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By Orson Cutler Shepard

RECENT research work in the flotation concentration of minerals has been concerned mainly with flotation reagents and the mechanism by which collecting reagents are held to the surface of certain mineral particles. The fundamental question of why air bubbles cling to properly prepared mineral surfaces is usually dismissed with the statement that the surface is air-avid or water-repellent. In my article in MINING AND METALLURGY for June, 1932, I showed theoretically that surface tension relationships govern bubble attachment in Rotation. This explanation has not been accepted by many; probably be¬cause the difficulty of measuring solid-solution surface tensions prevented obtaining experimental evidence. If the surface tensions involved in the system [solution, mineral, air bubble] are responsible for attachment of the air bubble to the mineral, any change in the surface tensions should cause a corresponding change in the attachment of the air bubble. An example in which the mineral-solution surface tension could be varied was found with mercury. When mercury is in contact with solutions of certain electrolytes the surface tension at the contact of mercury and solution can be altered by electrical polarization of the mercury. The surface tension rises to a maximum as the mercury is given an increasing negative potential and then decreases with further increase in potential. The theoretical relation between the surface tensions and the attachment of an air bubble is given by the following equation:

Jan 1, 1936

By M. G. Schuerger, D. W. Park

An improved gage for monitoring fractures in underground openings was successfully developed using the reflection photoelastic technique. The gage may be used to detect crack initiation in mine openings or tunnels so reme¬dial action may be taken to prevent further deterioration. Fringes concentrated around the cracks were spread by using rubber backing. Crack growth as little as 76µm (0.003 in.) up to as much as a 2.54-mm (0.1-in.) width were detect¬ed in this study. Variation of gage materials will provide alternative ranges. The feasibility of the method was tested and calibration was made in a laboratory study. Field study successfully demonstrated the capability of applications in detecting mine roof crack development.

Jan 1, 1984

By Dix, E. H.

THE percentage of manganese used in commercial aluminum alloys is small, and yet this element is an important addition to some very valuable alloys. When used alone with commercial aluminum containing iron and silicon as impurities, the usual percentage in wrought materials is from 1 to 1.5 per cent., whereas castings may contain as much as 2 per cent. An aluminum-manganese alloy containing nominally 1.25 per cent. manganese is much used in sheet form for the manufacture of cooking utensils and other articles requiring a little greater strength and hardness than could be obtained with commercially pure aluminum. It is also used for various purposes in the form of rods, tubes and pipes. The aluminum-manganese alloys, both wrought 'and cast, offer excellent resistance to many kinds of corrosion attack. The U. S. Naval Gun Factory uses an aluminum alloy containing from 1 to 2 per cent. each of copper and manganese, for both castings and forgings. Manganese is also used, up to about 1 per cent., as a minor alloying .element in several of the strong aluminum alloys of the duralumin type. It is felt that the role of this element when thus used has not been fully understood, but it is believed that the results obtained in this investigation will throw additional light on the subject. The earlier work on the system aluminum-manganese was general in nature, and no detailed investigations of the relations existent in the useful aluminum-rich alloys have been reported. Guilletl1in 1902 surveyed the system, and Hendrichs2 in 1908 published an equilibrium diagram which, although based on .few data, is often used in the literature. Fragmentary work has also been done by other investigators."

