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By O. C. Wheeler

In past years the exploration of the oil possibilities of Colombia has been confined to parts of three distinct physiographic provinces; namely, the coastal plains area near the Caribbean Sea, the Magdalena Valley and the upper reaches of the Maracaibo Basin near the Venezuelan border. During 1935, little exploratory work and no drilling was carried on on the coast, but there was considerable activity in the other two areas. In the Magdalena Valley, the Tropical Oil Co. continued its producing and development operations on the De Mares Concession. The Socony-Vacuum exercised the option it acquired in 1934 on Sr. Luciano Restrepo's concession adjacent to the Tropical property and north of the Sogamoso River. No wells have been started on the Socony's lands although, according to the terms of the lease, drilling must be started within the next two years. West of the Carare River and adjacent to the Tropical's southwestern boundary, the Sociedad Nacional del Carare denounced the lands formerly held by the Union Colombiana, whose lease automatically lapsed during the year owing to the company's failure to comply with its drilling obligations. In the same area, the concessions held by Callejas et al. and the Société Européene des Pétroles are also understood to have lapsed for the same reason. Holdings of other interests in the Magdalena Valley were inactive during the year. Near the upper part of the Maracaibo Basin, the Gulf, through its subsidiary the Colombian Petroleum Co., continued active exploration and development on its Barco concession. Colombian Petroleum Co.—The following information and that presented in the accompanying tables relating to the activities of the Colombian Petroleum Co. was supplied through the courtesy of Mr. E. S. Bleecker, chief geologist of that company. Four wells were completed during the year on the north Petrolea dome, where an attempt is being made to define the limits of the field. On the south end of the Petrolea anticline, one well, Petrolea No. 3, which might be classed as a wildcat, encountered a heavy flow of salt water immediately below the oil zone and had to be abandoned. A second location has been made 1 miles south of No. 3 and somewhat higher on

Jan 1, 1936

By Enrique Touceda

As in the case of steel and the non-ferrous alloys in general, the use of the microscope in connection with the manufacture of malleable cast iron has proved of inestimable value to the industry. Had its use not been invoked, many facts either would not be known at all or, if suspected, would be confined to the realms of conjecture. No fairer statement could be made than that the start of real progress in the industry was coincident with the application of metallography to the product, though the full significance of this statement can hardly be appreciated except by those who not only are conversant with conditions as they existed at the time referred to, but are familiar with the character of works' practice at the present time.. A few years ago, about the only test made to ascertain the physical properties of the product, except in the case of certain plants, was the bending of a casting to destruction, not only with the object of discovering whether or not the metal was ductile, but for the purpose of inspecting the fracture. The characteristics of the fracture, if correctly interpreted, were known to be of value in locating the trouble in castings that were inferior. In general, it was found that if a casting of medium or heavy section would bend through a wide angle before failure took place, the fracture in the majority of cases would have a black velvety appearance; while if it was held at different angles to the direction of the rays of light, it would show a change of color and an iridescent sheen. But an inferior air-furnace heat or anneal might yield castings which, if thin and consequently largely decarburized, could be bent double on themselves and still not possess the fracture described. If, on the other hand, a casting broke short, its fracture might have one of a great many different color and structural peculiarities. Depending on the cause of the trouble, such castings might have any of the fracture characteristics, of which the following is but a partial list.

Jan 1, 1922

By W. T. Ober

the hammering effect acts only to a point 3 in. back from the cutting edge, and the hardening heat extends back only 1 in. from the cutting edge. Then, as a steel is taken from the fire, the grain condition is as shown in Fig. I. After the forging operation has been performed the condition shown by Fig. 2 exists. The heating operation to harden the cutting edge produces the effect shown in Fig. 3. The questions that naturally arise are: Will the cost of the extra heat treatment necessary to change this condition (annealing) be more than the saving that may be effected in the drill steel or will the extra heating be an economical as well as a wise thing to do? Is this condition necessarily detrimental to the maximum service of the drill steel? Can this annealing action be obtained in the hardening heat by heating more of the bit, say at least 5 in., to the hardening temperature but quenching only the end of the bit by a shallow immersion? Short Rock-drill Steels Reclaimed by Welding By W. T. Ober, Lynn, Mass. Experimental tests by the Thompson Company have shown that short lengths of rock-drill steels may be reclaimed by electric butt welding. The drills used in the experiments were hollow drills l1/4-in. in diametcr containing 0.95 per cent. to 1.05 per cent. carbon. The ends to be joined must first be ground off fairly square and the greater part of the rust, scale, etc. removed for 3 or 4 in. back in order to insure good electrical contact with the dies of the welder and countersunk, with an 80° countersink, approximately 1/4 in. The steels are then clamped in the copper dies of the welder, so that a length projects from the inside edge of each pair of dies equivalent to from one-half to three-quarters the diameter of the drill. The drills should also be brought into accurate alignment. The first step is to bring the ends into close proximity and then close the primary circuit of the transformer, slowly bringing the steels together until their ends lightly touch, when they will "flash," that is, minute

