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By T. A. Read, H. K. Birnbaum

STRESS-induced twin boundary motion in the AuCd ß'phase (52.5 at. pct Au 47.5 at. pct Cd having an orthorhombic structure (space group D h)' was discussed for the case of transformation twins.' Mechanical twinning, i.e., introduction of new twin orientations by the applied stress was sometimes observed in the ß' phase which contained two transformation twin orientations. (See Ref. 2 for experimental details.) The transformation twins terminated at the mechanical twin boundary; the two initial orientations having been twinned to the new orientation as shown in Fig. l. In a "hard" tensile instrument, formation of each mechanical twin was accompanied by a sharp drop in load (and an audible click) resulting in a typical serrated load-extension curve. The mechanical twins increased in width and additional twins were nucleated as the load increased until the entire specimen was occupied by the mechanical twin orientation. A restoring force2 caused the mechanical twin and transformation twin boundaries to return towards their initial configuration on releasing the load. In a stabilized specimen* the total strain introduced by mechanical twinning was recovered on releasing the applied stress. Initial and final microstructures were identical. After decreasing gradually to a critical width, mechanical twins suddenly disappeared accompanied by audible clicks and sharp increases in load (measured at a constant rate of crosshead motion in a "hard" machine). Mechanical twins could be stabilized in any position by maintaining the applied load for a sufficient time, indicating a decrease in restoring force with time similar to that observed for transformation twins.' Orientation relationships for mechanical and transformation twins were determined and are shown in Fig. 2. The mechanical twin, T3, was twin related to transformation twin, T,, by reflection in (1ll), and twin related to transformation twin, T2, by reflection in (111)T, . T, was related to T, by reflection in(ll1)T1 . The "average" mechanical twin composition plane lay several degrees from (1ll), . In every specimen which mechanically twinned, orientation T3 was most highly favored by the applied stress, i.e., it was the twin orientation which provided the greatest change in length compatible with the direction of applied stress

Jan 1, 1961

By Richards J. W.

J.W. RICHARDS, South Bethlehem, Pa. (communication to the Secretary?).-Mr. Howland's paper, data and conclusions have interested me intensely, and have led me to study carefully the record-of his 26 furnaces therein given. Mr. Howland is undoubtedly right in his conclusion that when expressing the amount of carbon burned at the tuyères in percentage of the total

Jan 1, 1917

C. W. WASHBURNE, New York, N. Y. (communication to the Secretary *).-We are indebted to Mr. Pack for his detailed description of a rapid method of estimating the oil reserves in large fields. Although his method will give only a rough approximation of the reserves, nevertheless it is much more reliable than the saturation method. The saturation method should not be used when any other method is available. The paper describes a generalized method, which is especially useful in estimating the total resources of a Nation or State. Properly it is a method of estimating the oil that can be extracted by common methods within a given period of time. It does not account for

Jan 10, 1917

By James P. Kimball

Jan 1, 1881

In 1973, US Borax & Chemical Corp. began investing three days wages and about $20 in training materials in every new employee before having him report to his first job. The result? Accidents involving new employees in the past two years have dropped by more than half from the 1972 level. What made this success possible was safety training done with programmed instruction materials-which, incidentally, US Borax also uses for vocational training.

Jan 4, 1976

By S. E. Bretherton

This title introduces the subject I wish to describe to my fellow members, very few of whom, I 'hope, have ever had as much trouble with the smelting of ore containing much zinc, either in the lead blast furnace or the matting furnace, as circumstances have forced upon me: First, for several years in Leadville, Colo., after the sulphide ores containing zinc had been developed with greater depth and were sold to the intereats with which I was connected for smelt-ing in the blast furnace for the recovery of the lead, silver, and gold; then, in New Mexico and Arizona, where the principal source of ore supply for our custom smelter was from miners who sent most of their product in the form of concentrates, which we briquetted and smelted in the blast furnace, producing a matte containing copper, silver, and gold, for which we were paid; together with some zinc and lead, which was penalized if in excess of a maximum base set by the refinery to which we sold our copper matte; last, but not least, my experience in Shasta county, Gal., where for the sake of recovering $13 per ton value in copper, silver, and gold, I have smelted ore containing as high as 40 per cent. zinc (the last 18,951 tons smelted averaged 15 3/10 per cent. zinc) which we not only lost, but which it cost us money to lose. After such an experience, and knowing that, instead of being worth only $13 per ton, such 15 per cent. zinc ore should be worth about $30, including zinc at the present market value, the question of recovering the zinc in a profitable manner from such ore became very interesting to me. During several years' time I sent samples, of from 5 to 1,200 lb. each, to be tested by the different best-known zinc-recovery plants, and experimented with several processes proposed by others for the treatment of such ore, with but little encouragement, until I

