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By James E. York

At a meeting of the American Society for Testing Materials at Atlantic City, June, 1908, Dr. C. B. Dudley, in his presiden-tial address,' showed the vital necessity of not only making a steel rail as good as in the past, but of making it considerably better in order to meet the present and prospective requiremeuts of railroads. Doctor Dudley requested the co-operation of all who from personal experience could give information that would result in bringing about the production of a steel rail that could be relied upon to meet the present requirements. I have had considerable experience in the practical manufacture of steel of almost every grade, during the past 40 years, and I shall suggest changes that will bring about the results desired. Doctor Dudley has had a long experience as chemical and metallurgical expert for the Pennsylvania railroad, but he frankly admits that up to the present time both he and other metallurgical authorities lack the practical knowledge of steel-making that is necessary to state correctly the reasons for the unreliability of the steel rails now produced. The necessity is self-evident for more positive practical knowledge on the part of these experts of what is possible and what is impossible regarding the practical manufacturing of steel rails from the ingot to the finished product. Chemical knowledge in steel-making is far ill advance of what it was years ago, and might be said to cover every requirement (in that department) for producing reliable steel. The study of the metallography of steel has been of great value, also the physical testing of steel, but this knowledge will only de-

Jan 1, 1910

The American mining industry is vigorous today because it is young. At a time when the ore deposits of central Europe, for example, were being exploited actively, those of the United States were lying practically untouched. The founding fathers of our republic were not interested in mineral wealth because they were ignorant in such matters; their preoccupations were with defence against the Indians, the clearing of the forest, and the starting of agriculture in their new domains. They had no idea of establishing a mining industry. The Indians whom the American colonists dispossessed had no mines; they used only the metal that was to be found lying on the surface of the ground. Their arrows and spears were tipped with flint, which likewise called for little digging, if any. The native copper that glacial action had torn from the lodes of the Lake Superior region and had carried into the valleys of the Ohio and Mississippi was employed in the making of earrings, bracelets, knives, and scrapers. The same useful metal was found in many other places, in Virginia and Carolina, in Vermont and New Jersey, for example, but the Indians did not know how to melt it, much less how to smelt the ore, therefore they shaped it into tools and implements by hammering. Fortunately for them the hammering of the metal caused it to harden and therefore to become serviceable for implemental use. It is doubtful if they obtained the copper by actual mining, that is, by digging or excavating; it is true we find traces of such operations in the Keweenaw .peninsula of Michigan, but we have no

Jan 1, 1932

By Lytle Brown, Thomas C. Meadows

The rock now known to almost every Middle Tennessee farmer as " phosphate," was but recently recognized as such. The existence of a stratum of black siliceous rock in the hills surrounding the Nashville Basin has been known for many years to Dr. Safford, the State geologist. Nothing about it, however, would lead to the conclusion that it contains a considerable amount of bone phosphate of lime. The only feature that might attract attention is its very dark color; and since it occurs near the " black slate," one would naturally infer nothing more of interest to be connected with that feature than that this rock and the " black slate " derived their carbonaceous matter from a common source. Many of the country people have mistaken it for coal, or for an indication of coal; this impression being strengthened by the fact that, when a piece of the rock was thrown into a blacksmith's forge, a slight combustion was observed. As will be more fully explained, the phosphate-rock is of two kinds: (a) loose or separate boulders, occurring in a stratum of clay or blue shale; and (6) solid rock occurring in a continuous stratum. The boulders have been known for a long time as "balls," "kidneys," " stink-stones," etc. ; and as early as 1887, an analysis made under the direction of Dr. Safford, at Vanderbilt University, showed one of these boulders to contain 64 per cent. of bone-phosphate of lime. This information awakened no great interest in the matter, for the probable reason that at the same time it was known, or supposed to be known, that the boulder-beds were of limited extent as

