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By C. H. Mathewson

CONSIDERABLE progress has been made during the last few years in analyzing the action of plastic deformation in metallic crystals. This is due largely to the development of X-ray spectrographic methods for studying changes in the orientation of single crystals, or of conglomerates, as they occur during the process of plastic deformation, but partly to the widespread knowledge of suitable technique for preparing large (single or variously combined) crystals for direct crystallographic observation under stress or in various conditions of strain. These two methods of studying changes in the crystalline structure of metals may of course be used in conjunction with features of mutual support, but unfortunately the advantage of direct crystallographic observation is lost when we proceed to the study of severely cold-worked structures, owing to the occurrence of real or apparent crystalline discontinuities which become more and more complicated as the amount of plastic action increases. Furthermore, the X-ray methods do not appear to be adequate, at least in their present stage of development, to fix definitely the character of structural alteration in the parent crystal lattice by plastic deformation. The principal question at issue concerns the nature of the crystalline particles that remain after plastic deformation. These are generally known in our American metallurgical literature as crystalline fragments,' and they seem, indeed, to diffract as individuals causing the Hull pattern of a severely cold-worked metal to resemble the pattern of a fine powder,2 with certain features of preferred orientation among the particles deter- mined by the manner and intensity of cold working. We must freely concede that there are conceptions of lattice alteration, apart from that of simple fragmentation, which would account for an increasing number of lattice positions according to X-ray spectrographic observation as the degree of deformation increased.

Jan 1, 1927

By P. H. Mell

THE little village, from which this formation receives its name, is situated on a bluff of the Alabama River, 175 feet above water level. This bluff is a portion of high table land that begins in the western portion of Choctaw and extends through Clarke and Monroe counties. We find points on this ridge more than 100 feet higher than Tuscaloosa, and nearly as high as the Tennessee River at Tuscumbia. Through this the Alabama River cuts its way, exposing a beautiful cross-section of the strata, of which the accompanying sketch may give some idea. The fossils are found about 75 feet below the surface and 100 feet above the level of the river. There are seven distinct strata. 1. The lowest, extending from the water's edge up the bluff 80 feet, is a soft calcareous rock containing about 15 per cent. of carbonate of lime, with occasional specks of mica. In this a few Ostrea, Turritellce, and Flustrce were found, but so friable as to fall to pieces when handled. 2. Next comes a stratum varying from 2 to 8 feet, consisting of

Jan 1, 1880

By T. Egleston

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

Jan 1, 1881

The Ural Mountains, which were formerly the dividing line between Asia and Siberia, area chain of low mountains, the highest peaks reaching only a little over 5000 ft. The country has been much eroded and the mountains now appear as rounded hills. In the central and northern parts turf swamps abound. The range is covered with forests except at the extreme southern end. The trees are mostly pine. Birch grows on cut-over areas, but never to large size. The rivers are small or the fall is slight, so no large water powers are available. A series of rivers with a north and south course, and which are navigable for long distances, furnish cheap transportation during the summer months. Railroad communications are very insufficient. The first active exploitation of the mineral wealth was initiated by Peter the Great, who sought iron and copper for use in his wars against the Swedes. He selected a blacksmith named Demidoff to supervise operations and gave him rights to most of the Ural and to the Altai. The Nijni Tagil Estates are still in the possession of the Demidoff family. The original large grant was subsequently subdivided through inheritance and marriage, but the Ural is still a country of very large estates, some of them held as leases only and some of them by actual ownership.

Jan 6, 1919

By Howard Eavenson

SOME time ago, in a conference considering the mechanizing of a group of mines, I was asked if I knew of any data showing the relative frequency of accidents due to the use of 275 or 550-volt current inside mines and having a recollection of seeing some in print, the answer was made that I would find what was available. Subsequent search failed to find any pub-lished records of any kind giving such figures and none of the compensation agencies of whom inquiry was made were able to supply any, excepting the Pennsyl-vania Compensation Rating and Inspection Bureau, which had some data covering a few months for some companies in that State. The inquiry was confined to the three largest producing States, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Illinois. The inspection departments of neither of the first two had any such records, and in Illinois, only 275 volts has been allowed inside the mines for many years. A laborious inquiry has resulted in the data, shown in Table 1, which on this account was confined to the years 1921 and 1925, the latter being the latest figures available. In each State, to find the mines using 275 and 550-volt current respectively, it was necessary to list the mines from the Coal Catalog, and then to complete the list by inquiries from the companies directly, from Operators' Associations and from Inspection Depart-ments. As the mines not electrified, and those using