Jan 1, 1914

By James P. Kimball

AMONG the curious results of the recent advance of prices in the iron trade of the United States, one of them at least is to be regarded as of great importance. I allude to the utilization of mill cinder as a cheap and almost costless substitute for high-priced iron ores in many blast furnaces, situated within easy reach of such raw material. It has been, with but few exceptions, the practice in this country, based upon tradition rather than upon authority or European precedents, to waste this material on 'account of its high proportion of silicic and phosphoric acids, although known to contain more iron than most ores, and although also known to be sometimes applied to the blast furnace in greater or less quantities without serious detriment to the iron for specific purposes. While in use to a limited extent in the Hocking Valley and Hanging Rock iron regions of Ohio for several years, its use in Western Pennsylvania has only become general of late, under the exigencies of high prices and a short supply of ore. Especially has mill cinder largely entered into the stock of furnaces attached to rolling mills in and about Pittsburgh. Under such circumstances the cinder pig has been paddled on the premises, and the malleable iron produced has been unexpectedly good. Cautiously as at first mill cinder has been applied, it is evident that the temptation to use it freely is a strong one whenever the commercial rates for high-class ores are out of proportion to the general conditions of the iron trade, as sometimes happens in this country, especially as the free use of it is apparently justified by the quality of the iron produced from this cheap and abundant material. Indeed the consumption of cinder pig has., not been wholly confined to mills using up the production of furnaces belonging to the same plant. One furnace at least on the Ohio, at Covington, for several' months has been making foundry pig from "all cinder." The iron has gone into the general trade. It is probable that malleable iron of good quality can he made from the poorest cinder pig, but with what degree of economy will

Jan 1, 1881

By A. B. Tanner

The effects of radon in drillholes on gamma-ray logs have been described by L. S. Hilpert and C. M. Bunker1 Since these effects may cause drastic error in the evaluation of uranium deposits, it is useful to know the conditions under which significant amounts of radon tend to accumulate in drillholes. In the studies described here, atmospheric conditions were found to dominate in the control of the behavior of radon in drillholes in the vicinity of a uranium orebody. The site of the investigation was in McKinley County, New Mexico, about 12 miles north of Grants. Drillholes of 4 1/4-in. diam, on 25-ft and 100-ft centers, penetrate ore in dry rock at a depth of about 100 ft. A geologic log of the drillhole of primary interest is shown in Fig. 1. Gamma-ray logs revealed three zones of ore-grade mineralization in the Todilto limestone. A 6-ft zone, the lowest of the three, assayed 0.20 pct U3O8 by chemical analysis. The limestone ores in this area contain disseminated uraninite and some yellow and orange secondary minerals. Only radon"", a member of the uranium'" series, was measured in this investigation. Radon is one of the chemically inert noble gases and is radioactive by alpha particle emission with a half life of about four days. In this discussion, amounts of radon are expressed in microcuries (1 microcurie equals 37,-000 disintegrations per sec) and concentrations of radon are expressed in microcuries per liter of drillhole air. Samples of air were obtained by lowering a sampling device (Fig. 2) into a drillhole and actuating the device at the desired depth. It was then raised to the surface and the sample was transferred to a storage tube. Within two days the sample was transferred to an ionization chamber, and the activ- ity of radon and its short-lived daughter products was measured at radioactive equilibrium with a vibrating-reed electrometer. The measurements were corrected back to the time of collection and involve errors estimated generally not to exceed + 5 pct to —15 pct. Radon Behavior in a Covered Hole: Fig. 3, a typical log of radon concentration vs depth in the covered drillhole, was made by using values of radon concentration at discrete depths. Continuous logs of alpha-particle radiation in the drillholes showed that such radon logs depict the continuous variation of radon concentration with depth quite accurately. Three features of radon logs were noted: 1) maximum

