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By Smith, George Otis

ENGINEERING is in essence quantitative, and the engineer must deal with exact figures when he plans and, constructs. Engineering truths are not best expressed by adjectives, yet my wish, today, is not to attempt a quantitative measure of the dominant position of the mineral industry of the United States in the existing scheme of material things, but rather to seek a clualitative appraisal of what mining and metallurgical engineers are doing to promote and make secure our , national progress. Statistics help when we wish to gage material prosperity, but they fail when we desire to determine what share the engineers have in adding to the happiness and welfare of our people

Jan 1, 1928

By Franklin H. Sharp, Kenneth L. Clifford

During the last few years the New Lead Belt of Southeastern Missouri has become the main source of lead in the United States. It also produces significant amounts of zinc, copper and silver. The mines are located on a narrow, mineralized trend extending southward from Viburnum, MG. for about 35 miles. The ore occurs as replacement deposits in the Bonneterre lime- stone formation which is about 1000 ft below the surface. In most of the mines, enough water is produced to supply the milling requirements without any reuse. There are dry areas, however, and at least two mills must rely on water reclaimed from their tailings lake to augment the mine water. These mills have no choice but to utilize recycled mill water.

Jan 7, 1973

By W. S. Gatley, F. C. Appl

This paper presents a combined analytical and experimental study of chisel penetration vs time during chisel impact on rock, a problem of fundamental importance in improving the performance of roller-cone bits or percussion drilling toots. For a given force-time relationship between chisel and rock, the problem of determining the penetration (displacement) vs time of the chisel is formidable. This is so because the rock is a nonlinear system with distributed mass and distributed damping (friction, dissipation of energy due to rupture, etc.). Since the literature does not contain adaptable solutions, the rock behavior to impact was simulated approximately by an "equivalent" lumped system, that is, an "equivalent" mass, spring, dashpot system. With this assumption, an analytical solution was found for chisel penetration vs time due to a sinusoidal load between chisel and rock. From this solution were found curves, in terms of dimension-less variables, for the maximum depth of penetration vs the frequency of the sinusoidal loading and for the energy transfer vs frequency. The results of this analysis were used to predict the penetration rate of rotary rock bits us rotary speed. The curve indicated that an optimum speed exists. To verify this analysis, an experimental apparatus was constructed and used to apply a sinusoidal pulse to a chisel penetrating a rock specimen under atmospheric conditions. Strain gauges were mounted on the chisel shank and a velocity transducer was mounted between the chisel and the rock surface. The velocity was integrated electrically and picked up simultaneously with the strain gauge signal on an oscilloscope. Permanent records were made photographically to provide simultaneous records of force us time and penetration us time. In comparing the experimental results for limestone and dolomite with the theoretical results, good agreement was found in the frequency range of the experiments. Unfortunately, the inertia effect (peak penetration) indicated by the theory occurs at a frequency much higher than could be obtained experimentally with the apparatus constructed. A "rate-of-loading" effect is indicated theoretically, but has not yet been verified experimentally. INTRODUCTION The process of drilling with percussion tools or rotary rock bits is basically related to the transient response of rock to surface impact. Each time a bit tooth contacts the rock, high stresses are developed which result in penetration and rock removal. As the tooth moves on, stresses are relieved and a new cycle begins as the next tooth contacts the rock. Thus the drilling process, which consists of an endless succession of these cycles, can be studied in terms of a single cycle. It is apparent, therefore, that the study of single-chisel impact on rock is fundamentally important in improving the performance of roller-cone and percussive-type drills. Previous studies in this area have been conducted by Simon1 and Hartman2 by means of drop tests. In these tests a chisel was attached to a weight and allowed to fall, due to the force of gravity, so that the chisel was driven into a rock specimen upon impact. Strain gauges were attached to the chisel shank and the resulting force-vs-time curves were recorded photographically from an oscilloscope screen. The depth of penetration and crater dimensions were also measured. These tests have provided much valuable information but, as mentioned by the investigators, have not provided complete information on the effect of "rate of loading'! This is partly due to the fact that the chisel motion during drop tests is not a controlled motion which can be varied in form and frequency. Therefore, it seemed that additional information could be obtained by studying chisel impact under conditions where both the motion and the frequency of loading could be controlled. This paper presents a combined analytical and exper-

