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By AIME AIME

MOST of us are far .from home, and yet our Japanese hosts- have made us feel very much at home. Here in the Orient we engineers are .learning a new meaning for the word "orientation"- hereafter that engineering term will be a synonym for gracious hospitality, and "to orient" will mean to turn a whole country over to the World Engineering Congress. Mere geographic distance is no longer able to separate nations, for the conquest of distance is one of the triumphs of 'modern engineering. We of the Americas are fortunate in the position of our continents: with their shores lapped by the waves of two oceans, we face' two great civilizations, the' Occidental and the Oriental, and thus we can share the intellectual resources of these two older cultures.

Jan 1, 1929

By C. E. Williams

THE Iron and Steel Division, A.I.M.E., is unique in this country in that it serves all phases of the iron and steel industries. Through its publications, its meetings, and its sponsorship of new technical developments in the industries, it has proved of great value. The various technical committees of the Division are the nucleus around which this service can be developed. The Blast Furnace and Raw Materials Committee has done excellent work. The need for beneficiation of iron ores is increasing and the economics of this operation are developing more and more in favor of increased activities. Ores that are slightly undergrade should be concentrated up to grade to supplant the present practice of mixing with higher-grade ores to bring up the average composition. Marginal ores that are not now being mined, or that are being mined and piled for future use, should be concentrated. The development of the use of sinter in the blast furnace, because of the elimination of fines, the advantage of better sizing of the charge, the resulting reduction of coke consumption, and increased output of pig iron per furnace, will make concentration and sintering become practical ahead of its natural time.

Jan 1, 1936

By W. J. Tait, A. E. Craig, E. P. McCurdy

C. M. Marquard—The problem of the automatic control of a grinding-classification circuit is not nearly as simple as has been indicated and it cannot be universally solved through the application of this device. The sound emanating from a ball mill such as the metallic clink of the balls against the liners can at times be misleading. The fact that the sound level due to the balls hitting the liners may be at a minimum does not necessarily mean that the mill is properly loaded. I have in mind an ore we treat that has a soft talcy gangue. The soft fluffy nature of this material makes the sound from the ball mill a most misleading parameter that is worthless as a means for controlling the amount of ore fed to the mill. In every milling plant there are transportation lags due to the time it takes the ore to travel from the mill bins to the ball mill. In many plants there may be several different transportation lags due to varying distances of bins from ball mill. These transportation lags can most seriously affect the operation of a controller. It has been found that under many circumstances the transportation lags can be so bad as to cause the controller to hunt seriously. Hunting can and in many cases does become so serious as to render automatic control impossible because of the surges it causes. While it is possible to compensate for this type of lag, this apparatus does not lend itself readily to accomplish the required compensation. Further, if there are groups of bins at various distances from the ball mill, compensation for one may not be sufficient or may be too great for another. Each milling plant presents a separate problem. The apparatus as presently described does not appear sufficiently flexible to accomplish this. It should be noted that the load on the classifier rakes is determined by measuring the current input to the rake drive motor. Variations in line voltage will

Jan 1, 1951

By E. P. McCurdy, W. J. Tait, A. E. Craig

C. M. Marquard—The problem of the automatic control of a grinding-classification circuit is not nearly as simple as has been indicated and it cannot be universally solved through the application of this device. The sound emanating from a ball mill such as the metallic clink of the balls against the liners can at times be misleading. The fact that the sound level due to the balls hitting the liners may be at a minimum does not necessarily mean that the mill is properly loaded. I have in mind an ore we treat that has a soft talcy gangue. The soft fluffy nature of this material makes the sound from the ball mill a most misleading parameter that is worthless as a means for controlling the amount of ore fed to the mill. In every milling plant there are transportation lags due to the time it takes the ore to travel from the mill bins to the ball mill. In many plants there may be several different transportation lags due to varying distances of bins from ball mill. These transportation lags can most seriously affect the operation of a controller. It has been found that under many circumstances the transportation lags can be so bad as to cause the controller to hunt seriously. Hunting can and in many cases does become so serious as to render automatic control impossible because of the surges it causes. While it is possible to compensate for this type of lag, this apparatus does not lend itself readily to accomplish the required compensation. Further, if there are groups of bins at various distances from the ball mill, compensation for one may not be sufficient or may be too great for another. Each milling plant presents a separate problem. The apparatus as presently described does not appear sufficiently flexible to accomplish this. It should be noted that the load on the classifier rakes is determined by measuring the current input to the rake drive motor. Variations in line voltage will

