc sheet easily stripped from the furnace liner. Lead dasdistillationazinc required about 950°C and the resulting lead condensate tillationtended to stick to the thin metal liner. Final purity of residue is limited only by nonvolatile metals such as copper. THE successful commercial application of vacuum distillation for the removal of zinc from lead, as described by W. T. Isbell,&apos; raises the question of whether or not a similar method can be used for other metal separations. Preliminary laboratory experiments on the vacuum distillation of Parkes&apos; crusts by one of the authors&apos; gave such encouraging results that it was decided to make a series of tests with large scale equipment to determine the results that might be expected in plant operation. The pilot-plant test results are reported in this paper. The great advantages of vacuum dezincing are its simplicity, the relatively low temperature of operation, and the fact that the zinc is recovered in the metallic state ready for use again in the desilveriza-tion of lead bullion. These same advantages and others would be realized from the vacuum distillation of the zinc-lead-silver crusts made in the Parkes&apos; process. Zinc readily will distill over at temperatures of 800" to 900 °C as contrasted with the 1200°C or more used in the Faber du Faur furnace. Furthermore, the recovery of zinc as metal is practically perfect since there is no loss by oxidation or fuming. If the vacuum distillation is continued and hastened by raising the temperature to around 1000°C, the lead will distill over at an appreciable rate and deposit in a warmer zone of the condenser. This lead will contain a small amount of silver, but it can be returned to the desilverizing kettles and there is not the chance of loss that there is in disposing of the rich litharge from cupelling. The lower temperatures required will mean a saving of fuel and less wear on the equipment. One further point is that the vacuum distillation could be run on a small scale practically continuously, so as to avoid the accumulation of large amounts of silver-rich material and the need of assembling a large crew for special cupellation runs. It should be pointed out here that the final purity of the silver residue will depend on the copper or iron content of the crusts, as these and other metals with low vapor pressure will not be eliminated. The idea of treating the silver-zinc-lead crusts from the desilverization of lead bullion by vacuum distillation is not a new one, but such experiments have not been reported, as far as can be determined. In 1912, T. Turner presented a paper3 before the Institute of Metals on the vacuum distillation of brass, and a member of the audience suggested that he try his method on Parkes&apos; crusts. In 1935, W. J. Kroll, noted for his discovery of debismuthiz-ing lead by calcium additions, published a paper&apos; on vacuum distillation of metals and pointed out possible applications in the lead industry. Principles of Separation The successful separation of two or more metals by distillation depends upon an appreciable difference in the effective vapor pressures of the metals in the alloy to be treated. The vapor pressures of the common metals have been determined with considerable accuracy; for example, at 800°C the vapor pressures of the individual metals which are of particular interest in this paper are about .as follows: Zn, 241 mm; Pb, 0.0553 mm; and Ag, 0.0000276 mm. Unfortunately,, data are not available on the activities of the components in the ternary system Zn-Pb-Ag, but it can be estimated that on the basis of the vapor pressures of the individual metals a good separation can be made by distillation. The preliminary laboratory tests previously mentioned&apos; supported this assumption. The pilot-plant size vacuum distilling furnace is shown in Fig. 1. It consisted of an abbreviated Pidgeon retort, 5 ft long with an ID of 8 in., heated by six silicon carbide elements placed symmetrically

Jan 1, 1952

H. RIES, Ithaca, N. Y.-The part of Mr. Fiske&apos;s paper that interests me especially is that portion dealing with the raw materials, and the tests that were applied to the raw materials in order to determine their value in advance, if possible, because that, I believe, is a step in the right direction. For a number of years I have done my best to persuade different consumers of clay to develop standard methods for testing raw materials. We have in this country a large variety of clays which can be used for a great many different purposes, but in many cases the consumers either have no standard methods for determining the value of those clays in. advance, or if they have they do not publish them; consequently it often puts the clay miner at a disadvantage. If, for example, manufacturers of different types of refractory materials would state publicly just what physical tests their raw materials have to meet, it would, I believe, help them to find more easily the materials that they are looking for, and the clay producer would also be benefited. It would also encourage him to have his clays tested in advance, so that samples could be accompanied by certificates of physical tests that would be of convenience to the manufacturer. At the present time, in this country there are certain types of clay which seem to be rather scarce. There apparently are not many deposits of clay that are exactly suited for the manufacture of zinc refractories. So, too, there are not many deposits of clay that are suited for the manufacture of glass-pots, or the blocks for glass tank furnaces, or clays that can be used for graphite crucibles. Now, in many cases, no standard series of tests has been developed. I am also gratified to see that Mr. Fiske considers the tensile strength. tests of value. Some years ago the American Ceramic Society appointed a committee to draw up a series of recommendations covering standard tests. These recommendations were especially for the use of State geologists and the U., .S. Geological, Survey. Among the tests that were considered was the tensile-strength test, which Mr. Fiske has mentioned in his paper. Unfortunately, a majority of the committee turned it down, and the test was therefore not officially approved, but two of us, who formed the minority, believed in it. Since then the other members of the Committee have come to see that that is an important test to make and Mr. Fiske has emphasized it in his paper.

Jan 1, 1918

By Thomas T., Read

E DUCATION for the mineral industry was at first a single comprehensive curriculum, but it was early recognized that the main basis of mining is physics, while that of metallurgy is chemistry. The first school to offer curricula leading to degrees in mineral industry education in the United States (1853) had separate ones in mining and metallurgy. The Columbia School of Mines (the first really successful one) had only a single curriculum when it opened in 1864, but within a few years had so reorganized its work that it offered curricula in mining, metallurgy, geology, chemistry, and civil engineering. Interest in the metallurgy or geology curricula was slight at first, and for the next 30 years the great majority of Columbia students took the mining curriculum, probably partly because it contained nearly as much geology as the geology curriculum, practically all the metallurgy, and most of the chemistry, and partly because of the degree awarded for it. Other schools kept their mining curricula equally broad, and as late as 1900-1910 men were graduating as mining engineers who were practically as well prepared to make geology or metallurgy their life work, as they were for mining. Gradually, however, the subject matter of mining geology and metallurgy became so enriched through research and development that separate curricula in them became worth while; their progressive development is the subject of another chapter. Mining curricula also began to be somewhat diversified, and schools in areas where coal mining was of outstanding importance began to offer options in coal mining, the earlier curricula having been chiefly aimed at metal mining. The petroleum industry began its meteoric rise about the same time as mineral instruction in this country, but little more of applied science attended its birth than had attended such ancient practical arts as copper and iron

Jan 1, 1941