By G. K. Dumbauld, B. E. Morgan

Kesults of laboratory investigations of the effects of drilling muds on oil well cements are presented which show that relatively large quantities of untreated muds do not seriously interfere with the setting of cement slurries, but that relalively small quantities of treated muds seriously retard the setting of cement slurries. Laboratory results also indicate that the harmful effects of contamination with treated muds can he counteracted by the addition of activated charcoal to cements. Also described is the successful use of cement containing activated charcoal for the placement of plugs in oPel hole after previous attempts with ordinary cement had been unsuccessful. INTRODUCTION The contamination of cement slurry by dilution with drilling mud has long been considered a cause of failure in oil well cementing. The cement slurry must displace the drilling mud from the annulus between the casing and the walls of the borehole. and it is probable that some mixing of the slurry and the mud occurs even under the most nearly ideal displacement conditions. Hole enlargement, failure to center the casing in the hole, and formation of gel structure in the drilling mud increase the probability of contamination. In some cementing operations, such as the placement of a cement plug in open hole, considerable mixing of the mud and slurry is likely. Many cement failures which can be attributed logically to no cause other than contamination of the cement slurry by the mud attest the need of a better understanding of this problem. Considerable attention was given to the problem of mud contamination of cements about 20 years ago.The effects of field mud upon cement slurries prepared with different amounts of mix water were investigated thoroughly, and the data obtained were invaluable in determining the causes of the high percentage of failure in oil-well cementing at that time and in bringing about improved cementing results. Since then, many aspects of the problem have changed, due primarily to advancements in cement and drilling mud technology. Today, several types of portland cement are used in well cementing and numerous chemical additives are used in drilling muds. An excellent report on the effects of drilling mud additives on oil-well cements was issued during 1951 by the American Petroleum Institute. Data in the report revealed that many mud additives, notably organic materials in relatively small amounts, produce a marked effect on the properties of cements. Prior to this time, little information has been available on the effects of chemicals commonly used in the treatment of drilling muds upon the properties of cements. Another aspect of the problem of mud contamination of cements, which has received no attention heretofore, is the possibility of producing a cement having properties unaffected by a reasonable amount of mud contamination. In view of the need for additional information on the contamination of present-day cements by currently-used drilling Muds, the investigation described herein was initiated Several years ago with a two-fold purpose: first, to determine the capacity of cement slurries to tolerate contamination by both untreated and treated muds without loss of ability to set and develop strength within a reasonable time; and, second, to investigate the possibility of enhancing the ability of cement slurries to withstand mud contamination by incorporating additives in the cement. The data for this study were obtained by mixing drilling mud with cement slurry and testing the resulting slurry-mud mixture for rate of set and development of strength. Also, several materials were tested for their possible improvement of the property of cement slurry to withstand mud contamination; these materials were tested in both contaminated and uncontaminated cement slurries.

Jan 1, 1952

By E. A. Hopkin

Laboratory tests conducted by the author. together with actual field experience in Canada. have indicated the magnitudc of some of the factors affecting ability of drilling mud to clean the hole. A correlation was observed between funnel viscosity and particle slip velocity. A relationship was also observed between the Bingham yield value of the mud and the particle .slip velocity. Laburatury tests indicated little change in slip velocity with funnel viscosities up to ahout 80 sec/qt or to yield values of aboul 15 lb/100 .sq ft. The lip velocity of the partic1e.s. studied vuried from 160 ft/min with water to neerly zero for high mud viscositie. lncreasing the mud density, creating laminar annular mud flow or rotating the drill pipe Mlay also improve the carrying capacity of mud. Field tests indicated that during fast upper-hole drilling, the rate of cutting removal must he sufficien to maintain the concentration of cuttings in the annulus at less than 5 percent by volume to prevernt balled-up drill collars and .stuck drill pipe. INTRODUCTION In the Mid-Continent area, hole cleaning during rotary drilling normally involves the use of low-density drilling muds with funnel viscosities varying from 26 to 80 sec/qt. However, frequently it is necessary to raise the mud viscosity in excess of 200 sec/qt to clean the hole. In addition, field experience has indicated that during very fast upper-hole drilling, annular mud velocities considerably in excess of the maximum slip velocity of the cuttings (normally considered to be 120 to 150 ft/min) are necessary to prevent balling the bit and drill collars. In view of these variations in mud properties and circulation rates necessary to clean the wellbore, a study of factors affecting hole cleaning and the relative magnitude of each was undertaken. The study was also prompted by the knowledge that a drilling mud with properties close to those of water would drill at rates several times that of a viscous mud. The carrying capacity of these near-water muds was not clearly understood, however, and many drillers were reluctant to use them. DISCUSSION EFFECT OF MUD PROPERTIES ON DRILLING RATE The effect of mud properties on drilling rate has been studied by a number of investigators. 1t is clear from their work that mud properties close to those of water will significantly improve drilling rate and bit life. If the water-type mud will also effectively clean the hole and cause no logging or formation impairment problems, the choice of an appropriate drilling fluid is clear—use water. Often, however, a water-type drilling fluid is not capable of effectively cleaning the hole. THEORY OF PARTICLE SETTLING The forces acting on a particle that is allowed to settle through a fluid quickly reach equilibrium, and the particle settles at some constant velocity referred to as the slip velocity. The slip velocity of any particle depends upon a number of factors such as density and viscosity of the fluid, the volume, specific gravity, shape and roughness of the particle, and upon the shape and area of the projected face of the particle at right angles to the direction of relative fluid solid movement. Brown' expressed this relationship for spheres in Newtonian fluids in the following equation. where v, = slip velocity D, — diameter of sphere p, = density of spheye p, = density of liquid /a = friction factor g = constant. The friction factor f, varies as the size, shape, surface roughness and slip velocity of the body, and as the density and viscosity of the fluid varies. WaddelV ound experimentally that where dynamic similarity exists. f, was a function of the particle Reynolds number (NRe) of the sphere (Fig. 1). Fig. 1 shows that f, for spheres varies from over 10 for low NKe numbers to 0.44 for N,,. over 600.