Jan 1, 1960

By WILLIAM BOWIE

THE development of the isostatic idea during the last century would make an interesting paper in itself. But the various steps in the development have been covered in a number of papers and books which are readily available. Therefore this short paper should not give space to. the historical phases of the subject. Isostasy is really an old idea, but it is only in the last few decades that it has taken on any great prominence or importance in the study of earth phenomena. It is really remarkable how closely Dutton' sensed the isostatic principle 40 years or more ago. His general principles of isostasy as outlined by him have stood the test of time and fit in closely with the general ideas held today. It would seem, however, that some of his views with regard to the application of isostasy to geological processes must be modified or abandoned.

Jan 1, 1930

By Norris Johnston, Carrol M. Beeson

For many years the permeability of reservoir sands has been measured by flowing air through a cleaned and dried core sample. This differs from the true reservoir permeability in one important respect: the rock particles in the reservoir are surrounded by interstitial water, not air, and their physical shape and condition of hydration are greatly dependent thereon. Permeability as defined must be measured with a single-phase fluid. Since no means exist for removing the oil and gas from a core sample by simply flowing water through it, the sample must be cleaned and then resatu-rated with water before testing. The present discussion attempts to show that after the cleaning process a considerably different permeability is determined with salt or fresh water than is obtained with air. The postulate is made that the salt-water permeability is probably closer to the true reservoir permeability than is the measurement with air. This is discussed in relation to both physically possible and economically feasible measuremerits. Data On more than 1200 core samples are given to show the nature of the effects observed, and a plea is made for others to consider water permeability measurements as a routine necessity, eventually replacing air permeability in regions where the differences are great. Introduction Permeability is defined1 as a "a measure of the capacity of a porous medium to transmit fluids, when there is no interaction between the solids and the fluid." Darcy's law of liquid flow in porous media states: kA?P QµL/A?L [I] where Q represents milliliters of liquid of viscosity p centipoises passed per second through a porous medium of permeability k darcys and cross-sectional area A sq. cm. under a pressure gradient ?P/L atmospheres per centimeter, the flow being understood to be laminar or viscous, not turbulent. This equation defines the darcy. For the case of radial flow in a uniform sand, such as usually exists in the neighborhood of a well in an oil or gas sand, Darcy's law becomes:2 Here h is the net sand thickness in feet, Pe and Pw are pressures at the drainage radius4 and well radius, and re and rw are these radii, respectively. The productivity index3 is defined as the barrels of liquid produced per day per pound per square inch mean pressure differential between ferences and well bore, and is thus: By further definition, the specific productivity index is: or in terms of practical units, and allowing for shrinkage:

Jan 1, 1945

By N. S. Bornstein, M. A. DeCrescente

ThE nickel and cobalt base superalloys employed in gas turbine engines under some conditions' oxidize at an accelerated rate when exposed at elevated temperatures to atmospheres containing minor quantities of sea salt. It is generally agreed by investigators in the field that the major steps comprising this phenomena of accelerated oxidation, also called hot corrosion or more commonly, sulfidation, are a) a slag composed primarily of Na2S04 is formed on turbine components, b) the protective oxide scale is rendered ineffectual, c) the slag reacts with. the substrate to form metal sulfides, and d) the substrate is rapidly oxidized. Sodium sulfate, a minor constituent of sea salt, is formed within the gas turbine engine from the reactions between NaC1, the major constituent of sea salt, and the oxides of sulfur.' Depending upon concentration, engine compression ratio, and temperature, the Na2S04 will be present in the gaseous or condensed state. It has been determined that in order for sulfi-dation to occur the Na2S04 must be present in the condensed state.' Although a number of sulfidation mechanisms have been postulated, there is no consistent explanation of oxide scale breakdown and subsequent catastrophic oxidation. Some investigators believe that after oxide scale breakdown, the Na2SO4 reacts with the substrate to form lower-valent sulfur compounds. The accelerated rate of oxidation is due to oxidation of a nickel-sulfide phase." Other investigators believe that sulfur from the fused salt reacts with chromium in the alloy to form chromium-rich sulfides; thereby depleting the alloy of an element which imparts oxidation resistance.3,4 This publication will demonstrate that the accelerated rate of oxidation associated with sul-fidation is due to interactions between Na20, a con-stituent of NazSO.,, ancl the substrate. The aim of this study was to separate and determine the effect of compounds of sulfur and sodium on the oxidation kinetics of various nickel-base superalloys, in order to elucidate the sulfidation mechanism. The work reported herein is sponsored in part by the Naval Ship and Development Center-Investigation of EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE The nickel base alloys B-1900, U-700, and Waspaloy were chosen for this study. The nominal compositions are presented in Table I. The specimens, approximately 1 in. by 1 in. by 0.060 in. received in the "as cast" condition were polished with 600 grit emery, washed, and rinsed with acetone immediately prior to oxidation experiments. Sulfida-tion attack was duplicated in the laboratory by apply-ing a saturated aqueous solution of Na2S04 onto the al loy substrate and subsequently exposing the specimens in oxygen at elevated temperature. The method of Na2S04 application is described elsewhere in detail.6 In another set of experiments the affected substrate microstructure associated with sulfidation was reproduced free of the normal oxide scale, by reacting and diffusing elemental sulfur into the alloy. The experimental procedure is also described elsewhere in detail. All oxidation studies were performed using an Ainsworth thermobalance type RV-AU-1, which is readable to 0.01 mg and is reproducible to ±0.03 mg. The specimens, introduced into a heated furnace, were exposed in the temperature range 800" to 1000°C

Jan 1, 1970

By M. E. Shank, J. Wulff

In view of the current interest in magnetic materials having rectangular hysteresis loops, as for example those obtained with the grain oriented 50 nickel 50 iron alloys,t we wish to call attention again to the results obtainable with the perminvar (Co-Ni-Fe) alloys heat treated in a magnetic field. Data taken from direct current measurements made prior to and during World War II give the typical values shown below for two of the perrninvar alloys. Fig 1 and 2 show- the hysteresis loops for these samples. The first sample above consisted of small rings punched from 0.014 in. sheet stock. These rings were heat treated at 1000°C for one hour in a hydrogen atmosphere and then cooled with the furnace to 750°C at which point they were subjected to a magnetic field of 15 oersteds maintained during cooling to room telmperature. The molybdenum perminvar sample consisted of a spirally wound core of 0.001 in. tape. The heat treatment was the same except that box annealing methods were used and no hydrogen atmosphere was employed. Even better properties might be expected using hydrogen. The heat treating temperatures and cooling rates are not critical. Rectangular hysteresis loops produced in other perminvar alloys by heat treatment in a magnetic field were described earlier.',? Properties similar to those described above are realized in perminvars manufactured by conventional methods. Drastic cold working which in practice limits the final thickness and is gen- erally expensive may thus be avoided. This information may be of interest to those concerned with magnetic alloys and the development of contact rectifiers, magnetic amplifiers and so on.

Jan 1, 1950

By E. H. Dix

All commercial aluminum contains small percentages of copper, iron, and silicon as unavoidable impurities. The purest metal obtainable commercially, special grade high purity ingot, contains a maximum of 0.50 per cent. impurities of which the usual minimum amount of copper is 0.01 per cent.; silicon, 0.12 per cent.; and iron, 0.20 per cent. This grade is too costly for most purposes. The two standard grades, Nos. 1 and 2, containing a minimum of 99.0 and 98.0 per cent. aluminum, respectively, are more generally used. Other grades of secondary aluminum often contain as high as 3 or 4 per cent. of impurities, which include 1 per cent., or more, of zinc. Specifications for high-grade aluminum-casting alloys generally allow a maximum of 1.7 per cent. for total impurities. The S. A. E. Specification No. 33, which is intended to cover alloys made from secondary aluminum ingot, gives the iron maximum as 1.5 per cent. and the maximum for silicon (including manganese and tin) as 0.75 per cent. The effect of even relatively small amounts of impurities on the physical properties of ingot aluminum is shown by the following cornparison of two lots of aluminum, which may be taken as representative of special grade and grade No. 2 ingot, respectively. AnalysEs Special Grade, Gbade No. 2, Per Cent. PeR CBnt. Copper................................. 0.01 0.32 Silicon................................. 0.12 0.32 Iron................................... 0.42 0.82 Aluminum.............................. 99.45 98.54