Jan 1, 1922

By Joseph C. Kieffer

The Duquesne property of the Callahan Zinc-Lead Co. is about 20 miles east of Nogales, in southern Arizona. One mine is near the mill, but most of the mill feed is hauled in by truck from a number of small mines. The same sulphides are found in all the ores, in general, but the amounts vary considerably. All ores contain silver, copper, lead and zinc minerals but one mine ships ore high in silver and lead and low in copper and zinc; while another mine ships ore high in copper and zinc, and low in silver and lead. The common sulphides are galena, carrying most of the silver; chalcopyrite; sphalerite, carrying iron in solid solution; and pyrite, in a gangue consisting of limestone, quartz and garnet. Mineralization is fairly coarse. At the present grind of about 66 per cent minus 200 mesh most of the sulphides are liberated A small amount of chalcopyrite is locked up with the sphalerite and cannot be liberated at an economic grind, and the copper carried into the zinc concentrate with the sphalerite accounts for the comparatively poor recovery of copper in the copper-lead concentrate. Production oF Two Concentrates The milling problem, which was complicated by the extreme variation in the grade of the feed, was first attacked with the idea of producing a silver-copper-lead con- centrate and a zinc concentrate, both with satisfactory grades and recoveries. By February 1941, it was felt that these objectives had been attained, when the grades of the various products and the recoveries were as shown in Table I. A rough outline of the flowsheet and reagents used is as follows: Minus ¾-in. feed to a 7-ft. by 36-in. Hardinge ball mill working in closed circuit with a 36-in. Wemco classifier. The classifier overflow passes to the second cell of an 8-cell bank of No. 18 Special Denver Sub-A flotation machines (volume, 22.5 cu. ft. per cell). A rougher concentrate is removed from the second to the fifth cells inclusive, and returned to the first cell, which is the cleaner. A scavenger concentrate is removed from the sixth, seventh, and eighth cells, and returned to the third cell. Consump-

Jan 1, 1943

By Basil B. Zavoico

Production of crude oil in the U. S. S. R. during 1939 is estimated at, 226,111,000 bbl., as compared with 219,778,000 bbl. in 1938, an irlcreasc of 2.88 per cent but some 6.00 per cent under the planned output. During the past year a major readjustment took place in Russian oil fields, with the Grozny district falling into the third place, its former place having been taken by the fields of the Maikop-Kuban area of northwestern Caucasus. Production continued to grow in the Ural-Volg:t district and further large increases in this province in the coming years are certain. The drilling operations continued to be most unsatisfactory, falling far behind the plan, possibly as much as 25 per cent undvr the set objectives, and thereby interfering with the production plans, mora particularly since the Soviet oil industry is still based primarily upon the production from the naturally flowing wells without any proration whatsoever rather than upon stabilized production from either prorated oil wells or those operated with various mechanical lifts. The year 1939 started with the fulfillment of the drilling programs to the extent of about 90 per cent, but the situation rapidly deteriorated arid by the second half drilling programs were being fulfilled only to the extent of 60 per cent or less. Such breakdown in drilling operations was possibly due to poor equipment, which has not been able to stand increasing demands upon it, and this is substantiated by the rccent orders plaeed in the United States by the Soviet Government for some 60 drilling rigs of the latest design. Production Baku District.—-The fields of the Apshcbron Peninsula (Baku district) made a notable progrress during the past year and were able slightly to increase their production, to 166,000,000 bbt. as compared with 164,692,-000 bbl. during 1938. The c.rnphasis of production in the Baku district remained on the flowing wells, about 20 per cent of the total number of wells flowing about 70 per cent of production. During 1939 some 550 wells were complr.tcd in the Baku district with active rigs averaging