Jan 1, 1927

By L. L. Oriard

INTRODUCTION In order to make effective plans for the control of blasting effects, it is necessary to understand a few basic principles relating to the behavior of explosives. For the purposes of discussing this behavior, it is convenient to divide blasting effects into two zones. The first zone is the non-elastic zone in close proximity to the explosive charge where rupturing of the rock occurs. For this zone, our discussion will be oriented towards the factors which affect the rock breakage, and the means of controlling the limits of this breakage. The second zone is that zone more remote from the charge location where elastic vibrations are transmitted through the surrounding medium. In this zone, we are interested in the factors affecting vibration intensity, and the means of controlling the intensity so that no damage is done to structures, utilities, or excavated slopes. It has been easier to gather data in the elastic zone, because the stress levels are lower and time durations are longer. The instrumentation for obtaining data in this zone can be less rugged and less sophisticated. Consequently, more information of ad empirical nature has been gathered. In the non-elastic zone, there has been more dependence on theory, fewer measurements, and more questioning of the validity of the measurements. In spite of these questions, there has been an encouraging advancement in knowledge in recent years, both theoretical and empirical, of the effects that take place close to the source of an explosion. When discussing the problems encountered in rock excavation, we can simplify the terminology by referring to the physical phenomena encountered in the non-elastic zone as a problem in "over-break". The phenomena in the elastic zone could be called "vibration effects". Although there is some interdependence between the two, it is possible to control the rock breakage to neat surfaces and still have very high vibration levels. Similarly, it is possible to control the vibrations to moderate levels and still have a great deal of overbreak. THE ROCK BREAKAGE ZONE First, let us discuss the effects in that zone close to the blast source that we might call the non-elastic zone. This is the zone of cratering, breakage, rupturing, and fracturing. These effects will vary with the site conditions, and a meaningful, specific analysis could

Jan 1, 1972

By Thomas F. Bates

ANALYSIS of the chemical and structural differences in minerals often results in a better understanding of the differences in the geological conditions under which they were formed. The minerals in the kaolinite group differ in the amount of interlayer water and in the nature and amount of ordered and/or random shifting of each 1:1 layer with respect to those above and below it. This paper is a progress report resulting from research on the morphology, structure, and origin of fine-grained minerals, supported by Contract N6onr26914 with the Geophysics Branch of the Office of Naval Research. The purpose of the paper is to present data obtained in the laboratories at The Pennsylvania State College and elsewhere, which reveal some of the details of structure of the minerals in the kaolinite group, and to suggest a number of interpretations that bear upon the conditions of origin of these minerals. Be¬cause most of the work in this investigation thus far has been concerned with the relationships of kaolinite, halloysite (4H2O; endellite), and halloysite (2H2O), must of the discussion deals with these members of the group. The first step in the analysis of the differences in two sets of geological conditions is an evaluation of the differences in the minerals that result. Thus the chemical differences between the montmorillonite and the kaolinite clays corroborate other evidence in support of the view that the montmorillonites are commonly formed when solutions are alkaline and leaching poor, while kaolinite usually is associated with acid solutions and good drainage condi¬tions. It is obvious that the greater the differences in the minerals, the more divergent may be the conditions that give rise to them and the more readily one condition can be distinguished from the other. In the kaolinite group, differences between individual members are small, therefore the differences in condition of origin are presumably subtle and difficult to define. At the same time, the very fact that the minerals differ only slightly makes them more sensitive indicators of the exact conditions under which they and the minerals associated with them were formed. Since clay minerals are being used more and more to evaluate the nature, value, and mode of formation of economic mineral deposits, an attempt to define these subtle differences would appear worth while. For purposes of the present discussion, the minerals nacrite, dickite, kaolinite, the so-called "fireclay mineral," halloysite (4H2O), halloysite