Jan 1, 1895

By C. L. Meyers, J. L. Lytton, T. E. Tietz

The recovery of tensile flow stress of 99.995 pct A1 under conditions of elastic strain and plastic creep straining was investigated using a fractional recovery parameter. Tensile straining was conducted at room temperature to a true strain of 0.10, and recovery treatments were made under stress in the temperature range from 80° to 198°C. Whereas elastic strains had no appreciable influence on flow-stress recovery, plastic creep straining was found to accelerate the recovery process. Although higher creep stresses gave greater recovery for a given time and temperature, it was found that lower stresses produced greater recovevy at equal ALTHOUGH many studies have been made to date on the recovery of metals from the cold-worked creep strains above about 0.005. This effect was attributed to the coarser, and therefore weaker, substructure developed during creep at the lower stresses. The activation energy for recovery during creep straining at 2075 psi between 160" and 198°C was found to be 25,000 cal per mole. This value was not significantly greater than the value previously obtained for no-load recovery. The activation energy for creep at 2075 psi between 160" and 198°C was 34,000 cal per mole, a value significantly greater than that for recovery under the same conditions. state, little is known concerning some important aspects of recovery behavior. One such area is the effect concurrent strain has on the recovery process. Since metals in structural applications at high temperatures are under stress, the possible effects of the resulting elastic and plastic strain on recovery may be of significant importance.

Jan 1, 1962

By C. S. Barrett

WhEN a collimated beam of protons or other energetic particles is scattered by a single crystal, the emerging particles produce patterns that contain much crystallographic information. Calculations of the trajectories of individual particles can predict with reasonable accuracy the complete pattern (which is related reciprocally to channeling, now studied in detail6) but the task is a lengthy one which has been completed for very few cases. A many-beam dynamic diffraction calculation of the patterns would be even more difficult and in some cases may be invalid. Because of these complexities, simple methods that will predict to a rough approximation the relative intensities of the lines in films of the back-scattering patterns of a given crystal are wanted. I have found a method which, although it is not a valid computation of intensities or of film darkening by either dynamic or kinematic diffraction principles or by trajectory calculations, nevertheless is found to be useful in practice. It has been tested on several crystal types,7 and is here tested on additional ones. The method consists in first calculating the structure factor F(hk1) for the (hkl) plane, of spacing d, by the familiar equation: where the summation extends over the atoms in the unit cell and fj is the atom scattering factor of the jth atom (using tables computed for electron diffraction, preferably those computed without exchange). Then the F values are squared and summed over all the orders, n, for which F2 has an appreciable value, giving a quantity: Finally, I, is expressed as a percentage of Ic for the

Jan 1, 1970

By R. A. L. Black

13.8-1. Introduction. Table 13.8-1 shows that production from the African continent is an important part of total world mineral production. In three of the major particular resources listed, diamonds, gold, and cobalt, African production accounts for considerably more than half the world output. Overall, South Africa including South West Africa plays a dominant role in the mineral economy of Africa, other than in petroleum production. Table 13.81 also shows that much of the production is won by surface mining methods. In addition to the minerals listed in Table 13.8-1, Africa is a main world source for the following minerals: [Beryl 33% of total world production Columbium-tantalum 50%" " 1' Platinum group metals 20% l' " 11 Corundum 55%" " " 11 Vermiculite 30% (' " (6 Uranium oxide 15 0/, of free world production] South Africa and Rhodesia together account for nearly all of this production, except for columbium (niobium) of which Nigeria is the main producer. Thus the importance of southern Africa as a major mineral province can readily be appreciated. The consequences of serious political or military conflict between white-dominated southern Africa and the rest of the continent would be grave indeed, particularly for the West whose financial and economic interest in Africa as a whole is very large. The development of mineral resources in Africa involves the same basic elements as are involved anywhere else in the world: exploration, drilling and sampling, metallurgical assessment, and economic evaluation before, if it is justified, a prospect is brought to the productive stage. The same range of factors controls the economic viability of a project in Africa as elsewhere, of which the most important are:

Jan 1, 1968

In the examination of an undeveloped prospect a decision must be arrived at from an inspection of the outcrops and the exposures in a few shallow pits. Prospects that are offered for sale rarely expose any important quantity of good ore, work having usually been stopped when the immediate exploration no longer yielded favorable results. It should be borne in mind, furthermore, that a great majority of prospects have been examined many times, and if of conspicuous promise, would have been acquired-for development. In most cases the problem for the engineer, therefore, is to discover the traces of a valuable mineralization that has disappeared through solution, or the conditions that indicate the possibility, or probability, of underlying secondary enrichments. The available data being meager, every feature should be the subject of careful study-the condition of the outcrop, the structural relationships, the associations of minerals, the alterations of wall rocks, the chances for underlying enrichments, and so forth, as well as the actual assay value of the material exposed. It is frequently advisable to spend the time and money necessary to have trenches dug at various significant points along a promising outcrop; such exposures, even if the depth attained is slight, often disclose conditions that are not apparent at the actual surface, as for example, the existence of soft minerals and the distribution of the various minerals through the mass of the deposit. Trenches also permit samples to be taken from points that were not accessible during former examinations. Strong, persistent outcrops of uniform width may be taken to indicate the probable size and character of the underlying vein,

Jan 1, 1932

By Alan Morris

BRASS rod for use in automatic screw machines is one of the major products of the brass mills. A large tonnage is consumed each year in the manufacture of an endless variety of finished articles and parts for assembly into other products. The machines that do this work have been developed to a high degree of efficiency, and their manufacturers are still striving for higher production speeds. This development has brought with it a demand for brass rod to meet the increasingly difficult machining conditions. This paper is a report of the results of tests undertaken in an effort to obtain a measure of the effects of such variables as lead content, microstructure and cold work on the machinability of brass rod. It is realized that the term "machinability" has never been well defined. Power, finish and tool life all should have a place in such a. definition. In practice it is sometimes found necessary to sacrifice some of these in order to obtain a rod that will not tend to throw up a burr, or will give a burr which is easily tumbled off. Again a specially stiff rod may be necessary because of long overhang from the chuck or a rod of special characteristics is needed to take a given broaching operation without chattering. It is only through an understanding of the effect of basic mill operations on the machinability of the rod that such problems as these may be solved most economically. It is hoped that this paper, together with the discussion it may evoke, will prove to be a basis for such an understanding.

Jan 1, 1932

By Charles H. Eldridge, Robert J. Anderson

When a metal or alloy is poured into a mold, internal stresses are set up by the cont,raction in volume on passing from the liquid state at the temperature of pouring to the solid state at the ordinary temperature. It is assumed by the writers that all castings are internally stressed. That any casting is internally stressed is shown by its warping or distortion on maturing at the ordinary temperature, by warping or cracking on heating, or by cracking or distortion on machining. In the investigation made by the writers, the internal stresses in cast non-ferrous alloys were studied with a view to examining the effects of heat treatment (i.e., simple anneal) on the release of such stresses. Data have been obtained that show quantitatively that internal stresses can be removed by appropriate heat treatment. The investigation was limited to a study of the effect of heat treatment on stress release in cast rings of the 87:7:5:1 copper-tin-zinc-lead alloy. The writers are indebted to E. G. Fahlman for the method used for inducing stress in cast rings; to M. E. Boyd for microscopic examination and for other aid; and to G. B. Dalrymple for the chemical analyses. General Information While casting stresses have been discussed considerably, they have usually been treated in a general way, and so far as the writers know no measurements of the magnitude of internal stresses in castings have been reported. It has been suggested by many investigators, particularly in the case of steel castings, that castings are internally stressed, and that these stresses can be removed by annealing. In a casting, the internal

Jan 1, 1923

By G. H. Rowe, A. N. Stroh, D. P. Gregory

The magnitude and variation with strain of the parameters activation volume, V*; activation energy, H; and frequency factor, A, in the Arrhenius equation for strain rate are determined for colunlbium single crystals and polycrgstals. Comparison of dislocation structures in deformed columbium crystals as determined by transmission electron microscopy with the rate IF deformation of a metal crystal is a thermally activated process, rate theory can be used as a powerful tool in the study of dislocation mechanisms. seeger1 develops the following expression for plastic deformation governed by a single thermally-activated theory results suggests thai formation of lattice vacancies at jogs in screw dislocations is responsible for thermally activated deformation of poly crystalline columbium. Single crystals appear to deform by a different mechanism. Work hardening in fully recrystallized fine grain columbium is found to result from simultaneous decrease in activation volume and in the number of mobile dislocations with increasing strain. Work hardening in recovered polycrystals is found to result from decrease in activation volume with strain only. dislocation mechanism. His equation for strain rate is where N is the number of mobile dislocations per unit volume held up at energy barriers, v is the frequency with which the dislocations "try" the energy barriers, b is the Burgers vector, a is the area a dislocation loop sweeps out after overcoming a barrier, V* is the activation volume which will be defined more completely later, and t* is the thermal component of stress equal to (Ta-Ti), where Ta is applied shear stress and Ti is internal stress of the dislocation network17' given by