Jan 1, 1940

By D. J. Mottern, F. Wald

SEVERAL systems have been investigated by Bates, Wald, and weinstein&apos; to determine the compatibility of pure PbTe with various metals. This was accomplished by experimentally determining the direction of the reaction given by Eq. [I]: The direction of this reaction is very important if alloys of the PbTe system are to be used in thermoelectric generators because the presence of free lead in the matrix, followed by incipient melting in the vicinity of the hot junction, could cause a bonding failure. According to anssen,&apos; the Au-Te system contains only one stable compound, AuTez. The initial alloy which was reacted was therefore of the composition AuTez + 2Pb. Ten-gram samples of PbTe plus 1, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and 70 at. pct Au were encapsulated in carbon-coated quartz capsules in vacuo. All materials were of semiconductor (99.999+ pct) purity. Carbon coating was used to prevent reaction of the quartz with any of the alloying constituents (the solubility of carbon in the constituents of the alloys is negligible). Each capsule was then placed in a thermal analysis furnace, melted, and cooled through the transformation region. Thermal arrests were monitored on a strip chart recorder. Each sample was subsequently examined microscopically after standard grinding and polishing techniques were applied. For better contrast between the phases, the samples were etched in Murakami&apos;s etch; however, both phases could be identified without etching. Several of the samples were ground into powder, stress-relieved, and X-rayed in a Debye-Scherrer camera using nickel-filtered Cu-Ka radiation. The phase diagram shown in Fig. 1 indicates that the pseudobinary system exists as a simple eutectic with no measurable (<I pct) solid solubility at either limit. Figs. 2,3, and 4 are photomicrographs of the structures obtained with 20, 40, and 50 at. pct Au, respectively. At higher concentrations of gold (>40 pct) slight divorcement of the eutectic occurred, apparently due to a) the difference in density between gold and PbTe (19.6 and 8.25 g per cu cm, respectively) or b) the nonideality of the liquid as noted by the curvature of the liquidus lines. The eutectic temperature was determined to be 742° ± 5°C. The composition of the eutectic was determined by extrapola-

Jan 1, 1969

Lieut. Maxwell E. Erdory, now with the Army of Occupation in France, writes as follows: "The 602d Engrs., many of whose officers are members of the Institute, started its active service in France at Avocourt, where we built a road across `No Man&apos;s Land.&apos; This road from Avocourt to Montfaucon started us on a career of road building which lasted from Sept. 26 to Nov. 9. The engineer in war has no working hours. Our first job meant 50 hr. continuous work, a layoff of 4 hr. and 18 hr. more. That was our initiation in this war game. "Back in the States we practised building trenches, dugouts, and underground shelters of all sorts. In France we were unfortunate enough to come upon the scene when the so-called open warfare started. That made all the above unnecessary. Roads was the cry and our job was to see that all the artillery got their roads and got over them. "I might mention here that the roads of France, which were in excellent condition except for numerous shell holes, w re one of the leading factors in the rapid termination of the war. "We built a narrow-gage railroad from Romagne to Landre St. George which cost us a few men. At Stenay we did our first bridge building. We built nine bridges across the Meuse, capable of carrying tanks, in 18 hr. The next day the American army crossed these bridges on their way to Virton, Belgium, and the Rhine. " Our course from Virton, Belgium, took us through Longwy, Musson, and Athus, in which towns I inspected the steel plants. In Musson as well as Longwy the Germans had destroyed most of the blast furnaces. This destruction began in August, 1917. In Athus the furnaces were in good condition, the Germans having removed all motors land electrical apparatus, rendering the plant inoperative. I have taken several photos of interest of these plants. "It is but fitting that I say that the engineer in this war has contributed much toward its success but the "Doughboy" is its hero and we engineers one and all say "All hail the Doughboy."

Jan 2, 1919

By E. G. Woodruff

THE earlier struggles in petroleum geology were directed to solving the origin and method of accumulation of petroleum. We are now fairly well agreed on those subjects. Most of us think that the great mass of petroleum commercially produced comes from plants or animals, or possibly from both. We are confident that the oil was not produced where it is now found but has accumulated in reservoirs of various kinds. The types of reservoirs are certainly variable but they just as certainly follow definite geologic laws. Some of these types of reservoirs can be determined from surface study; others cannot. We know, too, that these types of reservoirs (largely structures such as anticlines, domes, and terraces) are much more widespread than the oil pools. In other words, there are many places where good sands and good structures exist but where oil is not found. It is the purpose of this paper, therefore; to attempt to analyze, from a regional standpoint, some of the conditions that control the presence or absence of oil pools and to group them in a regional way, hence the term "Petroliferous Provinces." The paper lays no claim to presenting new facts but attempts to group and classify the information that so many have expressed again and again. The essential factors for an oil field are petroleum, a reservoir material, and conditions under which the petroleum can enter the reservoir but cannot escape except through the drill holes. The paper will first discuss the source of petroleum as it occurs in definite regions, then the regional arrangement of reservoir strata, and finally the areal arrangement of structures. To have petroleum, there must be a source. Since living matter is considered the source of the petroleum, geological conditions must, have been such that living organisms were abundant. Arid regions on the earth&apos;s surface have not given rise to living things-in sufficient abundance to produce oil; similarly, too cold regions and saline inland lakes. The converse of this is that warm moist conditions must prevail to produce an abundance of vegetable matter. Before an area can be