By Joseph B. Umpleby

WHEN the Cushing field flooded the oil market in 1914 and 1915 with a daily output equal to nearly one-third of the world's production, the situation was soon corrected by increased consumption, and the price of crude oil rose from 45 c. per barrel in, February 1915 to $1.10 in December of the same year-the highest price paid in the Mid-Continent field up to that time. The intensive search for oil during the following seven years failed to disclose a single new ,field equal to Cushing, and many observers concluded that the rapidly increasing number of wells contributing to the world's output, each declining roughly 20 per cent. a year, combined with the rapidly increasing con¬sumption of petroleum, made it highly improbable that any field would; be found again sufficiently large to seri¬ously affect the oil market. That seven exceptional fields should then be discovered simultaneously is a remarkable coincidence. Long Beach, Santa Fe Springs, and Powell, each exceeded Cushing in daily output and reached the apex of their production during a year when Burbank, Tonkawa, - Smackover and Huntington Beach each contributed several times the daily output of the average new pool. This unexpected and tremendous flood of flush production could only have the effect of depressing price and greatly adding to stocks throughout the country. It was particularly depressing in the Mid-Continent as the new oil from California proved of attractive refining grade and because of cheap transportation by water easily undersold Oklahoma crude in the eastern markets.

Jan 1, 1924

By William P. Shinn

Jan 1, 1881

By J. E. Tobey

THERE are a lot of good things about this great industry of ours. Let us stop commiserating and consider some of the things that are right in this business. Coal is number one in the basic material industries. Our civilization owes more to it than to any other basic commodity. We are literally immersed in the benefactions of coal. In cur man-made world it is indispensable and we are constantly surrounded by objects, materials, and services which owe their existence to coal. Practically all the important materials, such as iron, steel, brick, cement, lime, rubber, glass, cotton, and wood have felt its magic touch.