Jan 1, 1952

By Carl F. Floe, Hung Liang, Michael B. Bever

DATA on the solubility of hydrogen in iron-silicon alloys are of practical interest, as hydrogen causes gas unsoundness and embrittlement in iron and steel and is also a factor in the metallurgy of cast iron. Zapffe and Sims1 have recently demonstrated that in deoxidized iron and steel castings gassiness and bleeding are primarily functions of the hydrogen content of the liquid metal. These authors also suggested convincingly that ordinary melting and casting practice provides several sources of hydrogen for absorption by the metal. Norbury and Morgan,2 and Boyles3 have shown that dissolved hydrogen affects the graphitization of cast iron. Schneble and Chipman4 included in a study of the effects of superheating on the properties of cast iron an investigation of the part played by hydrogen. Schwartz, Guiler and Barnett6 investigated the significance of hydrogen in the metallurgy of malleable cast iron. A complete interpretation of investigations of this kind calls for equilibrium values of the solubility of hydrogen in the liquid and solid phases. From the theoretical standpoint, the solubility of gases, especially hydrogen, may reveal some aspects of the nature of liquid metallic solutions. This was implied in the early work of Sieverts6 on the effect of alloying additions on the solubility of hydrogen in copper. Recent work by Bever and Floe7 has shown that in liquid copper-tin alloys the solubility of hydrogen changes abruptly at the composition of the intermetallic compound Cu3Sn. It is of considerable interest to determine whether liquid alloys of iron also have compositions at which the solubility of hydrogen exhibits a discontinuous or otherwise unique behavior. Among the various alloys of iron the iron-silicon system is important because of the presence of silicon in various structural alloy steels, transformer sheets, cast irons and special acid-resisting castings. The various grades of ferrosilicon, finally, cover almost the entire remainder of the composition range. Published information on the solubility of hydrogen in iron-silicon alloys is meager. The first values for pure liquid - iron were reported in 1910-1911 by Sieverts and Krumbhaar8 and by Sieverts.9 They found that 100 grams of iron absorbs 28 C.C. of hydrogen at 1550°C. and one atmosphere pressure, and 31 C.C. at 1650°C. In 1938 Sieverts, Zapf and Moritz10 published a value of 26.3 c.c. at 1550°C. Data on the solubility of hydrogen in liquid iron-silicon alloys and in liquid silicon

Jan 1, 1946

By D. W. Philips

THE problem of strata control has of necessity been prominent in mining, and accounts of individual experience and research abound in the literature of most mining countries. Organized research began in Britain by the formation of a committee, upon the recommendation of the Safety in Mines Research Board in 1923, to investigate methods of reducing accidents from falls of roof in coal mines. This committee examined current practice in supporting underground workings in the principal coal fields, and its findings have been published in the Board's publications. Toward the end of these investigations it was suggested by the Chief Inspector of Mines that committees of the several mining institutes be formed to examine the problem in their respective districts. The formation of these committees marked a new phase in research on strata control. The work, though being done in the separate coal fields, followed a scheme outlined by the Chief Mining Engineer of the Research Board, and was coordi¬nated by his office. FACTORS INVOLVED The subject is being considered in Britain from two aspects: I. To provide, by supports, means to prevent falls of fractured ground. 2. To develop methods whereby the strata can be maintained in the least broken condition and thus make falls less likely. The first aspect is the one that will most likely lead to immediate results from the accident standpoint. It depends largely upon the assimilation of already acquired knowledge regarding the proper¬ties of supports and their correct applica¬tion. The second aspect is perhaps more fundamental, and involves also the proper¬ties of the strata and their behavior under the influence of the forces induced by mining. The problem involves many natural factors that cannot be controlled, such as depth, inclination and thickness of seam and nature of the rocks. Other factors, which may be considered to a certain extent controllable, cannot be varied readily and with sufficient fre¬quency to facilitate easy investigation; some of these are: rate of advance of the working face, length of face, direction of the face with regard to cleat and inclination, system and arrangements of rock packing behind longwall faces. In any given case the very many factors present have a mutual influence upon the effects produced in the mine. For example, a study of the effects of rate of advance cannot be done without considering the effects of other factors such as nature of strata, direction of face and quality and arrangement of supports. Conversely, the length and direction of a working face