Jan 1, 1951

F. E. Bachman, Port Henry, N. T. (communication to the Secretary*):—In discussing Mr. o.o.Laudig's paper, the Action of Blast-Furnace Gases Upon Various Iron-Ores,' I took the ground that Mesabi-ore explosions were entirely mechanical; but more observation and later experience has caused me to

Jan 1, 1905

By M. D. Hassialis

THE object of a technical paper is to communicate new technical knowledge, the paper being the vehicle of communication and the existence of new knowledge its reason for being. It follows that the development of information worthy of communication, the criterion being novelty, is prerequisite to exercising the privilege of communication. The act of communication is achieved when the reader perceives the nature of the new knowledge, i.e., when he understands it. A paper achieving this objective is an acceptable technical paper. Development of new knowledge has as one of its purposes the increase of the existing state of knowledge and the enjoyment of the benefits derived therefrom. Technical knowledge is a collection of facts so ordered as to make apparent, relations existing between the facts. When the interrelations have been exposed the facts have been interpreted or explained Three broad, overlapping categories of technical papers may be recognized: papers consisting of (a) a report of facts, (b) an explanation of facts, or (c) a combination of a report and an interpretation. Ideally a technical paper should belong to one of the last two categories but current practice is to accept papers belonging to any of the three categories. Based on a small sample drawn from the scientific and engineering literature, the relative frequency of the three types is a: b: c:: 20:1:14. If the sample be limited to engineering literature, the ratios become a:c::2:1; type (b) being nonexistent. This large departure from the ideal is a consequent of the

Jan 1, 1948

By NORMA D. MACFADDEN

WHILE the library work of the Woman's Auxiliary to the A. I. M. E. was founded three years after the formation of the Auxiliary, its present policy of establishing permanent libraries in mining camps throughout the United States dates only from 1924. Since then sixteen libraries have been established and thousands of books have found their way to homes of far-away miners, bringing pleasure and knowledge to a multitude of Americans and future citizens. Library work was initiated under the presidency of Mrs. H. W. Hardinge in 1922 and firmly established with her aid as one of the main activities of the Auxiliary. The first chairman served but a short time and Mrs. A. O. Ihlseng then took over the work of chairman of the Library Committee. To place the surplus books of Auxiliary members and their friends in use in mining camps was the immediate work of the committee. This was accomplished by placing a traveling library in the Bureau of Mines' cars and also by sending books for distribution to section chair- men in our larger mining camps.

Jan 1, 1929

By T. H. Watkins

COAL is the basis upon which the activities of the industrial nations of the world rest today. In order that the coal industry may bee restored to a reasonably healthy condition, it is essential that both the operator and the miner should understand that they are directly concerned and that their selfish interests demand that they take an active, intelligent, self-sacrificing view of the entire situation and do their part in restoring and repairing the economic structure. Foreign credits, foreign debts, unstable exchanges, destroyed markets, and inability through lack of credit to carry on as before, all require our attention and cooperation. DEEP CONCERN AS TO FUTURE There is deep concern as to the future and a realiza-tion on the part of some of these leaders of industry that they will have to sacrifice their personal time, away from their desks and the details of business, in order to cooperate with other groups in studying the situation and endeavoring to find the best method of utilizing their knowledge in improving conditions and averting further disaster. It is most unfortunate for the country and for labor itself that the labor chiefs are blind to these necessities, and hostile to every effort to secure their cooperation in rebuilding prosperity.