Jan 5, 1928

By S. Frederick Ravitz

IN most applied sciences there are two distinct methods of carrying out research and development work. One of these, the theoretical, attempts to solve problems that may arise and to predict facts of practical importance by the application of the various laws of science, the other, the experimental method, attempts to each the 'same goal by obtaining data and trying out various processes in the laboratory. Since individuals frequently find themselves better adapted for one or the other type of procedure, it is natural that -two groups should 'arise, both working toward the sane objective but with somewhat different points of view, although many in each group are thoroughly competent in both fields. Metallurgy, in particular, offers an excellent opportunity for a comparison of the two methods.

Jan 1, 1935

THERE has been a lot of talk about the shortage of engineers and we have done our share of it; but recently we heard a spot radio commercial-between broadcasts-urging high school seniors to study engineering. We think this is going too far. Engineering is an exacting profession requiring the highest personal qualifications. Publicity for the purpose of interesting capable young people in choosing courses in engineering should emphasize qualification. The opportunities for a career in a great constructive profession which is the basis of our high standard of living should be properly evaluated. Although there is a need for more engineers today, nobody knows what the employment potential is going to be four years hence. The profession may do itself a grave disservice by attempting mass recruitment in the face of an unpredictable national economy. The mining and metals industries are in a special position as fewer engineers are needed in these fields. Only 10 pct of all engineers are mining and metallurgical engineers. Today's shortage is not so much in recent graduates, but in trained practicing engineers. The shortage has served the profession to good effect because it directed the talents of engineers into more productive channels. In some areas high school graduates have been put into routine jobs such as, surveying. If there is one thing the mining profession does not want, it is an oversupply of graduates which would relegate college men to years of work and discouragement in routine jobs. The public has a clear cut picture of the legal and medical professions and thus the respect knowledge imparts. But the engineer is variously thought of as a man who pulls the throttle lever on a locomotive, tends a furnace, or builds a bridge. The term engineer is too loosely used. For instance we have heard of "crowd engineers" and "exterminating engineers." In some unions an engineer designation has been established to describe a person doing routine checking or other control job. We do not disparage these positions but they are different from the work done by the man qualified by years of experience and study. Many of these so-called engineers are not engineers at all. The engineering profession has cooperated closely on a program of recruiting high school graduates for engineering study. It should start a cooperative public relations program to enlighten the public on the accomplishments and work of engineers. This type of publicity need not be of the bombastic type. It can be educational and dignified. Radio, television, and the periodicals can be used to convey information. It is time that laymen and interested young people learn to make a distinction between the true engineer and the technician. Such a program would instruct parents and high school students and thereby interest the right type of people in the engineering profession. The Centennial of Engineering sponsored by the American Society of Civil Engineers is a step in the direction of instructive public relations. This fine start should not be allowed to remain as a one pass venture. The engineering profession as a whole should follow this exposition with a sustained, well directed effort to inform the public of the engineer's work and the possibilities it holds for a constructive career.

Jan 1, 1952

By Ezequiel Ordonez

MOST spectacular of Nature's contributions to the making of the postwar world is the Paricutin volcano, in Mexico, which I described in the July issue of this magazine last year, a few months after it was born. Now, after more than a year of continuous eruption, it is still and perhaps will remain a comparatively small though no less interesting volcano. The cone on April 1 had an altitude of nearly 1200 ft. above the level of the small flat field from which it began to grow on Feb. 20, 1943. This cone is now almost entirely surrounded by the lava flows that poured out at different dates, from its base or from outlets on the slopes near its base. To the north and northwest these lavas were