Jan 1, 1946

By Truman H. Aldrich

The red, or fossiliferous, ore is found in the Clinton group of the Silurian formation. This group is from 100 to 500 ft. thick in Alabama, and its outcrops have been mapped by the State or the U. S. Geological Survey. In some places, it is entirely missing (doubtless islands in the Silurian Sea). In Etowah County, in part of Greasy Cove and vicinity, the upper seam is a coral reef impregnated with the red ore; in this same county, step faults bring up the ore in three or four practically parallel ridges. In Blount County and on Raccoon Mountain, the ore runs under the carboniferous rocks and outcrops in the valleys. When examining the logs of holes drilled for oil, wherever the drill has gone deep enough, the writer has found the Clinton group underlying the Warrior coal field. The following records of holes drilled primarily for oil, given in Bull. No. 22, Geological Survey of Alabama, show the presence of either ore or red rock, and suggest vast resources yet to be outlined and developed for ore in the future. The locations are given by number on the map. Hole No. 1 was drilled 6 miles southeast of Russellville, Franklin County, by the Woodward Oil & Gas Co. It passed through 160 ft. of the Clinton, but only a small show of red ore was found at 1280-1400 ft. A test well, No. 2, drilled near Atwood, Franklin County, in sectioil 26, township 8, range 14, penetrated the Clinton at 1608 ft. and found 38 ft. of limy red rock, also 8 ft. of some blood red ending at 1820 ft., making 46 ft. of red rock in all. It is reported that some good ore was cut through but this work was done by a churn drill. At least 400 ft. of the formation was classified as Clinton. Well NO. 3, called Frankford Well, was bored by S. A. Hobson and associates in the northwest quarter of section 7, township 6, range 12, Franklin County. At 927 ft., it is supposed to have entered the Clinton; the log is as follows: Ft. Sandy limestone with reddish, high ferruginous argillaceous inclusions 10 Same growing more ferruginous................................ 18 Hematitic limestone......................................... 30 Same with slightly less iron.................................... 23 81

Jan 1, 1925

By F. S. Sinnatt

This paper is the outcome of an extended investigation carried out in association with Dr. L. Slater. The inquiry had been continued in various directions and a number of results are quoted from an investigation recently completed by S. H. Jenkins. In projecting the work some five years ago, the author had in view a general attack on the problem of the spontaneous combustion of coal from an angle that had received little attention. The basic idea was to obtain a "slow motion study" of the active combustion of coal. This included an examination of the conditions prevailing in a mass of coal at the moment when active combustion ceases. It was thought that, if the factors governing the extinction of combustion in coal could be definitely established, it might offer an explanation of the manner in which the spontaneous combustion of coal originates. The inquiry arose from a detailed study of the properties of fusain that the author began in 1918. Fusain seemed to possess characteristics quite distinct from the coal with which it was associated, for if it were collected into a heap and one portion were heated by a small flame the combustion would traverse the whole mass. This combustion was not accompanied by smoke and passed slowly through the heap of material. Later, it was found that coals, including anthracites, would behave in a similar manner provided they were in the form of powder and that the particles were smaller than a certain size. The limiting size of particles is a definite characteristic of the coals investigated. In view of the fact that fusain exists with coal in a state that enables it to undergo this particular form of combustion, it must be assumed, sometimes, to play a definite part in the spontaneous combustion of coal in the goaf (waste). Tables 1 and 2 contain the analyses of samples of dust collected from a mine and from a dust collector. Some idea of the degree of fineness of the particles of fusain may be obtained from a study of the analyses of the dust from the dust collector; 80 per cent. of the dust would pass through a 200-mesh screen while the fusain was concentrated in the finest dust. The material that passed through a 90-mesh screen contained 54 per cent. of fusain while that between a 30- and a 90-mesh only con-

Jan 1, 1925

By M. R. Geer, Franklin T. Davis, H. F. Yancey

COKE with low phosphorus content is required by some of the electrometallurgical and chemical plants recently attracted to the Pacific Northwest by the hydroelectric power available from Bonneville and Grand Coulee dams. Shipping such coke into the area from eastern points involves a high freight charge, and during wartime consumes precious rail and ship-bottom space, so it is highly desirable to produce coke from the coking coals of Washington to meet the requirements of these industries. Although coke has been made from Washington coals since 1884, little has been known about their phosphorus contents or about the extent to which phosphorus could be reduced by cleaning. An investigation was undertaken, therefore, to determine the manner in which phosphorus occurs in the coking coals of Washington and its amenability to removal by ordinary coal-washing methods. PREVIOUS WORK Phosphorus is a deleterious element in coke used for numerous metallurgical processes, including the production of pig iron, yet comparatively little published information is available on the occurrence and elimination of phosphorus in any of the coals of this country. A variation from 0.009 to 0.062 per cent phosphorus in various horizons of the Pittsburgh bed in the Connellsville region of Pennsylania has been reported,1 and a reduction in phosphorus content from 0.020 per cent in the raw coal to 0.018 per cent in the washed coal was obtained in washing coal from the same bed in the Pittsburgh area;2 the latter figures represent average analyses for a year's operation of the washery on about 800,000 tons of coal. A reduction in phosphorus content from 0.018 to 0.011 per cent in washing coal from the Pittsburgh bed at another washery was observed, and the same report provides data on the phosphorus reduction obtained by separating 10 other coals on a bath of 1.35 specific gravity.3 European investigators have been especially active in correlating phosphorus content with petrographic analysis; fusain and durain generally contain the highest percentage of phosphorus, but this relationship is not universal.4 Some of these investigators have found that phosphorus is removed in the coal-washing process,5 but others have observed that the clean coal contained as much or even more phosphorus than the raw coal.6