Jan 2, 1922

By Charles H. Fulton

THE Engineering Education group began its sessions Tuesday morning, Feb. 16, as a Committee and wound up the day as the Institute's fifth " Division." C.II. Fulton presided. The first paper for discussion was entitled "Teaching Management in Engineering Schools,"' by Eugene McAuliffe, president of the Union Pacific Coal Co., space for which may be found later in these pages. In it, Mr. McAuliffe argued that an engineering student should be taught the knowledge of men, much as a medical school teaches surgery. He then went on to indicate, out of the wealth of his administrative experience, the problems an executive needs to be equipped to handle, and said that every student engineer should look on himself as a potential manager.

Jan 1, 1932

By William F. Boericke

THERE was a time when the selection of fire brick was .left to the judgment of the head bricklayer of the plant, whose choice was not unaffected by a box of Christmas cigars from a friendly salesman. But the days are past when it was generally believed, with complacent philosophy, that bricks were bricks without much distinction, and should be bought on a price basis alone. Gone, too, is the belief that in certain types of industrial work the eventual failure of refractories was assured. Modern metallurgical practice, with its trend toward handling larger tonnages at higher temperatures, demands the use of refractories that cannot be supplied by random guess. The logical development is to inquire into the properties of the brick to be purchased, and this resolves itself into the use of specifications. In 1925, the General Refractories Co., with the active support and hearty cooperation of some of its larger customers, established a laboratory, at its Baltimore plant, for testing and research in refractories. This was the outgrowth of a growing appreciation of the value of research in the refractory field. Since then the work has become more involved' and the aims more ambitious, so that the present laboratory now employs a staff of 11 men working, under the direction of trained refractory technologists, on problems of research as well as the routine control of manufacture. It is believed s that `this type of laboratory is a comparative novelty among refractory manufacturing plants. It handles the testing and research work for all the 15 plants of the organization. Being at one of the works has the advantage of making it possible to carry on large scale plant tests on new products after the preliminary laboratory tests have been successfully completed.

Jan 1, 1929

By George B. Langford

ON THE QUESTION of postwar controls there are today three schools of though ; some advocate state control of everything the socialists ; second are those who advocate the removal of all governmental control over industry - the freedom of enterprise ideal ; and third are those who advocate a middle course - sufficient control to stabilize economic and industrial life, and to prevent violent fluctuations such as we saw in the interwar years. I advocate this third course. I firmly believe un free enterprise, but not in freedom of enterprise, or laissez faire, and there is a great and significant difference between these two.

Jan 1, 1944

By James Gayley

The development of blast-furnace practice in America in the direction of large yields is mainly the history of our working since the year 1880, as the advancement that has been made in the last decade is greater than that in the third of a century previous. A new era in the manufactnre of pig-iron began in 1880 with the putting in blast of the Edgar Thomson furnaces. These furnaces at once leaped to the front as pig-iron producers, and have maintained that position—with but one brief interruption—ever since. I shall, therefore, confine myself mainly to a description of these works, showing the changes in design and practice by which these results have been achieved. In order to show more clearly the progress that has been made since 1880, I shall refer briefly to the best work that was done in the ten years previous to that time. The Struthers furnace, in Ohio, was one of the first to attract attention in the matter of large outputs. This furnace was 55 feet high, 16 feet in diameter of bosh, 9 feet in the hearth, and about 8 feet 6 inches at the stock-line. The fuel was raw coal. This furnace, in December, 1871, made 1602

Jan 1, 1891

By A. J. R. Curtis

THE Portland Cement Association was organized more than a third of a century ago by a group of cement manufacturers, to do cooperatively the educational and research work needed to ensure proper use of their product. Specifically, the Association has a threefold purpose: (1) to search out facts to ensure the best possible service from concrete; (2) to give the widest possible circulation to facts affecting the use of concrete; (3) to urge practical application of those facts on actual building projects. An organization of technically trained men conducts many research projects in the Association laboratories, interprets their findings and applies them practically in the field. The net effect of this work has been to improve the design and prolong the life of roads, bridges, industrial, commercial and public buildings, homes, farm structures and concrete products. The results of this technical research and experimentation are made available to the entire construction industry through bulletins and reports. Information is also released to the general public through newspapers, magazines and Association publications. In addition to a1 technical staff in the general office in Chicago, the Association has district offices in 22 cities. Field engineers cover 37 states, the District of Colum-bia and British Columbia, to give service to users of Portland cement.