Jan 1, 1944

By S. Arthur Krom

(Wilkes-Barre meeting, June, 1911.) RECENT experiments indicate that the usual type of concentrating-table is not only poorly adapted to produce the desired results, but also is based upon an incorrect principle, namely, the use of riffles to perform the work of stratifying the various minerals. We have heard a good deal about riffles for concentrating-tables; exhaustive experiments have been made to discover the proper form of riffle, or to prove the superiority this or that form; disputes and patent-litigation have arisen over the matter of riffles, and thus many have been led to believe that the riffle is the saving-device upon which the process of concentration depends. In the present paper it is proposed to show that the riffle is greatly overrated as to the part it performs in the concentration of minerals, and that, in the near future, it may possibly be eliminated entirely from that process. The experiments in question have shown that the troublesome riffle can be considered of secondary importance at the most, and should be so classed in the construction of a concentrating-table built upon the right lines. The action of any form of riffle on a concentrating-table is such as to upset and retard the process of settling and stratifying the various minerals on the table-deck. From the deck of a riffled table no concentrates can be delivered until the deck is "bedded," that is, until a sufficient amount of metallic values have been fed to the table to spread over a large portion of the deck, forming a substratum of the heavier minerals. This substratum must be maintained by the feed within quite narrow limits, and directly proportional to the rate of discharge from the table, in order that the bed shall not be lost. On the other hand, the riffles having a very lim-

Jul 1, 1911

By U. C. Tainton

FOR the last 15 years lead has been the standard material for anodes in electrolytic zinc production and it has been generally accepted that this lead should be as free as possible from impurities. Laist1 says, "Next in importance to the purity of solution is the purity of the electrodes and tank lining material. The purest lead obtainable should be used for anodes." The same conclusion is expressed by Ingalls2 and by two German investigators who say that experiments have demonstrated that the purer the lead, the greater is its resistance to corrosion during electrolysis.3 Pure lead, however, while the best material hitherto available for anodes, is not entirely free from objection. The plain lead anode gradually disintegrates under electrolysis, so that the life of an anode, say ¼ in. thick, is frequently not more than two years. Part of the lead from the anode finds its way to the cathode, lowering the purity of the deposited zinc and decreasing the hydrogen overvoltage. The rest of the lead that comes from the disintegration of the anode goes into the manganese dioxide which is precipitated in the cells, rendering unsaleable what might otherwise be a valuable by-product. Yet a further disadvantage of plain lead anodes comes from their tendency to bend or buckle during electrolysis, as a result of intercrystalline oxidation. This makes it necessary to use a fairly wide spacing between anode and cathode to avoid short circuits, and thus leads to a higher power consumption than would otherwise be necessary. The power consumption is also affected by the high decomposition voltage at a lead peroxide surface.

Jan 1, 1929

By A. G. Taylor, H. P. Ehrlinger, U. C. Tainton

FOR the last 15 years lead has been the standard material for anodes in electrolytic zinc production and it has been generally accepted that this lead should be as free as possible from impurities. Laistl says, "Next in importance to the purity of solution is the purity of the electrodes and tank lining material. The purest lead obtainable should be used for anodes." The same conclusion is expressed by Ingalls2 and by two German investigators who say that experiments have demonstrated that the purer the lead, the greater is its resistance to corrosion during electrolysis.3 Pure lead, however, while the best material hitherto available for anodes, is not entirely free from objection. The plain lead anode gradually disintegrates under electrolysis, so that the life of an anode, say 1/4 in. thick, is frequently not more than two years. Part of the lead from the anode finds its way to the cathode, lowering the purity of the deposited zinc and decreasing the hydrogen overvoltage. The rest of the lead that comes from the disintegration of the anode goes into the manganese dioxide which is precipitated in the cells, rendering unsaleable what might otherwise be a valuable by-product. Yet a further disadvantage of plain lead anodes comes from their tendency to bend or buckle during electrolysis, as a result of intercrystalline oxidation. This makes it necessary to use a fairly aide spacing between anode and cathode to avoid short circuits, and thus leads to a higher power consurnption than would otherwise be necessary. The power consumption is also affected by the high decomposition voltage at a lead peroxide surface.