Jan 1, 1939

By A. A. Collins

When we speak of high copper on a lead blast furnace we think in terms of 4 to 5 pct, or. any lead charge carrying over 1 pct. Any copper on charge will produce its corresponding troubles such as lead well, extra slag losses, drossing problems, and the working up of the dross. This is indeed a very interesting subject and one that used to give the old-time lead metallurgists such as Eiler, Hahn and lles many worries, not so much in the actual operation of the hlast furnace but in the working up of the copper. When the American nletallurgists commenced with the American rectangular-shaped lead blast furnace in the 1870's and got away from the reverberatories such as were in use in Germany and other parts of the world, they went to greater tonnages, as 80 to 100 tons per day in comparison to the 20 to 30 tons per day in the other processes. With the greater tonnages along with insuficient settling capacity, the silver losses in some cases were increased. Hence the lead-fall was low, for there were no leady concentrates in those days to assist the metallurgist to gain lead or an absorber for the precious metals; and in some cases copper sulphides were added intentionally to the charge to produce a copper matte to lessen the silver losses through the dump slag. The operators in those days thought that where some copper was always present in the lead ores the copper should not enter into the reduced lead and alloy with it. This, by the way, is just the reverse of our present-day practice, when we try to put all of the copper into the blast furnace lead and to remove the same through the drossing kettles. Therefore the furnace was operated to produce a certain amount of matte or artificial sulphides, since, due to the great affinity of copper for sulphur, any copper present would enter the matte almost completely. Thus, the lead bullion produced was practically free from copper. The products of the furnace were metallic lead or lead bullion, containing 05 to 95 pct of the lead and about 96 pct of the silver which were in the ore—a lead-copper-iron matte which contained nearly all the copper in the ore and the slag, the waste product. In the United States, up through the year 1092, we find the small furnace 100 X 32 1/2 in. with 12 tuyeres, some 6 on each side, plagued with a small amount of poorly roasted sulphides— either from heap or hand roasters that produced matte. This matte was roasted and if poor in copper was returned for the ore smelting. Otherwise it was smelted either alone or with additions of rich slags or argentiferous copper ores, the products being lead and a highly cupriferous matte, the latter being subsequently worked up for its copper. The lead metallurgists kept trying and improving on furnace and roasting equipment designs until we find blalvin W. Iles constructing at the old Globe Plant at Denver what came to be the modern furnace. That is, in 1900 he built a furnace of 42 in. width by 140 in. at the tuyeres with a 10 in. bosh and a 16-ft ore column. This type has been more or less standard to the present time, though modified in width and length to meet the demand for large tonnages and improvements in structural details. In 1905 at Cananea, Mexico, Dwight and Lloyd developed the present down-draft sinter machine that has meant so much in producing a well-processed material for the lead blast furnace. In 1912 Guy C. Riddell came forth with double roasting at the East Helena Plant of the American Smelting and Refining Co., which removed the "zinc mush plague." Incidentally, with the introduction of double roasting, which most lead plants were forced into after 1924, when lead flotation came into its own, less matte or no matte was produced. When this stage arrived, the copper was forced into the dross and the casting of lead at the blast furnace lead-wells was stopped. In plants with a fair copper carry 1 pct or better on the blast furnace charge, the lead wells became inoperative once the production of matte stopped. The copper drosses clogged the lead wells and even with bombing, either water or dynamite, the operators could not keep them open. Thus, the lead wells were abandoned in some plants, such as at the El Paso and Chihuahua smelters of the American Smelting and Refinillg Co., and all lead taken out through the first settlers. The elimination of sulphur, espccially sulphide sulphur, from the blast furnace charge and the nonproductiori of matte resulted in a great saving of tinie, energy and equipment in the recirculation of the copper, With the copper content in the dross and dross-fall ranging in quantities from a few percent up to 60 pct, such as at El Paso, a drossing problem was created. As the old-time operators hated dross and buried the same in the shipping bullion, the modern metallurgists from 1925 on decided that with increasing dross-falls they would have to adopt the lead refiner's ideas of drossing kettles with subsequent treatment of the lead with a sulphur addition to have the shipping lead of 0.01