Jan 1, 1923

By E. H. Dix

All commercial aluminum contains small percentages of copper, iron, and silicon as unavoidable impurities. The purest metal obtainable commercially, special grade high purity ingot, contains a maximum of 0.50 per cent. impurities of which the usual minimum amount of copper is 0.01 per cent.; silicon, 0.12 per cent.; and iron, 0.20 per cent. This grade is too costly for most purposes. The two standard grades, Nos. 1 and 2, containing a minimum of 99.0 and 98.0 per cent. aluminum, respectively, are more generally used. Other grades of secondary aluminum often contain as high as 3 or 4 per cent. of impurities, which include 1 per cent., or more, of zinc. Specifications for high-grade aluminum-casting alloys generally allow a maximum of 1.7 per cent. for total impurities. The S. A. E. Specification No. 33, which is intended to cover alloys made from secondary aluminum ingot, gives the iron maximum as 1.5 per cent. and the maximum for silicon (including manganese and tin) as 0.75 per cent. The effect of even relatively small amounts of impurities on the physical properties of ingot aluminum is shown by the following cornparison of two lots of aluminum, which may be taken as representative of special grade and grade No. 2 ingot, respectively. AnalysEs Special Grade, Gbade No. 2, Per Cent. PeR CBnt. Copper................................. 0.01 0.32 Silicon................................. 0.12 0.32 Iron................................... 0.42 0.82 Aluminum.............................. 99.45 98.54

Jan 1, 1923

By R. G. Treuting, W. C. Ellis

The twinned state is characterized by a lattice of coincidence sites. Imperfections are required at stable lateral twin interfaces. Twinned regions can occur with relative ease in the diamond cubic IN recent contributions1,2 on the origin and growth of cubic annealing twins, attention has been directed to the orientation relations between such twinned components and their parent matrix. There are some aspects of twinning which may be illuminated by a more detailed consideration of the twinned state" alone. As an extreme example, the dense twinning in cast ingots of germanium,&apos; as contrasted with the rarity of twins in cast face-centered cubic metals, is yet to be accounted for. It has been this that has led us to the present work, which, it will be noted, uses methods and constructions in many respects similar to those of Kronberg and Wilson.&apos; In the cubic systems, a 70" 32&apos; rotation about a <110> axis is angularly equivalent, as to twinning, to the more usually considered 180" rotation about a <111> axis. Figs. 1 and 2 show a (110) projection of a twinned face-centered cubic lattice and a twinned diamond cubic lattice. In both figures, the two adjacent planes A and B, shown by the larger and smaller circles, are sufficient to represent the entire array. In each case a section of lattice, the original atom sites of which are shown by open circles, has been rotated as indicated through 70" 32&apos; to bring an original. [112] direction into coincidence with the [112] diiection. The latter is the intercept on the (110) projection of the (ill) plane normal thereto, the twinning plane. In the face-centered cubic case the rotation can be performed about an axis passing through an atom-site; the mirror plane then is also a composition plane containing atoms common to both twinned and untwinned lattices. The diamond cubic lattice may be construed as two interpenetrated face-centered lattices. Its (111) planes recur in a sequence of alternately short and long interspacings. Consequently a mirror plane for twinning cannot be a composition plane, but must be the bisector of one of the spacings. When the longer spacing is selected, the closest distance of approach across the mirror plane in the [ill] direc- tion is identical with that in the untwinned structure. In each case periodically recurring (ill) planes (parallel with the twinning plane) are found, on which there is coincidence of atom sites of the pre-twinned and twinned orientations; these are indicated by the cross-hatched circles. In the face-centered lattice there is such coincidence every third (ill) plane; in the diamond cubic lattice, on two adjacent planes in every six. At the twinning interface in the latter, there is on each side of the mirror plane a (ill) plane of atoms common to both twin components. Conceivably, there is little influence on a plane of atoms about to be adhered to such a pair of coincidence planes, whether it be laid down in a normal or in a twinned position with respect to the previously formed structure. Slawson% as attributed the high incidence of twinning in diamond to this boundary state. Further examination shows that the motion of intermediate planes can consist of various pairs of equal and opposite translations, for example of (ill) planes in the [l&apos;;i2) direction, the familiar twinning shear, indicated in the small schematics in the figures. Since the translations form a system of shears of alternating sign between coincidence planes, twinning could take place by such a mechanism over an extended region without extensive shear; in fact, in this case any atom moves but the distance in the [1i2] direction. One alternative construction for the face-centered cubic lattice leading to the same end result is illustrated in Fig. 3. The plane (711) with respect to the pretwinning orientation (the twinning plane of Fig. 1) is given, the twinned region arbitrarily bounded by <110> and <112> directions. The coupled shear is identical to that of Fig. 1. The "rotational" movement about coincidence sites generating the same twinned position could consist as shown of the translation a,/d% for each atom of a group of three in the B layer in a different one of the three <112> directions, and a similar translation of the underlying three atoms in the C layer in either the same or the opposite sense. This is not dissimilar to Kronberg and Wilson&apos;s construction for their 22" rotation of three adjacent (111) planes.