Jan 6, 1919

By George W. Sheary

Situated 45 miles west of Philadelphia and 50 miles southwest of Bethlehem Steel Company&apos;s Bethlehem plant, the integrated Grace mine facilities produce 4000 tpd of high-quality iron ore pellets. Startup of the Grace mill was in November 1958, and iron concentrates were shipped until March 1960, when the pellet plant went into operation. The underground mine, when fully developed, will hoist about 9000 tpd, including development rock. The crude ore, which has an iron content of approximately 42%, is magnetically cobbed and crushed in closed circuit with 3/4-in. slotted vibrating screens. The ore is washed and screened in the mill and the plus 1/4 in. screen product is again cobbed prior to feeding to the rod mills. Grinding is done in rod mills, and in ball mills that are in closed circuit with 30 in, cyclones, to 1% on 100 mesh and 65% minus 325 mesh. The ground ore is magnetically concentrated by three-drum permanent type finisher magnets to 67% Fe. The magnetite concentrate is pumped from the mill to a 50 ft thickener in the pellet plant. The thickened magnetite concentrate is relayed to the filters through a two-stage pump arrangement. The filter cake is fed by belt from filter concentrate bins to mixer-muller belts where it is intimately mixed with bentonite and a slight amount of water for moisture control. The fluffed concentrate then drops into balling cones. The green pellets from the balling cones are fed in a prescribed feed pattern to shaft furnaces through the use of shuttle car mechanisms. The green pellets are dried, heated to 2500°F and cooled to 1200°F as they descend through the furnace and into pellet coolers where the pellets are further reduced in temperature to 250°F. Heat is recovered in the cooling process through the use of air-to-air heat exchangers. The cooled pellets discharge on a rubber conveyor belt and are transferred to 6000-ton pellet railroad loading bin. The final pellet product consists of 90% plus 1/4 in. material (after tumble testing1) and contains 66% Fe plus 3% silica.

Jan 5, 1962

By O. H. Hahn

I have lately had occasion to conduct a campaign at the works of the Empire City Company, in Railroad District, Elko County, Nevada, which, if not highly satisfactory, was at least very interesting in a technical point of view, and which I therefore think worthy of communication to the Institute. The lead ores in this district occur in lenticular masses along and near the contact of crystalline limestone with a dioritic porphyry, and consist of argentiferous carbonate of lead and galena, the latter occurring in solid blocks, or in ribbons running through the limestone. Associated with these are silicate, carbonate, and suboxide of copper, and brown and calc-spar. Adding to this, that the proportion of galena in the ore is small, and that no iron pyrites exists in the district, it is at once evident that the ore-mixture is difficult to treat. For a successful reduction by smelting, it would be necessary to introduce into the charge: 1. The proper quantities of sillphur-bearing ingredients, to effect a complete separation of copper and lead; and, 2. Sufficient silica and iron oxide, to form with the lime and magnesia of the ore, a slag of the required fluidity. The first condition could be fulfilled only very imperfectly, there being no iron pyrites in Railroad, nor in the surrounding districts. The nearest occurrence is in Battle Mountain, whence a supply could not be procured in time. The second condition, i. e., the addition of iron ore and quartz, was easily complied with, there being an abundance of these materials in the vicinity. The furnace of the Empire City Company, is a small shaftfurnace, with an area of hearth of six square feet, and is supplied with blast by a NO. 4 Root blower. In spite of this small size the furnace smelted during this campaign, which lasted 31 days, an average of 28 tons of ore, and 13 tons of fluxes, together 41 tons of charge, per twenty-four hours. The following tables give the complete data in regard to the smelting process, and the results obtained:

By Olin G. Bell

The year 1934 in Southwest Texas was marked by aggressive development and exploratory work and resulted in the finding of five new fields and a new producing horizon in one of the older fields. This activity is the result of a reasonable market outlet for production, on both oil and gas, and the fact that drilling and operating costs are reasonable and that possibilities of finding new productive areas are rather high. A large part of the area is prospective and very little, if any, satisfactory surface geological work can be done. This, together with the possibility of finding new productive areas, stimulates wildcatting throughout the counties under discussion. Development work continued actively in all of the newer fields. Exploratory work was most intense in Duval, McMullen, Starr and Zapata counties. The activity in Duval and McMullen counties was the result of persistent efforts to find new trends of production similar to and perhaps associated with the Government Wells group of fields. The activity in Starr and Zapata counties was stimulated by the discovery of the Sam Fordyce field in Hidalgo County as well as the continued effort to find new productive trends southeastward from some of the older fields in northeastern Zapata County and western Jim Hogg Comity. Statistics on production are shown in Tables 1 and 2. New Fields Lopeno.—The Lopeno gas field in the southwestern part of Zapata County was opened in August, 1934, by R. B. Morrison No. 1 Ramirez. This is an anticlinal structure mapable in Claiborne beds and the producing horizon is the Queen City sand at 2100 ft. in the Upper Mt. Selman. At the close of the year only two gas wells had been completed but drilling operations were in progress on several other wells and a gas line was being laid to the field so that withdrawals from the area will begin early in 1935. Comilas.—The Comitas field was opened by Merle Gunby No. 1 Haynes in a sand at 800 ft. in an area southwest of the Escobas field. The discovery well had an initial production of only about 16 bbl. of oil

Jan 1, 1935

By Victor L. Stevens

The Oso tunnel is one of three tunnels located on the San Juan-Chama Project in south-central Colorado. The purpose of the tunnel is to carry water from the upper San Juan watershed through the Continental Divide into the Rio Grande watershed. The Oso tunnel contract was awarded by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to a joint venture of Boyles Brothers Drilling Co., Gibbons & Reed Co., and Cimco in February 1966. The Oso tunnel is 26,660 ft long and has a rock section of 10 ft, 2 in. with a lined diameter of 8 ft circular. The main portion of the rock formation was in the Lewis shale. This formation is quite consistent in hardness and texture with exception of localized limestone concretions and sandy siltstone inclusions. The job was bid on the basis of using a James S. Robbins mole of the P221 series. The decision for using a mole was predicated on the geology and the experience of the same joint venture on the adjoining Azotea tunnel where a mole was successfully used. The Robbins P221 series mole is capable of cutting from 9 ft, 11 in. to a 10 ft, 7 in. diam without any major change. It is 40 ft long and weighs 60 tons. The cutting head has 22 disk-type cutters and one center pilot (standard 9 7/8 -in.) tricone bit. The head is powered by four 75 hp electric motors. Gripper pads at about the midway point on each side of the machine are pushed into the tunnel ribs and thrust-cylinders in front of each gripper apply pressure to the face as the head rotates. The regripping cycle is 3 ft and then the grippers are retracted and advanced. Each cutter on the perimeter of the head is followed by a bucket which scoops up the cut material, almost in the same manner as a water wheel, and dumps it into a conveyor situated along the top of the mole. The muck from the mole conveyor is dumped into a gantry-type conveyor. The gantry conveyor is 350 ft long and is pulled

Jan 1, 1970

By Enrique Touceda

As in the case of steel and the non-ferrous alloys in general, the use of the microscope in connection with the manufacture of malleable cast iron has proved of inestimable value to the industry. Had its use not been invoked, many facts either would not be known at all or, if suspected, would be confined to the realms of conjecture. No fairer statement could be made than that the start of real progress in the industry was coincident with the application of metallography to the product, though the full significance of this statement can hardly be appreciated except by those who not only are conversant with conditions as they existed at the time referred to, but are familiar with the character of works&apos; practice at the present time.. A few years ago, about the only test made to ascertain the physical properties of the product, except in the case of certain plants, was the bending of a casting to destruction, not only with the object of discovering whether or not the metal was ductile, but for the purpose of inspecting the fracture. The characteristics of the fracture, if correctly interpreted, were known to be of value in locating the trouble in castings that were inferior. In general, it was found that if a casting of medium or heavy section would bend through a wide angle before failure took place, the fracture in the majority of cases would have a black velvety appearance; while if it was held at different angles to the direction of the rays of light, it would show a change of color and an iridescent sheen. But an inferior air-furnace heat or anneal might yield castings which, if thin and consequently largely decarburized, could be bent double on themselves and still not possess the fracture described. If, on the other hand, a casting broke short, its fracture might have one of a great many different color and structural peculiarities. Depending on the cause of the trouble, such castings might have any of the fracture characteristics, of which the following is but a partial list.