Jan 1, 1929

By R. W. Raymond

In my former paper (Bans., xii., 410) I quoted the ruling of Judge Hallett, of Colorado, in the "Iron-Smuggler" case, tried before him in June, 1882. Under his charge, the jury in that case found for the defendants, practically declaring that the deposit on the outcrop of which the Iron Silver Mining Company's claim was located was not a " lode," or else that the portion of it within that claim was not the apex. The case was appealed, and the decision of the Supreme Court, given in February, 1886, is reported in 116 U. S. Reports, p. 529. It simply declares that there is nothing in the charge of Judge Hallett to warrant the setting aside the verdict. The definition of a legal lode given in that case, and quoted in my paper at the page above-named, is perhaps the best of several which Judge Hallet has pronounced. That is to say, his earlier definition, that " a lode or vein is a body of mineral, or mineral-bearing rock, within defined boundaries in the general mass of the mountain," is here accompanied with further explanations, which relieve it from the requirement on one hand, that the body shall be continuously ore-bearing if it he only well-defined, and, on the other hand, that the boundaries shall be well-defined if the ore-bearing body be proved to exist. So far as this particular case is concerned, the approval of this ruling by the Supreme Court merely prevents any re-hearing as to the face. Undoubtedly, the evidence was conflicting; and the jury chose to believe, for the purpose of that occasion, the " experts " who

Jan 1, 1887

By Arthur Clark, Terrill

THE Tri-State field is now believed to be the largest zinc district in the world. It has a potential production sufficient to supply the entire zinc demands of the country. It is estimated that a train 70 miles long would be required to haul the district's 1919 output of 60 per cent. zinc concentrates. For many years,, including 1917, Missouri surpassed Oklahoma in zinc production. In 1918, however, Oklahoma led by a wide margin and, in 1919, Missouri produced less than one-sixth of the total for the three states, when Kansas replaced Missouri in second place in the production. The district is now producing one-third of the zinc of the world and twice as much as ever before at the present price.

Jan 1, 1920

By Douglas L. Gerner

In the early 1950's fishermen and their families around Minamata Bay in Japan were stricken with a mysterious neurological illness. The Minamata disease, as it came to be called, produced progressive weakening of the muscles, loss of vision, impairment of other cerebral functions, eventual paralysis and in some cases coma and death. The victims suffered structural injury to the brain. Minamata seabirds and household cats which, like the fishermen, subsist mainly on fish, showed signs of the same disease. This led to the discovery of high concentrations of mercury compounds in fish and shellfish taken from the bay, and the source of the mercury was traced to the effluent from a factory. Since then there have been other alarming incidents. In 1956 and 1960 outbreaks of mercurial poisoning involving hundreds of persons took place in Iraq, where farmers who had received grain seed treated with mercurial fungicides ate the seed instead of planting it. Similar outbreaks occurred in Pakistan and in Guatemala. In Sweden, game birds and other wildlife, apparently poisoned by mercury-treated seeds, began to be noticed in 1960. The Swedish Medical Board in 1967 banned the sale of fish from 40 lakes and rivers after it was found that fish caught in those waters contained high concentrations of methyl mercury. In 1970 alarm rose in North America. Following the discovery of mercury concentrations in fish in Lake Saint Clair by an investigator working in Canada, restrictions on fishing and the sale of fish were imposed in many areas in the U.S. and Canada. Government agencies in both countries began to take action to control the discharge of mercury-containing wastes into lakes and streams.