Jan 1, 1952

By John Gjers

Being on a visit to your great and prosperous country, and having been favored with an invitation to attend this meeting of your Institute, the author has been requested by your Secretary to give a short account of his invention of the " soaking-pit," which he has great pleasure in doing. The object of the soaking-pit is the rolling of steel ingots with their own initial heat, that is, to supply the missing link in that chain of metallurgical operations which Sir Henry Bessemer began in 1857, when he proved how it was possible to produce malleable iron or steel direct from the fluid cast-iron out of the blast-furnace, without any further direct use of fuel. The great Bessemer invention has revolutionized iron and steelmaking throughout the world; but it stopped short at producing the ingot, which, it was found, had afterwards to be heated in a furnace to enable it to be rolled or hammered; and it is only lately, twenty-five years after Mr. Bessemer&apos;s announcement, that the author of this paper has been able to show that furnacing can be dispensed with, and that it is practicable to roll a steel ingot into say a bloom, a rail, or a billet, with its own initial heat. It has no doubt suggested itself to many that there ought to be heat enough in the ingot just cast, for the purpose of rolling; and from time to time attempts have been made to utilize this heat; but such attempts always ending in failure, it became a settled opinion in the trade that it could not be done—an opinion which the author is aware that your late lamented countryman, Mr. Holley, than whom there was none more conversant with Bessemer steel-making, also entertained. But settled opinions sometimes prove to be great fallacies. As an instance, it is not many years since the opinion prevailed in the trade that steel ingots could not be rolled successfully, that is, so as to make good rails, unless they were first allowed to get quite cold, and afterwards heated. No greater boon was ever conferred on the

Jan 1, 1885

By R. N. Schulz

The recently completed modifications and additions to Reserve Mining Company&apos;s taconite concentrating process incorporate a totally new control system. Design of the new control scheme is centered on reliability, versatility, centralization, and optimization. The design objectives were achieved through a distributed control system based on a network of independent field located microprocessor based control system connected to a central control room. Operation of each micro-processors can be interrogated and modified from the central control room by the operator or by either of two computer systems. The two computer systems handle logging, alarming, specialized sequenced controls, and complex process optimization routines.