Jan 1, 1944

By L. C. Snider

All important industries have certain basic principles in common which govern them and give them a family resemblance. In addition, each industry has a certain individuality due to some principle or principles which govern, or are accepted as governing, that industry and which is not effective in others. The customs and practices of an industry depend on these basic principles much as the corollaries follow a proposition in geometry. After the proposition is proved or is accepted as proved, the corollaries are seen to be true almost without additional evidence or proof. In many cases, the corollaries are more important in practical affairs than the proposition on which they depend. By continued application the corollaries may come to be accepted as law and the fact that their truth depends on the correctness of the fundamental proposition is forgotten or ignored. If it is discovered that an error was made in demonstrating the proposition and that the proposition is untrue, the corollaries are, in most cases at least, equally untrue. Considerable time may be required, however, to realize the fact that the corollaries have failed, particularly if they have been embodied in custom and law. For example, in the business of government the proposition that women are intellectually inferior to men was formerly considered, by most men at least, to be duly proved if not axiomatic. This propositiot was never embodied in law, but its corollaries—that the rights of the wife in property and even in her own children were inferior to the rights of the husband, and that women had no place in governmental affairs—were duly incorporated in law or so completely approved by custom that they had the effect of law. Developments of the past few decades have proved, to the satisfaction of the majority, that woman's intellectual inferiority to man had not been satisfactorily demonstrated, and that the proposition that she was inferior, although accepted for many generations, was untrue. It was not so great a shock to men to discover that this proposition was wrong as it was to find out that its corollaries were also untrue and that the laws embodying them were not good laws and were subject to repeal. The adjustments which give women equal rights with men

Jan 1, 1932

By N. H. Jensen, B. L. Sackett, Carlos Bardwell, Simon Jacobson

Lead smelting has been an important industry in Utah for many years. The first lead smelting was done, over 60 years ago, at the Rollins mine in Beaver County, by burning heaps consisting of alternate layers of wood and high-grade carbonate ore. The lead thus obtained was molded into bullets. With the development of the mines, the problem of cheaper handling of the ore became important. The only outlet for this ore was Swansea or the Atlantic Coast but to ship to either cost $150 per ton or more for treatment and handling. From 1864 to 1871, experimenting was done with blast, Scotch hearth, and reverberatory furnaces, with the blast furnace surviving as the standard plant. The first crude furnaces were circular or hexagonal in shape, and were made of adobe and stone, which quickly burned out. They were small, about 21/2 ft. in diameter, and smelted from 3 to 10 tons in 24 hr. The metal had to be tapped from the bottom of the crucible, necessitating a shut down of the furnace during this process. This procedure caused salamanders to form around the tap hole when the furnace was started again, which frequently resulted in freezing. The campaign lasted until a tap of bullion was made. The first successful plant of the crude stone type was operated in 1870. From 1870 to 1872, there was a smelter building craze in the state. During that period, about 20 furnaces were built, chiefly near the mines, and their operation was limited and sporadic. The work was then placed in the hands of trained metallurgists, who standardized on the rectangular form of furnace. In 1871, Daggett, at the Winnamuck mine in Bingham, installed water-jackets around the smelting zone of the furnaces. These furnaces were circular; the diameter at the tuyere line was 3 ft. 6 in. and at the charge floor 5 ft. 3 in. The height from tuyere line to charge floor was 14 ft., height of tuyere line above top of crucible was 3 ft. 8 in. Furnace capacity was about 14 tons per day, with a campaign of about 16 days. Cost of smelting was about $44 per ton. The ores making the