Jan 1, 1937

D EC. 20-The spirit of Christmas and good will toward men has managed a few brief appearances on the front pages, welcome relief from man's usual ill-will toward man. A couple politicos did their best to brighten the scene by well-publicized romances. There was a general exodus to Florida to patch up nervous systems, and even the UNO quieted down as Mr. Vyshinsky departed for home via Eastern Germany. Before going he opened up a preliminary bombardment for the worldwide "communist peace offensive," and it is now the duty of the 600 million (according to the Cominform) ideological converts to press home the attack. In Washington, Mr. Lilienthal resigned as Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission and demonstrated again the difficulty of government to retain the services of capable men. The President has yet to appoint another victim- possibly someone nicely noncontroversial and timid. So might the critics be appeased, but it would bode ill for the rapid exploitation of peaceful uses of atomic energy, the relaxation of excessive secrecy, wider sharing of developmental work with friendly nations and possible revision of the Acheson-Lilienthal proposals for inter- national control of the atomic bomb.

Jan 1, 1950

By E. G. Bailey

PLANTS that normally burn coal now able too obtain a substantial increase over their normal supply for their greater power needs, and also additional tonnage for extra storage against the uncertainties of the future. Many plants previously burning oil or gas have already been converted to coal, and those which must yet change to coal will undoubtedly be able to obtain ample tonnage of coal of standard quality at reasonable prices. What a contrast this is to the conditions of 25 years ago, when the shortage of coal and transportation led to prices of $5 to $6 per ton at the mines, and degradation of quality, until the already overburdened railroads were called upon to haul 100,000 ton per day of extra ash alone. This was the result of a runaway market and the loading of gob, slate, and sub-quality coal amounting to an estimated increase in ash of 5 per cent of the total tonnage hauled. The problem of getting increased steam output from inferior coal caused unbelievable reductions in the low normal boiler efficiency of that time and untold labor in firing the hand- and stoker-fed furnaces of that day.

Jan 1, 1942

By B. J. Kochanowsky

To improve blasting methods it is necessary to know how the explosive force acts and how rock resists this force. Because of the tremendous power developed within milliseconds and the great number of other factors directly affecting the technical and economic results, an analysis of the fundamentals of blasting theory is difficult. But since the rules used for layout design and for calculations of size of explosive charges are based on theoretical assumptions, complete knowledge of blasting theory has great practical importance in mining. Analysis of Blasting Theory: It is interesting to note the opinion of blasting experts with respect to contemporary blasting theories. F. Stussi,' Professor of the University of Zurich, stated: "We do not have enough experience yet to change our army engineering regulations in blasting and base it on new fundamentals. It is our duty to collect more practical data and to do more research in blasting to close this gap." K. H. Fraenkel,' editor of the Manual on Rock Blasting published in 1953 in Sweden and written by well-known Swedish, German, Swiss, and French blasting and explosive experts, said: "To the best of our knowledge no suitable formulas for civil blasting work are to be found in the American, French or German literature."

Sep 1, 1955

By Cadwallader Evans

MY endeavor in this paper will be to tell something of the accomplishments and current problems of the anthracite producer and to suggest some of the avenues for technical development that seem to me to be the most necessary and likely to bear fruitful results. The several subjects, that I find of most interest will be taken up individually with brief reference to the future trend. Underground Mining and Loading ?In this field great progress has been made in the last twenty years, beginning with the introduction of the scraper system. The electrical hoists for the operation of scrapers have been improved, and give little trouble, but there is an open field for the improvement of the auxiliary apparatus, particularly in the application of roller-hearing sheaves to the guiding of scraper ropes. Also notable in the last six or seven years is the introduction of shaker chutes, so that far more anthracite is now loaded over them than by scrapers. This trend should continue to be manifest, particularly if those who are looking ahead and who are charged with the development of this specialty continue constantly to study and improve the mechanical design of their shakers.