Jan 1, 1922

By A. C. Fraker, H. H. Stadelmaier

WIENER and Bergerl reported the existence of the nitrides Fe3NiN and Fe3PtNwith a cubic L1&apos;2 structure. The present note shows that a similar nitride Fe3PdN can be observed and that the composition range between the iron nitride Fe4N and the nitrides Fe3NiN, Fe3PdN, and Fe3PtN is occupied by single-phase cubic nitrides with structures intermediate between L1&apos; and L1&apos;2. The materials used in this investigation were electrolytic iron of 99.9 pct purity, carbonyl nickel of 99.7 pct purity, sponge platinum of 99.95 pct purity, and palladium sheet of 99.8 pct. purity. Binary alloys of the transition metals were induction-melted in a crucible of fused alumina, powdered, and screened to a particle size of - 200 mesh. The powders were nitrided at 600°C in a gas mixture of ammonia and hydrogen, and the crystal structure was determined with the aid of a Wilson powder camera. The results are compiled in Table I together with information from the paper of Wiener and Berger.1 The compound at the nominal composition Fe3PdN has a diffraction pattern with prominent reflections of a face-centered cubic lattice (h2 + k2+l2 = 3, 4, 8, 11, 12, 16) and weaker superstructure lines (h2 + k2 + 12 = 1, 2, 5, 6, 9, 10, 13, 14). With decreasing palladium content the superstructure lines become weaker and approach the intensity of those of Fe4N. No analysis was made of the intensities, but it can be assumed that the structure is that found by Wiener and Bergerl in Fe3NiN and Fe3PtN, namely L1&apos;2 (perovskite structure) with both palladium and the interstitial nitrogen fully ordered. The dependence of the lattice constant upon the solute atom (Ni, Pd, Pt) content can be explained tolerably well by simple lattice expansion due to subsequent work confirms this suggestion, it will be of significance to order-disorder theory. The author is grateful to Lester Guttman for discussions on this topic.

Jan 1, 1961

By John B. Mertie

MONAZITE formerly was described as moribund, but, in the light of recent developments, it is no longer so. It is the common source of the rare earths and thorium, both of which are becoming progressively important in industrial and other applications. Moreover, by the action of foreign governments, the sources on which the United States has depended for its supply are now either restricted or cut off entirely. Monazite has thus become a scarce mineral and processors in this country are endeavoring to acquire it from all available sources. RARE EARTHS AND THORIUM The rare earths proper, as defined by spectroscopists, are the oxides of cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, prometheum, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium and lutecium, with atomic numbers ranging respectively from 58 to 71. Chemists include with the rare earths scandium, yttrium, and lanthanum, with atomic numbers respectively of 21, 39, and 57. Thorium, with an atomic number of 90, is analogous to lanthanum, in that it precedes a second group of elements, whose oxides constitute the "rare earths of higher order." These are protactinium, uranium, neptunium, plutonium, americium and curium, with atomic numbers ranging respectively from 91 to 96. The last four mentioned are artificially prepared elements that so far have not been detected in nature. The rare earths with odd atomic numbers, except europium and lutecium, have no natural isotopes; and the two exceptions have only two isotopic forms. Those with even atomic numbers have from 4 to 7 natural isotopes. Samarium148 is radioactive, disintegrating over a half- life of 1.4 X 10 11 years with the emission of alpha rays. Lutecium176 is weakly radioactive, disintegrating over a half-life of 2.4 X 1010 years, with the emission of beta and gamma rays. At least 64 radioactive isotopes of the rare earths proper have been artificially prepared. Thorium is a strongly radioactive element, with a half-life of 1.39 x 1O10 years, which disintegrates through a series of 14 isotopes of 10 elements. The two longest lived and most important of these are