Jan 1, 1926

By Robley D. Evans, Gerald L. Schroeder

Advanced techniques for control of radon (Rn) daughter product concenrrations (working levels, WL) in the uranium mines are discussed. Understanding the physical laws which govern the flux of radon into a mine, the growth and decay of the radon daughters, and the particulate nature of the daughters when suspended in air allows ventilation personnel to improve the quality of mine air with no increase in ventilation rate. The task of controlling, in a mine atmosphere, the short-lived nuclides produced in the decay chain of radon is a unique problem and as such should be approached with ventilation techniques specific to the problem. For most mines this has not been the case. Rather, procedures for removing these airborne radioactive nuclides have been borrowed directly from ventilation experience in mines where dilution ventilation was the traditionally accepted approach for air purification. With radon daughter products, this has often led to frustrating difficulties and expense. Primary origin of the airborne radioactivity is the a-ray-emitting noble gas, radon (222Rn, Rn), a nuclide formed by the decay of radium (226Ra, Ra). Radon, being a gas, may escape from its parent crystal and diffuse through the parent mineral into the interstices of the rock body. In a sandstone structure, about 20% of all the radon formed may find its way into the interstices of the rock. If a cavity such as a mine is nearby, the radon may diffuse through the rock interstices into the mine. While radium is usually highly concentrated in uranium ores, it is also found in varying concentrations in all minerals. Radon is therefore present in all minerals. In normal glacial till, the equilibrium interstitial radon concentration often equals 5000 pCi (picocurie, also uuCi) Rn per liter of pore volume.' In normal granitic rocks, the interstitial radon concentration often approaches 30,000 pCi per 1. Considering these typical, high-radon concentrations, radioactivity from airborne of daughter products is a potential problem unique not only to the uranium mining industry and should be considered as a potential hazard in all underground environments.

Jan 1, 1970

By David T. Day

IN 1897 I published a proposed explanation t for the variation in color and specific gravity of Pennsylvania oils. A resume of this subject was also presented at the First International Petroleum Congress, in Paris, in 1900. Since that time much experimental work bearing upon this explanation has been carried on by myself, in the United States Geological Survey, and under my direction, by Dr. J. Elliott Gilpin, Marshall P. Cram, and 0. E. Bransky, at the Johns Hopkins University. The experimental results thus accumulated seem to throw considerable additional light upon the variations in color and specific gravity of petroleum, as found in different parts of the world, and also upon the variations in chemical composition. Therefore, it seems as if a, summary of the evidence thus obtained might be of value to those members of the Institute who are interested in the examination of oil-fields. The summary is here presented for that purpose. The phenomenon has often been observed in many oil-fields that oils of different color, specific gravity, and chemical composition may be found within short distances of each other. A conspicuous example of this is the occurrence at Jennings, Welsh, and Anse la Butte, La., of petroleum chemically somewhat similar to Russian petroleum; that is, characterized by the presence of naphthenes. Another characteristic is the presence of considerable percentages of asphaltic compounds, sufficient in quantity to disguise the presence of solid paraffin wax, and perhaps also to render that paraffin wax more soluble * Published by permission of the Director of the United States Geological Survey. 1 Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, vol. xxxvi., No. 154, pp. 112 to 115 (January, 1897).