Jan 1, 1984

By Herbert A. Everest

The idea of economical production is usually associated with large operations, tonnages, and mines, with even larger capital behind them. , Nevertheless many small mines operate in the shadow of large competitors and make a good showing on the capital invested despite larger overhead expenses. For the purpose of this discussion I will divide the cost of production into classes, and specify opposite each the approximate percentagc expended thereon: 1. Labor, including miners and company men; 60 to 75 per cent. 2. Development, including all necessary .yardage, room turning, crosscuts, etc.; 7 to 12 per cent. 3. Deadwork, covering payment to miners for handling falls, draw-slate, or faults, rock work, water, and in general, all nonproductive labor; 3 to 7 per cent. 4. Supplies: mine timbers, oil, brattice material, lumber, cement, and repairs to equipment; 2 to 6 per cent. 5. Expense: management, selling, office, taxes, etc.; 1 to 5 per cent. 6. Depreciation of coal reserves and royalties; 6 to 10 per cent. 7. Depreciation of equipment and interest on capital invested; 1 to 3 per cent. 8. Fuel; ½ to 1½ per cent. The labor cost for a small mine is relatively much lower than for a large mine, particularly the sum paid to company men. Idle-pay expense is cut to a minimum; the labor item being larger than all the others together, a saving in labor makes a decided showing on the total cost. The development charges in small and large mines are about the same. There should be a small showing on the deadwork item in favor of the small mine. The unit cost for supplies is usually small in the small mine. The operator of the small mine finds, owing to a limited tonnage, that the expenses of management, selling, etc., are abnormally high. The item, depreciation of coal reserves and royalties, is usually about

Jan 1, 1916

By A. S. Richardson

THE rating of a mine ventilation fan, or the characteristic curves illustrating the duty it may be expected to perform under various mine conditions are, in general, determined by the fan manufacturers. The information is of importance to the operator, or engineer, of a mine in many ways. For instance, when an increased flow of air is desired and the fan speed is to be increased, it becomes necessary to know what increase in volume may be expected and what the power requirements will be. In other cases, it may be decided to make changes in the mine to reduce the resistance to the flow of air, or to make changes in the general system of ventilation. Under any changed mine conditions there will be a difference in the duty performed by the fan. When mechanical ventilation is adopted, the factors governing the selection of equipment for the new system include not only the requirements of existing conditions, but also those that may be expected with the development of the property. Efficiency of service is required over a variable range of operating conditions. Characteristic curves, giving the duty performed by their fans under variable resistance conditions, are published by most fan manufacturers. General statements as to the effect of variation in speed of the centrifugal-type fan, under fixed mine conditions, appear in textbooks and trade catalogs. However, to the author both sources of information appear to be unreliable, at least under certain circumstances. The catalog of a leading fan manufacturer says: 1. The volume of air delivered by a fan varies directly as the speed. 2. The pressure, or water gage, produced by a fan varies as the square of the fan speed. 3. The horsepower of a fan varies as the cube of the fan speed. While these statements are accurate when the fan is operating under conditions similar to those that exist when a blower is used to force air through a pipe, they are not correct under mine conditions that are by no means unusual. Such conditions may be found in deep mines operated through shafts, in which a wide range of temperatures may be

Jan 8, 1925

By Herbert Everest

THE idea of economical production is usually associated with large operations, tonnages, and mines, with even larger capital behind them. Nevertheless many small mines operate in the shadow of large competitors and make a good showing on the capital invested despite larger overhead expenses. For the purpose of this discussion I will divide the cost of production into classes, and specify opposite each the approximate percentage expended thereon: 1. Labor, including miners and company men; 60 to 75 per cent. 2: Development, including all necessary yardage, room turning, crosscuts, etc.; 7 to 12 per cent. 3. Deadwork, covering payment to miners for handling falls, drawslate, or faults, rock work, water, and in general, all nonproductive labor; 3 to 7 per cent. 4. Supplies: mine timbers, oil, brattice material, lumber, cement, and repairs to equipment; 2 to 6 per cent. 5. Expense: management, selling, office, taxes, etc.; 1 to 5 per cent. 6. Depreciation of coal reserves and royalties; 6 to 10 per cent. 7. Depreciation of equipment and interest on capital invested; 1 to 3 per cent. 8. Fuel; ½ to 1 ½ per cent. The labor cost for a small mine is relatively much lower than for a large mine, particularly the sum paid to company men. Idle-pay expense is cut to a minimum; the labor item being larger than all the others together, a saving in labor makes a decided showing on the total cost. The development charges in small and large mines are about the same. There should be a small showing on the Beadwork item in favor of the small mine. The unit cost for supplies is usually small in the small mine. The operator of the small mine finds, owing to a limited tonnage, that the expenses of management, selling, etc., are abnormally high.

Jan 1, 1916