Jan 6, 1973

By A. G. Raine

For the technological age in which we live, with the constant goal of further improvement in the efficiency of mechanized systems, the need for a replacement of the antiquated drill and blast method of shaft construction has been recognized. For over a decade now; the trend in shaft construction has been toward large diameter bored shafts using either raise boring methods or more flexible, rodless "down the hole" boring machine. The limits of conventional shaft sinking have been reached, the mining regulations are more stringent, and the environmental agencies more aggressive, all contributing to the growing need for development of the rodless shaft boring machine. In the last three years in the United States, world shaft construction records have been achieved using a V-Mole machine, designed by Mirth GmbH of West Germany, using American electrics and hydraulics. Shafts of 7.0 meters (23 feet) diameter, totaling 2,255 meters (7,400 feet) in depth have been constructed at high advance rates, yet with unusually low accident rates. Bearing in mind the high cost of today's mining labor and the inherent danger associated with conventional shaft sinking, this alternative method of shaft construction achieves a fast, competitive, low manpower requirement, whilst enhancing a safer environment for the labor force. Recent results have proven that program time savings of 50 percent over conventional shaft sinking can be achieved which can be directly translated into improved client cash flow projections and more accurate project budgeting.

Jan 1, 1984

By M. E. Nicholson

IN order to understand how alloying elements influence hardenability through their effect on the rate of pearlite nucleation, it is advantageous to use a model to describe the mechanism of pearlite nucleation. The model which currently is most widely accepted has been described, among others, by Mehl et a1.1-3 and by Hultgren.4 Pearlite nucleation involves both the nucleation of ferrite and cementite.4,5 Cementite nucleates first, followed rapidly by the formation of ferrite at the cementite-austenite interface. The conclusion that cementite is the first phase to form during the process of pearlite nucleation is based, in part, on the observation that proeutectoid cementite is continuous with pearlitic cementite and that the orientation relationship between proeutectoid ferrite and austenite is not the same as that between pearlitic: ferrite and austenite.6,7 Recently, Smith" has suggested that the dissimilarity in orientation relations, instead of indicating the pearlite nucleation sequence, may be evidence that pearlite is nucleated in a grain adjacent to the one in which it is growing. Also, Modin9 as shown that ferrite in pearlite may be continuous with proeutectoid ferrite, and he has also shown that proeutectoid cementite is not always continuous with pearlitic cementite. Thus, it appears that the conclusion that cementite always initiates the pearlite nucleation process is open to serious question. The author believes that important evidence on the question of how pearlite is nucleated exists in the rates of pearlite nucleation of different steels. The following is a review and analysis of this evidence. If the nucleation of pearlite is considered as requiring the nucleation of both cementite and ferrite, then the time to nucleate pearlite consists of the time to nucleate the first phase to form, plus the time to nucleate the second phase at the advancing interface of the first. In the absence of a visible proeutectoid constituent, the second phase must be nucleated very soon after the first. If cementite is the first phase to form, the time to nucleate pearlite will be approximately equal to the time to nucleate cementite. Since the nucleation rate of a phase precipitating from solid solution increases with the degree of supersaturation, it would be expected that the rate of pearlite nucleation should increase with increasing carbon content. Digges10 has shown that the reverse is true. He determined the quenching velocity necessary to suppress pearlite formation in plain carbon steels as a function of carbon content. His results showed that pearlite formation could be suppressed with lower quenching velocities as the carbon content of the steel increased, at least up to 1.25 pct C, the highest carbon content he studied. Thus, it would appear that in plain carbon steels, in which pearlite is formed at the nose of the C-curve, the hypothesis that cementite nucleates first does not predict the observed change in nucleation rate. The validity of the current model of pearlite nucleation may be tested also by determining whether or not it predicts the relative influence of alloying elements on the nucleation of ferrite and pearlite. This can be done best by a consideration of the changes in a TTT diagram produced by a change in alloy content. Hultgren4 suggests that the general shape of a TTT diagram, as well as what constituents will form from austenite, can be predicted from the relative nucleation rates of ferrite and cementite. This is illustrated in the schematic diagram for a hypoeutectoid low alloy or plain carbon steel shown in Fig. 1. The C-curves for ferrite nucleation and for cementite nucleation are represented by AA' and CC', respectively, and the start of ferrite formation and pearlite formation are represented by AX and BC respectively. Adopting the current theory, Hultgren suggests that between X and C pearlite forms directly from austenite, since cementite nucleates more rapidly than ferrite in this temperature range. Conversely, at temperatures above Tx, ferrite is the first to nucleate and proeutectoid ferrite is formed. As proeutectoid ferrite grows, austenite becomes enriched in carbon, so that the cementite nucleation rate is increased. As a result, pearlite nucleation above temperature Tx is accelerated, beginning along BX and not along C'X. Temperature T, represents the temperature at which the nucleation rate of ferrite equals that of cementite. By extending this type of reasoning, using the principle that the nucleation rates of ferrite and cementite increase with increasing supersaturation of austenite with respect to these phases, it should be possible to predict the influence of carbon content on the shape of the isothermal transformation diagram. For a slightly higher carbon content than that of Fig. 1, the curve A A' representing the beginning of ferrite formation should be moved to the right, whereas the curve CC' representing the beginning of cementite formation should be moved to the left. For hypoeutectoid plain carbon and low alloy steels, this prediction does not agree with existing data. Instead, as the carbon content is increased, the pearlite curve moves to the right along with the ferrite curve and always appears to join it tangen-tially. This behavior is demonstrated by the TTT-curves of a series of manganese steels" shown in Fig. 2. In this figure, TTT-curves for four alloys containing 0.20, 0.40, 0.60, and 1.20 pct C are superimposed. The curves are identified in the figure legend. The letters F, P, and C are used to indicate the start of ferrite, pearlite, and cementite formation, respectively. In these steels, it appears that the nucleation of ferrite and of pearlite are related processes. As a result of the foregoing evidence, it is proposed that the formation of pearlite be considered as follows: Either ferrite or cementite may nucleate from austenite, then grow until the remaining phase is nucleated at the interface between the growing phase and austenite. (The growth of the first phase to form is assumed to be accompanied by a composition change in the adjoining austenite.) According to this model there are two modes of nucleating pearlite: 1—where cementite initiates the succession