Jan 1, 1950

By T. I. Moore, L. A. Painter

THE electrolytic zinc plant of the American Zinc Co. of Illinois was described by Davidson' in 1944. Since then, improvements as well as expansion of the plant facilities have been made. In order to increase the production of high grade zinc which was needed for war purposes, an expansion program designed to double the slab zinc capacity was started in 1942 and completed in March 1943. This expansion was propagated by a contract between the American Zinc Co. of Ill. and the Defense Plant Corp. The contract included the facilities of the Fairmont City, Ill., property of the American Zinc Co., where a suspension-type roaster with contact acid plant, cadmium distillation furnace, Waelz oxide and densifying plant, and horizontal retort furnaces were installed. The expanded Monsanto, Ill., plant and the additional facilities of' the Fairmont plant were designed to integrate the metallurgical treatment of zinc concentrates for the production of special high grade zinc at Monsanto with the production of acid, cadmium, high grade zinc from furnace skimmings and the Waelz treatment of leach residue at Fairmont. In general, the original flowsheet was not changed, except for the addition of the filtering, drying and reclaiming of leach residue, and the treatment of purification cake for the recovery of copper, cadmium sponge, and zinc. Fig. 1 is a flow diagram of present operations. The original plant facilities, desi-gned for 50 tons daily production of slab zinc, had some units which were more than adequate. Therefore, in expanding the facilities to 100 tons per day, it was not necessary to double all operating components. Table I gives the comparison of the changes made in the unit operating components for the original facilities, 1941, the 1943 expansion, and the 1951 facilities. During the past 11 years a number of improvenients have been made resulting in: 1—an increase in slab production, 2—higher recoveries on the calcine treated, 3—better quality of slab zinc produced, 4—higher current efficiencies, and 5—less man hours Table I. Changes in Operating Facilities Operating Unit 1941 1943 1951 Calcine unloading (pneumatic), 10 tons per hr 12 calcine unloading track hpr. and elev., 60 tons per hr 1 Calcine storage, tons 1,000 2,000 2,000 Leach tanks, 35 vol. tons. No. 3 5 6 slurry mixing 6x6 ft stainless tank, No. 1 Ball mill. 4.5 rt x 16 in. conical. No. 1 CLassifier duplex, No. 1 1 Thickeners. 50 it diam. No. 2 9 2 Filter thickeners, sq ft '-- Moore filters, sq ft 5.760 11,520 Drum filters, 10 ft diam x 16 ft, No. 3 3 Rotary arlers, No. 1 2 1st stage Cu-As purificatlon tank. 90 vol. tons, No. 3 Solution heaters, No. 3 Filter press, 30x30 bronze, No. 4 Zinc dust purification tanks, 45 vol tons. No. 3 5 4 Filter press, 36x36 bronze, No. 3 5 3 Cadmium recovery plant: Process tank. No. 5 2 Cake roaster, 20 ft diam x 4 hearth. No. 1 Filter press, 24x24, No. 4 1 Sponge wash box, 4x6 ft, No. 1 Evaporative cooling unit (vacuum), No. 1 Purified storage tank, vol. tons 400 400 400 Cell acid storage, vol. tons 400 400 400 Electrolytic cells, No. 180 372 372 Cell room ventilation, cu ft per min 35,000 125,000 125,000 Cell cooling water. gal per min 1,500 2,300 2,300 Deep well 16 in. x 95 ft, 1500 gal per min, No. 2 3 3 Melting and casting furnace, 130 ton. No. I Furnace fume scrubber unit, No. 1 Dross drums, No. 2 Dross roaster, 8 ft diam x 8 hearth, No. 1 Electrolysis power conversion, kw 6,250 23,750 23,750 Power transformers, 13,800/440, kva 1,000 1,500 2,000 Steam boilers fire tube, 15 psi, lb per hr 12,000 18,000 18,000 Steam boilers water tube. 125 psi, Ib per hr 30,000 Air compressor, 2 stage. 300 cu ft per min. 100 psi, No. 1 2 Air compressor, 1 stage, 300 cu ft per min, 20 psi, No. 1 Vacuum pumps, 18x7, 720 cu ft per day, No. - - . Vacuum pumps, 24x11, 1.633 cu ft per day, No. 3 3 Building area, sq ft 60,854 113,568 115,000 per ton of metal produced. In the summer of 1944, the "reverse" leaching process was placed in operation and since it has been described,' no further description will be given. Other facilities and changes which have contributed to the process improvements were the scrubbing of fume from the melting and

Jan 1, 1953

By JAMES J. PURDY

The great majority of stokers used in residential heating installations are of the clinkering type. Because of inherent characteristics of the under- feed combustion process as it occurs in these small stokers, and because of the wide range of operating conditions encountered in residential heating schedules, not all bituminous coals can be used successfully in residential underfeed units. The problem of providing consumer satisfaction has been attacked by the joint efforts of the stoker manufacturers and the coal industry; the stoker manufacturers have been concerned with improving their product to permit the use of a wider range of coals, and coal operators have made every effort to market selected and better prepared coals. In view of the wide range of physical characteristics and chemical properties of bituminous coals, the problems are real and are receiving increased attention.