Jan 1, 1938

By W. R. Ingalls

THE main objective of everybody, individually and collectively as the people of nations, is to earn their living and improve the scale thereof as much and as rapidly as possible. We are able to earn" our living only by working and producing. We I are able to rise to higher standards of comfort only by increasing our production of goods, or diminishing the waste of those that we do produce, or both. This statement is trite. It is equally trite to dwell upon the importance of increased production to be derived from increased efficiency of labor and improved manage-ment; and the good results that would accrue to every-body if employers and employees would work together to secure the maximum of production at the minimum of cost. All of this is nothing more than platitude, to which every intelligent person subscribes in the abstract; but what concerns us especially, and what is neither so easy nor so understandable, is to translate the expres-sion of the abstract principle into formulas for action. The national net income obviously may be increased in two ways, or by both together. One is to diminish the waste of the goods that we already have made available. The other is to increase the supply of goods. .Increasing the supply of goods may involve the elimina-tion of waste, but a distinction is to be drawn between the waste of things that we have and the failure to obtain those that we might have. If we limit the term "waste" to the careless and profligate use of the materials that have come into our possession, together with the absorption of labor in doing obviously unnecessary things; and if we character-ize by the term "inefficiency" the failure to accomplish in our industrial operations the best of which we are capable, we shall create a distinction that will be pro-motive of clear thinking. In this paper I am going to deal with inefficiency, not waste, observing the distinc-tion, arbitrary if you please, that I have made. Without any doubt the greatest inefficiency that exists in our economic affairs is that which causes hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of men to be idle a good deal of the time. The major reasons for such idleness are two-fold. One of them is the conse-quence of what for convenience may be called business cycles, although I do not hold to the hypothesis of business cycles as it is now being rather widely expounded. That hypothesis involves the idea of rhyth-mic undulations due to causes unknown, but which it is hoped may be ascertained. The movement of busi-ness in waves up and down is undeniable, but that there are recurrences of cycles every so often is purely imag-inary, I think. It is unnecessary-to digress into that subject. The extents of the rises and falls above and below a median line undoubtedly is less than is commonly supposed.

Jan 3, 1922

By C. H. G. Bushell, M. Malnarich

Reagent control in flotation is more an art than a science. Operators vary the amount of re- agents used according to the metallurgy obtained. The amount of collector may be increased, for example, if tailings losses are high and decreased if concentrate grades are low. Often control decisions are based on only one assay, such as the tailings analysis by microscopic or quick assaying techniques. This method of control has given reasonably satisfactory results but is clearly far from perfect. No adjustment in reagent addition can be made until information is received that metallurgy has deteriorated, that is, until the optimum time for adjustment has already passed. The first adjustment probably will be an overcorrection or an undercorrection, and time will be required to establish the best new addition rates. The seriousness of the problem depends on variability of the ore. In ore of continually shifting composition and complexity, mill results will shift back and forth from excessively high concentrate grades and high tailings losses to excessively low concentrate grades and low tailings losses. Economic incentive for improved control also increases with increasing size of mill. Even a small improvement in percentage recovery in a large mill pays for expensive control equipment.

Jul 1, 1956

By W. W. Duecker

SULPHUR is a peculiar combination of a nuisance and a useful element. Most of the nonferrous metallic ores contain large amounts of it in the form of sulphides, which the metallurgist has wasted up the chimney, since the sulphur dioxide formed is generally too dilute to make recovery economical and practical. Iron ore does not contain much of the unwanted sulphur; in pig iron and coke it is most unwelcome. Gold metallurgists can get along nicely without sulphides in their cyanide plants and yet they find matte-a sulphur compound -an excellent collector for gold and silver in base-metal smelting. Also, sulphur appears in the non-metallics as in barite, gypsum, Glauber's salt, and celestite, all to useful purpose.

Jan 1, 1938