Jan 1, 1955

By W. T. Thom

All engineering education is faced by certain basic problems, three of which seem to have particular present importance in geological engineering training in general, and in respect to training for oil field geo-exploratory work in particular. Problem i The first of these problems has to do with present and future educational objectives and with the numbers and qualities of the men who should be coming out of our geo-exploratory training programs. Before the war we needed ever-increasing numbers of graduates at the Bachelor's level and a very much smaller number of men who had reached the Doctorate degree. Now, with more difficult, more extensive, and more costly exploratory work; with a rapid expansion of company "staff" activities, and with the initiation of many new research organizations and laboratories; it is clear that men of exceptional ability will be more and more in demand, and that the schools will need to carry a greater proportion of their students through to the Ph.D, degree. Problem 2 Assuming that the mineral industries will need an increasing supply of well-qualified Ph.D.s for future geoexploratory work (staff, line and research), can the schools expect to provide this supply of able Ph.D.s merely by expanding the proportion of B.S. and B.A. majors who go on through to the doctorate stage of training? And the answer is definitely "No"—as the situation stands at present. Most A.B. graduates are years short of the preparations in basic science and elementary engineering prerequisite to effective graduate study in the geoexploratory fields (paleontology ex-cepted), and similarly many of the annual crop of B.S. graduates lack adequate training in English; in ancient and modern history; and in the modern principles of labor and public relations. Indeed, several basic problems of undergraduate curricular organization and integration remain to be solved before most recipients of a Bachelor's degree will have that sound and broad educational foundation prerequisite to graduate training on a really effective basis. It is for these reasons that we have continued to experiment with our geological engineering program at Princeton, in an endeavor to provide a pilot-plant demonstration of a suitably broad and flexible undergraduate curriculum. Problem 3 But assuming that the schools can and do get undergraduate curricula set up in proper phase and scale to meet needed enrollment quotas for graduate training, what about the most urgent part of our whole mineral-industry educational problem? What about finding and bringing into mineral-industry training those youngsters of superior ability who are, by potential or known inclination, especially well-qualified for geoexploratory work?