Jan 1, 1949

By R. J. Blackwell, J. R. Rayne, J. R. Henderson, W. M. Terry, D. C. Lindley

This paper presents the results of a laboratory investigation of the efficiency of water-solvent mixtures in recovery of oil. These mixtures may have the high displacement efficiencies characteristic of solvent floods and the high sweep efficiencies characteristic of water floods. Thus, the water-solvent process may increase the number of reservoirs in which a miscible-type displacement can be used profitably. The experiments on the use of water-solvent mixtures for recovery of oil were conducted to find the general applicability of the process. These studies demonstrated that, in flowing through sands, water and solvent segregated into a solvent layer on the top and a water layer on the bottom rather than flowing through the sands as a uniform mixture. Calculations based on the simultaneous flow of the water and solvent in layers were used to predict the effective mobility of the mixtures and the optimum operation of the process in steeply dipping, homogeneous reservoirs. As most reservoirs are not suited for the operation of the process under ideal conditions, experimental studies were conducted with sand-packed models scaled to represent more realistic reservoirs. These studies included the effects on recovery of oil of rate of injection, viscosity of oil, variations of permeablity within a formation and variations in water-solvent ratio. For the range of con-ditions studied, higher recoveries of oil were obtained with water-solvent mixtures than with water or practical volumes of solvent alone. INTRODUCTION A group of intriguing—because of their great possibilities—new oil recovery methods at the disposal of the petroleum engineer are the miscible displacement processes. These processes (high-pressure gas drive, en-riched-gas drive and LPG bank driven by methane) displace all of the oil from the portions of the reservoir swept by the injection fluid. The key question confronting the engineer applying one of these techniques to a particular reservoir is, "What fraction of the reservoir can be swept by injection of a practical volume of solvent?"." Intensive laboratory studies have been made during the past several years in seeking answers to the question of the sweep efficiencies which can be expected in solvent floods.' - These studies provided the answer that low-viscosity, low-density solvents channel and by-pass oil in sands with no dip. In horizontal sands, solvent flooding becomes less efficient as the viscosity of the oil increases, the recovery of oil at solvent breakthrough decreases and larger volumes of solvent are required to achieve a given recovery. More efficient displacement of oil by solvent is observed under certain conditions in sands with dip.".' If the permeability and dip of the sand are sufficiently high, gravity segregation of low-density solvent injected updip can prevent channeling. At rates of depletion below a critical rate,"." no channeling occurs. Unfortunately, in many reservoirs, the critical rate is so low that production of oil at rates below this rate is not economically attractive. And at rates over four times the critical rate, channeling is almost as severe in sands with dip as in horizontal sands. These findings pointed out that, for solvent floods to be generally applicable in recovering oil from all types of reservoirs, new methods of improving their sweep efficiencies are needed. Simultaneous injection of water with the miscible fluid was suggested by Caudle and Dyes7 as a method for improving sweep efficiencies. They theorize that water flowing with the solvent would decrease the effective mobility of the solvent and cause it to contact more oil sand. If, indeed, the water and solvent flowed as a uniform mixture, the process should have the advantages of the high displacement efficiencies characteristic of miscible floods and the high sweep efficiencies of water floods. Thus, the method (at least in theory) would greatly increase the number of reservoirs in which miscible-type displacements would be feasible. A research program was conducted to probe the technical feasibility of the water-solvent process. It

By Lucius W. Mayer

WHILE the mind of the financier does not normally run along channels similar to those of his technical adviser, engineers, because of their exactness, are ever more called upon to manage affairs where financial matters are involved. It is, true, not a relatively large number have thus far functioned in this capacity. It is also true that the essentially financial mind could not serve in a responsible engineering position; for to be a successful engineer one requires precise thinking, making due allowance for factors of safety. To be a financier seems to require less aptitude for exact thinking than of enthusiasm and confidence in capitalizing prospective possibilities. Both require imagination, the engineer being, more conscious of the limitations of natural conditions. It is to be regretted that the engineer' stands so far aloof from financial matters. Many consider them- selves successful, as did Steinmetz, as long as their reward is the consciousness that they are giving supreme service to mankind. They are 'generally happy in their work and, like our honored brothers who are teachers, gain their greatest satisfaction, not in the amount of their remuneration so much as in the service rendered society and in the excellence of results achieved. Indeed, these sentiments bespeak character and command respect.

Jan 1, 1924

By AIME AIME

THE growth of the spirit of progress and mutual aid which motivated the founders of the Institute sixty years ago in Wilkes-Barre was vigorously demonstrated at the sixtieth anniversary meeting held there on May 22. Committees headed by Cadwallader Evans, "resident director" of the Institute, and Paul Sterling, chairman of the local section, had arranged for a full-day tour of the northern anthracite field, so that the hundred and fifty members and guests who had come for the celebration of the anniversary might see the changes and progress made in that field in recent years. More than forty automobiles were in line in the cavalcade which left the Westmoreland Club at nine- thirty. Operations visited were fully described in the May issue of MINING AND METALLURGY, so it is enough to say that after a seventy-five mile drive through the beautiful Susquehanna Valley and over the rolling green hills of northern Pennsylvania a stop was made for lunch at Forest City. Carey, Baxter and Kennedy, contractors at the stripping operations there, had provided, in the shelter of tents, a well-prepared luncheon and other refreshments. The return trip was made by way of Scranton, arriving at Wilkes-Barre at five- thirty.

Jan 1, 1931

By Ira B. Joralernon

THREATS of a coming metal famine in the United States have filled many columns in magazines and newspapers in the past three years. This asserted menace has diverted attention from the actual results of recent exploration. Because no one had bothered to look into the facts, the statistical experts assumed that little ore was being found. They often subtracted the staggering tonnage of metals produced during the war from earlier published reserves, and assumed that the difference was all we had left. Naturally, they shuddered, with all possible publicity. For their figures showed an imminent lack of nearly all the metals needed for an industrial civilization, as well as for mechanized war. They concluded that only wholesale imports and development and production of metals by Federal agencies could avert the famine.