Jun 1, 1910

By J. S. Levine

A series of four displacement experiments has been run in a large alundum core. Flow potential distribution in each liquid phase was measured continuously through oil-wet and water-wet capillary barriers, using a null-point pressure balance, and saturated distribution was determined from electrical resistivity measurements. A method has been devised for calculating the effective (and relative) permeability to each phase at any time and at any point in the flow system for the transient displacement process. Relative permeability points have been calculated and average curves drawn for oil displacing water and water displacing oil. The values of dynamic capillary pressure have also been determined. Data have been substituted into the generalized Buckley-Leverett fractional flow equation and a comparison between actual and theoretical breakthrough recoveries is shown. Displacement experiments have been performed in the laboratory for many years in an effort to determine the effect of a number of parameters on multiphase flow in porous materials. In the literature of petroleum technology, Wyckoff and Botset' were among the first to develop the relative permeability concept and to show experimentally that oil, gas, and water can flow simultaneously through a porous medium in a precise way governed by certain fluid properties, by the relative saturation of each fluid, and by characteristics of the medium itself. Somewhat later, Leverett2 and Hassler, Brunner, and Deahl11 developed some theoretical concepts of capillary behavior in porous materials. The work of Buckley and Leverett3 presented a theoretical analysis of immiscible liquid displacement based on the equation of continuity and the Darcy equation for viscous flow of each fluid. Subsequent investigators attempting to verify the Buckley-Leverett equation have, in general, deliberately neglected the capillary pressure term or have performed experiments in such a manner that it could be neglected. Terwilliger, et al4 in 1951, obtained agreement between theory and experiment for the constant rate displacement of water by gas in a long vertical sand column. Rapoport and Leas5 have investigated the

Jan 1, 1955

By Paul F. Gnirk

INTRODUCTION The notion of permanent disposal of high-level radioactive waste in natural salt formations was formally proposed in 1957 by the Committee on Waste Disposal of the National Academy of Sciences- National Research Council. This proposal was the result of the Committee's deliberations in response to a request from the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) in 1955 to assess the viability of geologic formations for such disposal. The research investigations for waste disposal in salt were initiated at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in the late 1950's and continued through the 1960's and early 1970's at a relatively modest level of funding. During the period of transfer of Federal Administrative authority from the AEC to the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) to the Department of Energy (DOE) during the latter part of the 197O’s, financial support for the research program was enhanced substantially. The program at OWL was regrouped under the Office of Waste Isolation (OWI) and later transferred to the Office of Nuclear Waste Isolation (ONWI) at Battelle Memorial Institute. With this enhancement in the research program, consideration of basalt, granite, shale, and tuff as repository host media was initiated. In February, 1980 the President of the United States established officially a comprehensive waste management program which called for the selection of the first repository site in 1985 from a suite of four or five potentially suitable sites, and initiation of a repository operation at that site in the mid-1990's. The current disposal system concept involves the emplacement of radioactive waste packages in mined disposal rooms at depth in suitable geologic formations, with closure of the facility effected

Jan 1, 1983

Discussion -of the paper of I. N. KNAPP, presented at the New York meeting, February, 1915, and printed in Bulletin No. 96, December, 1914, pp. 2783 to 2793. A. C. LANE, Tufts College, Mass.-Is there any noticeable effect in drilling against salt water? Mr. Knapp says that the mud settles very quickly when brine is added-. What is the effect when you strike a strong salt water ill boring? I. N. KNAPP.-You are supposed to have enough mud pressure in your well to keep the saltwater out. I have drilled against what I knew to be 80 ft. head of water, and hot water too at 99.5°; this water did not show until the well was bailed and the mud pressure reduced. HENRY Louis, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England (communication to the Secretary*).-Mr. Knapp may be interested to learn that the use of mud in drilling through porous strata is much older than lie appears to be aware of. It has been used notably by Honigmann for boring shafts in Holland and in some of the adjoining portions of Germany. At the Oranien Nassau colliery, shafts about 12 ft. in diameter and 425 ft. deep were sunk in. this way-namely, by boring with a rotary borer, a thick mud puddle being pumped into the shaft, so as to maintain a pressure in the shaft greater than the hydrostatic pressure in the surrounding loose sands and thus keeping the sides of the shaft from collapsing. He will find references to this method in Das Abbohren von Schächten; Handbuch der Ingenieurwissenshaften, p. 134, also in the Transactions of the Institution of Mining Engineers, vol. xiii (1896-97), p. 155. The process appears to have been employed even before 1895, though I cannot give the exact date when it was first used.