Jan 1, 1949

By T. Busch, R. A. Dodd

The solubility of hydrogen in pure iron and pure nickel, and of nitrogen in pure iron, has been determined and agrees well with earlier data. Nitrogen is insoluble in pure nickel and cobalt. The solubility of nitrogen in Fe-Ni alloys also confirms earlier- work. The solubility of hydrogen in Fe-Ni alloys increases non-linearly with increase in nickel content, but the solubility of hydrogen in Ni-Co and Fe-Co alloys reaches a minimum at 75 and 50 at. pet, respectively. The solubility of nitrogen in Fe-Co alloys decreases approximately linearly with increase in. cobalt content. Nitrogen is insoluble in Ni-Co alloys. Determined interaction parameters are in good agreement with predictions of Gokcen and Ohlani. THE solubility of hydrogen and nitrogen in liquid iron and iron alloys has been studied by various investigators.&apos;-l&apos; The method of solubility measuremerit due to Sievertsl is usually preferred when the vapor pressures of the liquid components are sufficiently small, but other techniques such as sampling the equilibrated melt and then analyzing by vacuum fusion have been used quite often. Previously reported data on the solubility of hydrogen and nitrogen in ostensibly pure liquid iron are summarized in Table I; certain of the quoted results were obtained by interpolation of the published data. Agreement between the various investigators is only fair, indicative of the experimental difficulties involved in obtaining gas solubility data. The only report found on the solubility of hydrogen in pure nickel is that of Sieverts.2 The solubility of nitrogen in iron-nickel alloys has received some attention, 10, 11 the results indicating that the solubility decreases with increase in nickel content, becoming zero for pure nickel. There is no published information on the solubility of these gases in either pure cobalt or alloys containing cobalt EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE Sieverts&apos; method of solubility measurement was used throughout the investigation. The construction of the melting chamber is somewhat different from A. Optical pyrometer F. Alundum cover B. Vycor chamber G. Alumina crucible C. Furnace coils H. Alundum sand D. Glass water jacket I . Alundum thimble E. Chamber support J . Detachable vycor base sealed with de Khotinsky cement

Jan 1, 1961

By Euzebio P. de Oliveira

One of a recent batch of samplcs from the Serra da Baliza, in the state of Paraná, Brazil, contained asphalt and a dark heavy oil; and workmen on the railway from Porto Uniáo to Uruguay discovered asphalt coming from eruptives that outcrop along the Rio de Peixe. The occurrence of asphalt in the triassic eruptives of southern Brazil, however, has been known a long time, according to Dr. Gonzaga de Campos. It is generally believed that the Botucatd sandstone is always a hard vitrified rock, from the metamorphic action of the overflowing eruptive contacts. In this region, howeyer, the contact metamorphism is almost nil; the sandstone is slightly hardened in a narrow zone about 20 to 30 cm. wide. In many places, the sandstone is so friable as to be easily reduced to sand, which is used in mortar for building in Guara-puava and Palmas. South and west from Porto Uniáo, this bench of sandstone is about 50 m. thick, and is capped by a heavy bed of basic eruptives, many of which are amygdaloids. Nature of Rocks Dr. Geo. P. Merrill, after studying the triassic eruptives collected by the Coal Commission, reached the conclusion that "All these rocks are of typical basalt-diabases, not in any essential different other than in structure. An interesting mineralogical phase is its paucity in olivine, which in many cases is completely lacking." Professor Hussak, who carefully studied these rocks and their accessory minerals, decided that in the dikes they are granular (diabase) and that in the lava sheets, porphyritic (augite-porphyrite or melaphyre), and that the latter pass evidently to normal diabases and are always typical of effusive rocks. The examination of many slides from dikes and sheets leads us to adopt the opinion of Professor Hussak; the rocks of the dikes are of ophitic structure, while that of the sheets show a great variety of structure and may vary from almost granular to basaltic. The great paucity in olivine had been noted by Hussak, who classes as melaphyres, the porphyritic triassic rocks in Brazil which contain olivine.

Jan 1, 1921

THE distinction btween price reduction as a re-sult of lowering of production cost and price re-duction through unrestricted competition cannot be made too clear, because they are often interwoven in actual experience. Take the whole population of a town whose principal industry is shoe manufacturing as a concrete example. If the manufacturer is able to cut his price per pair in half because he has found out how to make a pair at half the cost, he will com-monly let a number of his men go, because reduction in production cost usually results from substituting cheap mechanical energy for expensive human energy. These people will normally find other employment. The workmen who remain employed usually earn more in dollars than they did before, and in spending it give employment where there was less before. Mining companies that initiate considerable enter-prises in foreign lands where the economic level is low, and where most of the people are busily but in-efficiently engaged in raising enough food to support themselves and their families, often find themselves confronted with an acute labor problem. If any con-siderable number of workers leave the land to work in and about the mines, those left on the land cannot raise enough food to keep them all unless they are taught better methods of agriculture and provided with equipment that will enable them to produce more with less expenditure of effort. Add to this the fact that managers commonly find that the "natives," as our British cousins designate them, usually need more food and a better balanced diet than they have been accustomed to in order to show anything above the lowest order of efficiency in industrial work,. and it is clear that to make a new industry possible in what may be termed an economic province involves increas-ing the productivity, not only of those who are em-ployed in it, but of the whole social group. It has already been pointed out that the employ-ment of large numbers of men in automobile manu-facture is only possible because the others have in-creased their productivity enough to turn out every-thing else that is needed without the help of the auto-mobile workers.