Jan 1, 1948

By E. Douglas, D. N. Collins, J. R. Stevens

E. Douglas (Dept. of Scientific and lndustrial Re-search, Warren Spring Laboratory, Hertfordshire, England) — The authors are to be congratulated on the considerable improvements they have made in tailoring efficiency and selectivity terms which are generally superior to the alternative forms in current use. However, I feel that their efficiency expression is limited to lower-grade feeds; its accuracy reduces as the feed grade increases. For example, its application to such processes as the beneficiation of glass sands, refractories and clays will invoIve considerable inaccuracies. The reason for this lies in the direct use of recovery, which, with high-grade feeds, biases their empirical expression, R(1 - c/h). With a 90% grade feed, the recovery weighting for the slightest degree of beneficiation, over a zero efficiency sampling operation, will be 90+%+ I disagree with their second basic requirement which states that there can be no fundamental basis for any single quantifying expression. A formula giving a comprehensive representation of concentra- tion efficiency can be derived fundamentally accord-to the procedure outlined in the literature. '' This formula, called the Basic Efficiency formula, is

Jan 1, 1963

Discussion of the paper of E.. C. LEE, presented at the St. Louis meeting, October, 1917, and printed in Bulletin-No. 130, October, 1917, pp. 1825 to 1832. H. M. WILSON, Pittsburgh, Pa.-The statement ill the paper of T. T. Read, "Increasing Dividends Through Personnel Work;" that the offering of substantial money rewards for avoidance of accidents is much more effective than mere propaganda or education respecting accident prevention, is a, point fully substantiated in the experience of insurance inspection under workmen's compensation acts. The first year under the Workmen's Compensation Law in Pennsylvania, during which over 2000 mines were tinder the observation and protection of the inspectors of the insurance companies, has resulted in several inspections of each mine, a splendid cooperation .between the operators, the State mine inspectors and the insurance inspectors, and an average reduction in premium rate for insurance from $3.83 to $2.77, a reduction of more than $1 per $100 of payroll, on an average payroll of nearly $100,000,000, In other words, the insurance companies have

Jan 1, 1918

By R. G. Agarwal, Ramey Jr. H. J., Al-Hussainy R.

Although it has long been realized that gas recovery from a water-drive gas reservoir may be poor because of high residual saturations under water drive, it appears that only limited infomlation on the subject has been available until recently. This study was performed to show the qiiantitative potential importance of water influx. Results indicate that gas recovery may be very low in some cases: perhaps as low as 45 per cent of the initial gas in place. Gas recovery under water drive appear to depend in an important was on: (I) the prodirction rate and manner of production; (2) the residual gas saturation; (3) aquifer propertie.); and (4) the volumetric displacement effciency of water invading the gas reservoir. The manner of estimating water-drive gas reservoir recovery can vary considerably. Examples are: the steady-state tnethorl. the Hurst modified steady-state method, and various unsteady-state methods such ac. those of van Ever-dingen-Hurst, Hurst, and Carter-Tracy. The Carter-Tracy water influx expression was used in this study. In certain cases, it appears that gas recovery can be increased significantly by controlling the production rate and manner of production. For this reason, the potential importance of water influx in particular gas reservoirs should he investigated early to permit adequtrtr planning lo optirtize the pay reserves. INTRODUCTION In recent years, the economic importance of natural gas production has become increasingly apparent. This has been evidenced by more intensive exploration efforts aimed at gas production, and exploitation of both deep, as well as low-permeability gas reservoirs. Technical developments such as deep-penetration fracturing have made development of such formations economically feasible. Unfortunately, water influx has forced abandonment of a number of gas reservoirs at extraordinarily high pressures. Although reservoir engineering methods for estimating water influx have long been available, it appears that application of these methods to the water-drive gas reservoir has been sporadic.'a Available methods for estimating water influx which can be applied to the water-drive gas reservoir problem include the steady-state method,1 the Hurst modified steady-state method and various unsteady-state methods such as those of van Everdingen-Hurst. Hurst, and Carter-Tracy. Interesting applications of these solu- tions to gas reservoir and the aquifer gas-storage problems have appeared recently.3,12,14 The experimental study of residual gas saturations under water drive by Geffen et al. in 1952 indicated that residual gas saturations could be extremely high. A value of 35 per cent of pore volume is often used in field practice when specific information is not available. The study of Geffen et al. showed that residual gas saturation might be much higher in some cases. Naar and Henderson concluded that the residual non-wetting phase saturation under imbibition should be about half of the initial non-wetting phase saturation. The Naar and Henderson result that residual gas saturation under water influx should be about half the original gas saturation is recommended as an estimate if laboratory measurements are not available. Thus, it is clear that a considerable portion of the initial gas in place might be trapped in a water-drive gas reservoir as residual gas at high pressure. A full water-drive would result in loss of residual gas trapped at initial reser.voir pressure. Consideration of transient aquifer behavior leads to the conclusion that high-rate production of water-drive gas reservoirs could result in improved gas recovery by reduction of the abandonment pressure. However, there appears to be little quantitative information on this possibility. One of the few advantages of water-drive gas production appears to be improved deliverability through water-drive support of the reservoir pressure. There may also be an advantage in higher condensate recovery caused by pressure maintenance for gas-condensate water-drive reservoirs. In view of the preceding, this study was made to assess the potential importance of water-drive in gas reservoir engineering. The Carter-Tracy approximate water-influx expression was used because this equation offers some advantages in hand-calculation which do not appear to have been generally recognized.' However, calculations were performed in the main with a high-speed digital computer to permit evaluation of the effect of water-drive under a large variety of conditions. CALCULATION METHOD Water-drive gas reservoir performance can be estimated in a manner completely analogous to oil reservoir calculations: a materials balance is written for the reservoir, and a water influx equation is written for the aquifer. Siniltaneous solution provides the cun~ulative water influx and the reservoir pressure. When reservoir performance data (gas produced and reservoir pressures) are available, it is usually possible to match performance data to determine the initial gas in place and the water influx parameters —