Jan 5, 1915

By G. H. Edmunds, C. H. Mathewson

About fifty pages of Henry M. Howe's profound treatise, "The Metallography of Steel and Cast Iron," are devoted to twinning with special reference to the origin, nature and general significance of the Neumann bands in ferrite. Howe believed with Osmond and Cartaud1 that the Neumanns are mechanical twins and his careful observations leave no doubt that these straight-sided narrow bands habitually occur parallel to trapezohedral planes of form {211). Attempts to develop the structure of the bands by various methods SO that their identity could be established beyond question have not been conspicuously successful. Howe thought that they deflected slip bands. Some of the etching figures which have been developed within and adjacent to Neumann bands support the contention that they are twins. A good example of this effect in ferrite containing 0.6 per cent, of niekel and 1.3 per cent. of phosphorus, originally due to Harnecker and Rassow,2 was reproduced in the 1928 lecture before the Institute of Metals Division on twinning in metals.3 In this case, the sides of the figures might represent the traces of cubic planes laid bare by etching a properly oriented grain of ferrite, twinned along a plane of form (211). Our own observations in this direction may be represented by Fig. 1 which shows in a deeply etched cavity in the boundary region between a Neumann band and the original crystal two small crystal surfaces which resemble the faces meeting at a reentrant angle in the simple cube twinned along a bisecting plane of form (211) as sketched in Fig. 2. Rosenhain and McMinn4 in 1925, after a careful study of slip bands in ferrite containing Neumanns previously produced by shock, concluded

By K. Unrug, G. Herget, A. Smith

SUMMARY Statistics on roof falls indicate that the cost of just removing the unwanted waste from roof falls in US coal mines amounts to about $20 M per year. Almost 40 percent of fatal accidents occur under permanently supported roofs, indicating that the assessment of roof stability is still a very difficult task. In an effort to obtain a better understanding of roof fall occurrences, rock strength and ground stresses were determined in the roof of one mine each in Western Kentucky, northern West Virginia, and Eastern Kentucky. Triaxial ground stress determinations clearly show that horizontal stresses were higher than vertical stresses, and that maximum stresses in the horizontal plane were concentrated between the NE-SW to E-W direction, with the exception of the Eastern Kentucky site which was above the drainage. Magnitudes of stress components may vary considerably in one drlll hole. Strength tests of roof strata materials were done on core samples. Mapping of roof falls showed that the geometry of an opening or maximum span were not the overruling factor because in the same general area, a roof fall was observed in a room (entry) which connected two stable four-way intersections. It should be noted that, in very wet areas, the roof can break up to the bed where water is carried, and a very low ratio between extent of roof fall to height of roof, fall is observed. Geometry is, however, a contributing factor because nearly 70 percent of roof falls are intersection falls. The frequency of fractures parallel to bedding in failed roof strata is much higher than that observed in the original strata, indicating a significant amount of working in the roof before failure.

Jan 1, 1984

By G. L. Oldright

THE development of the reverberatory furnace for smelting copper ores up to 1912 was described by E. P. Mathewson1 with details concerning the great changes in dimensions of the furnace. Hayward2 tabulated similar data, giving developments up to about 1924, in his revision of Hofman's Metallurgy of Copper. DEVELOPMENT OF PRESENT SMELTING PRACTICE Dimensions of Furnace Very great changes were made in the dimensions of the smelting hearths of the furnaces in the period from about 1800 to 1906, the length increasing from about 11 to 116 ft., and the width from 8 to 19 ft. During this time the tonnage smelted increased from about 9 to 250 tons per 24 hr., and the tons of charge smelted per ton of coal increased from 0.77 to 4.3. Dr. Mathewson3 noted no great difference in the "fuel ratio" (i. e., the amount of charge smelted per ton of coal) as the furnace at Anaconda was increased in length by stages from 85 to 116 ft. (The percentage of copper in the slag, however, was lowered from 0.42 to 0.36 per cent. The other components of the slag were not given.) Lump coal fired on grates was the fuel used during this period. The practice in operating the furnaces over such a length of time naturally varied considerably, and there were differences in composition and nature of the charge, yet it may be considered that the improvements made were due largely to increases in the size of the furnace used. Doubt-less some credit should be given to improvements in operating technique, like changes in the methods of firing the lump coal. However, the greater part of the advance was probably due to factors influencing the

Jan 1, 1928