Jan 7, 1928

By W. E. Mitchell

The ore that is being treated by the present plant lies between the leached zone, or capping, and the mixed sulfide and oxide zone. The principal copper minerals are chalcanthite (CuS04.5H20), brochantite (CuSO4.3Cu (OH)2 and atacamite, (CuC12.3Cu (OH)2). There are, in addition, some other minerals such as cuprite and kröhnkite (CuS04. Na2S04.2H20). These minerals, with many others, occur in a greatly crushed granodiorite rock. most of the copper-bearing minerals occur in the cracks and veinlets, but there are disseminated values and it is probably the relative proportion of these that accounts for some otherwise unexplainable variations in extraction. The entire mineralization of the ore is complex and varies with depth. This variation, the problems presented thereby, and the effect of various constituents of the ore will be taken up in detail. An analysis of :in unweighted composite of the ore treated during 1927 follows: I&apos;Lr Cent. Per Cent. Per Cent. Cu............... 1.58 S................. 2.10 Mo............ 0.01 SiO? ............. 66.10 HNO3 ........0.03 As............ 0.005 Fe.......... 1.41 C1 .............. 0.05 Sb............. 0.005 CnO ..... 0.20 Na................ 0.80 Ba............ 0.01 A1203 .......... 17.70 KI.............. 4.80 H20............ 0.70 mgO.............. 0.68 Mn............... 0.07 0 in sulfates. . . . 3.94 Total..... 100.19 The most important constituents of the ore, as indicated by experience to date, are: (1) The total copper content; (2) the acid-insoluble copper; (3) the acid-making copper mineral, mainly the chalcanthite; (4) the chlorine; (5) the nitrates; (6) the soluble iron; (7) the soluble molybdenum. The total copper content needs no discussion. In Table 1, the values are weighted averages calculated from individual charge analyses. The acid-insoluble copper directly affects the extraction, as the present leach recovers practically no acid-insoluble copper. In Table 1 the values are unweighted averages of the analyses of monthly composite samples. The acid-making copper mineral affects the amount of copper that can be dissolved from the ore without neutralizing acid in the solution. The

Jan 1, 1930

By G. P. Bowman, D. F. Howard, R. K. Saxer, J. R. Myers

This study was undertaken to redetermine the phase diagram of the lead molybdate-bismuth molyb-date salt system. A portion of this diagram was originally determined by Zambonini in 1920, and more recently by Beale. Thermal analysis and X-ray methods were used to define this system. The diagram was found to be a simple eutectic type with an eutectic at 11 mol pet lead molybdate and 634OC. A maximum solid solubility of 6 mol pet was found at the lead molybdate end of the diagram. Solid solubility at the bismuth molybdate end of&apos; the diagram appeared to be quite limited and possibly nonexistent. These results generally agree with those of Beale, but differ significantly from those of Zambonini. MOLTEN salt systems have been vigorously investigated since World War 11. Much of this work has been performed as pure research; however, consideration has recently been given to their possible use as coolants in nuclear reactors. Because of this application and other potential applications, it was decided to reinvestigate the lead molybdate-bismuth molybdate phase diagram. This diagram was originally determined by Professor F. Zambonini of the University of Turin in 1920.&apos; In 1961, a portion of this diagram was redetermined by Beale.2 With the quality equipment and high-purity materials available today, it was expected that discrepancies between the results of this present investigation and Zambonini&apos;s work would be obtained. This investigation was conducted in two parts. First, the general shape of the phase diagram was determined by cooling-curve analysis. Next, the primary solid-solution phase at the lead molybdate end of the diagram was investigated by means of X-ray diffraction techniques. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE High-purity lead molybdate, assaying 99.993 pet, and high-purity bismuth molybdate, assaying 99.989 pet, were employed during this investigation.* The results of a spectrographic analysis of the two salts are presented in Table I. Twenty-two experimental compositions were prepared for cooling-curve analysis. Compositions selected are presented in Table 11. Several randomly selected samples were analyzed chemically to check that the compositions of the prepared specimens were within the limit of

Jan 1, 1964