Jan 1, 1966

By C. A. LINDBERG

Several new methods have been developed on the Iron Range to remove the material adhering to truck bodies in freezing weather. A machine known as a Gradall, incorporating the features of digging both above and below the horizontal, digging angle of blade control, full revolving, travel almost anywhere, and operated by one man, has proven successful in trials at body cleaning. Several of these units are in use with great saving in box-cleaning costs and improvements in efficiency of the truck operation with full capacity boxes. In addition to their winter use, the same machines have been used for ditching and excavating in the summer with great saving. The latest method of combating this freezing problem is to carry the exhaust from the engine through the body, making use of the tremendous heat that is now being wasted. To do this, the present wood sandwich which is used between the bottom of the box and the wear plate is removed and replaced with angles or channels run lengthwise of the box and spaced to permit gases to flow between or through them and also provide a good sup- port for the wear plate. The channels or angles are cut a little short on each end to form a cross passage that permits the gases to flow through the area. In the front end, openings are made in the wear plate and connect to a manifold created by welding a plate across the whole front of the box, spaced from the original end by the original vertical reinforcing angles at that point. The body being described is for a Euclid truck which is the only truck that has been adapted to this body-heating idea to date. At the rear of the truck, the holes from the cross passage are made in the bottom plate of the body and lead into a triangular-shaped body cross member under the scoop end of the truck.

Jan 1, 1949

By F. W. Gordon

The Whitwell firebrick hot-blast stove, for furnace use, may be seen in its three main stages of development in the accompnying drawings. Fig. 1 is the stove of 1869, the year in which it was thoroughly tested at the Consett furnaces, England; Fig. 2, the stove of 1876 and 1877, in which it was intended to reduce the cost by increasing the height; Fig. 3, the stove of 1880. Many modifications were made from time to time, generally in the direction of improvement, but the drawings illustrake the main features of progress. In the stove of 1869 the plan was to introduce the gas at A, and pass it up and down between each alternate wall, the air in the reverse direction, passing in at B. The friction in this stove was so great, owing to the restricted area of the passages and the many revervals of the gaseous current, that it was deemed imprudent to build the stoves higher than 28' 6". Another reason mas that the great importance of cleaning was carefully kept in view, and it was very difficult to operate any hand scraper even to this depth. For these reasons the 22' X 28½' stove held the field for several yearn. A slight change made from this was to the 18' X 40' stove, where the height was increased, but the dumber of walls diminished. In this stove the friction was somewhat reduced, but so was the heating surface, and although it cost a little lea it was not any better. The next important change, seen in Fig. 2, was by increasing the height to GO feet and keeping the full number of walls in the stove. The heating surface and mass were much increased in proportion to the cost, and the friction decremed by alterllating over and under two or more walls, instead of one, as formerly. This stove gave admirable satisfactiou, but, although the proper doors were provided, it was very difticult to clean, owing to the long (distance the scrapers lid to traverse. Stove No. 3 is a modification of No. 2. The great question was how to decrease the cost mithotlt impairing in any yaw the

Jan 1, 1881