Jan 1, 1949

By W. T. Thom

ALL engineering education is faced by certain basic problems, three of which seem to have particular present importance in geological engineering training in general, and in respect to training for oil field geoexploratory work in particular. PROBLEM I The first of these problems has to do with present and future educational objectives and with the numbers and qualities of the men who should be coming out of our geoexploratory training programs. Before the war we needed ever-increasing numbers of graduates at the Bachelor's level and a very much smaller number of men who had reached the Doctorate degree. Now, with more difficult, more extensive, and more costly exploratory work; with a rapid expansion of company "staff" activities, and with the initiation of many new research organizations and laboratories; it is clear that men of exceptional ability will be more and more in demand, and that the schools will need to carry a greater proportion of their students through to the Ph.D. degree. PROBLEM 2 Assuming that the mineral industries will need an increasing supply of well-qualified Ph.D.s for future geoexploratory work (staff, line and research), can the schools expect to provide this supply of able Ph.D.s merely by expanding the proportion of B.S. and B.A. majors who go on through to the doctorate stage of training? And the answer is definitely "No "-as the situation stands at present. Most A.B. graduates are years short of the preparations in basic science and elementary engineering prerequisite to effective graduate study in the geoexploratory fields (paleontology excepted), and similarly many of the annual crop of B.S. graduates lack adequate training in English; in ancient and modern history; and in the modern principles of labor and public relations. Indeed, several basic problems of undergraduate curricular organization and integration remain to be solved before most recipients of a Bachelor's degree will have that sound and broad educational foundation prerequisite to graduate training on a really effective basis. It is for these reasons that we have continued to experiment with our geological engineering program at Princeton, in an endeavor to provide a pilot-plant demonstration of a suitably broad and flexible undergraduate curriculum. PROBLEM 3 But assuming that the schools can and do get undergraduate curricula set up in proper phase and scale to meet needed enrollment quotas for graduate training, what about the most urgent part of our whole mineral-industry educational problem? What about finding and bringing into mineral-industry training those youngsters of superior ability who are, by potential or known inclination, especially well-qualified for geoexploratory work?

Jan 1, 1947

By D. M. McFarland

IN mining, quarrying, and construction, drilling and blasting have an important influence on the operations that follow. If the fragmentation of material being disrupted is inadequate, loading and transportation equipment will not operate at or near full capacity. Any operator faced with this difficulty should not be satisfied until he is convinced by a careful study of his methods of drilling and blasting that no improvement can be made. Rock in a certain quarry in Ohio seemed to defy any grade of explosive or means of detonation that the explosives industry had to offer. The average result of a blast was that a great part of the burden would be pushed out from the face in a number of large sections that would jokingly be referred to as "boxcars." These were no credit to the explosives man and a costly problem for the quarry company. Such blocks retard shovel operation as they have to be uncovered and subjected to secondary drilling and blasting which, if extensive, is an expensive operation. It was an attempt to improve the fragmentation obtained in primary blasts that led to the development of milli-second-delay electric blasting caps. The reasoning that prompted the trial was that even with wide spacing of the drill holes it seemed that the burden was separated too quickly from the face by the cutting action of the explosives from hole to hole. If the time of firing of the holes could be regulated so that

Jan 1, 1948

By John Mathews

SOMEONE has divided mankind into two groups: (1) those who have the willingness and imagination to weigh the future gain over against a present indulgence, and (2) those who cannot do so. The former have self-control, patience, foresight and a capacity for sustained effort. Those having these homely virtues become the, possessors of capital and hence employers of others. Those lacking these qualities and owning no capital must seek it from those of the first class, and therefore are employed by others. The human qualities, which divide men into two classes-employers and employed-are, however, capable of change by education, training, environment and by all agencies which tend to develop character. These words of the economist have stuck in my mind for many years and the more I see of men in my business contacts the more firmly I am convinced of their truth. The earth in some respects resembles its inhabitants. When we stroll over the fields and hills we are impressed by the unorganized masses of sand and rock which make up the ground beneath our feet. When by chance we come upon a bit of mineral matter in crystalline form we are impressed by its beauty and symmetry and probably have it polished and call it a gem. Gems constitute a minute portion of the earth's crust, and those intellectual gems, worthy of polish, who brilliantly reflect the incident rays of education and experience that have fallen upon them are few among the masses of mankind.

Jan 1, 1931