Jan 1, 1963

By Robert J. Anderson, Charles H. Eldridge

When a metal or alloy is poured into a mold, internal stresses are set up by the cont,raction in volume on passing from the liquid state at the temperature of pouring to the solid state at the ordinary temperature. It is assumed by the writers that all castings are internally stressed. That any casting is internally stressed is shown by its warping or distortion on maturing at the ordinary temperature, by warping or cracking on heating, or by cracking or distortion on machining. In the investigation made by the writers, the internal stresses in cast non-ferrous alloys were studied with a view to examining the effects of heat treatment (i.e., simple anneal) on the release of such stresses. Data have been obtained that show quantitatively that internal stresses can be removed by appropriate heat treatment. The investigation was limited to a study of the effect of heat treatment on stress release in cast rings of the 87:7:5:1 copper-tin-zinc-lead alloy. The writers are indebted to E. G. Fahlman for the method used for inducing stress in cast rings; to M. E. Boyd for microscopic examination and for other aid; and to G. B. Dalrymple for the chemical analyses. General Information While casting stresses have been discussed considerably, they have usually been treated in a general way, and so far as the writers know no measurements of the magnitude of internal stresses in castings have been reported. It has been suggested by many investigators, particularly in the case of steel castings, that castings are internally stressed, and that these stresses can be removed by annealing. In a casting, the internal

Jan 1, 1923

By D. A. Belforti, M. P. Lepie

Spectroscopically pure copper was melted on sapphire plaques in a zydrogen atmosphere. The surface tension of the liquid metal was determined using the sessile drop technique. Measurements were made by direct observation with the aid of a specially const,mcted telescope. The value obtained, 1268 dynes per cm, is compared to that found in the literature. THERE is at this time considerable interest in the use of ceramics for vacuum tubes. The crystalline material is superior to the more conventional glass in mechanical strength, chemical inertness, dielectric properties, ability to withstand high temperatures, and so forth. However, ceramics are much more difficult to seal hermetically with metals than are the glasses. For this reason an investigation was undertaken to determine the wetting and adhesion of metals to ceramics. The sessile drop technique offers a convenient means at elevated temperatures for measuring liquid surface tension, wetting angle, density, spread- ing coefficient, and work of adhesion. Thus, from the contour of a drop of liquid at rest on a solid surface one can obtain a quantitative evaluation of the degree to which the two substances will bond. To this end a special apparatus was constructed so that various molten metals could be observed. Standardization of the apparatus was done initially by measuring the surface tension of copper since this is well documented in the metallurgy literature. Although there are many methods available for the measurement of surface energy,'+ the sessile drop technique has been used most extensively for molten metals and ceramics.5"' Fig. 1 illustrates the dimensions to be measured. From these values, the surface tension of the liquid can be obtained using the Bashforth and bdams' equation and tables.

Jan 1, 1963

By H. G. Warren, E. W. Hough

Correlation of interfacial tension of the methane-n-pentane and methane-n-decane systems was made by Hough and Stegemeier by the use of the Weinaug and Katz equation. The methane-n-heptane and ethylene-n-heptane systems were investigated by the authors. Additional systems taken from the literature were the me thane-propane system by Weinaug. and Katz, the methane-n-butane system by Pennington and Hough, and the n- butane -carbon dioxide system by Brauer and Hough. These systems were analyzed by the Weinaug-Katz equation and the Sugden equation on the IBM 1620 11 computer using a regression analysis program. Parachor and exponent values for each component and system were determined. The experimental work was close to the critical point of the light component in the n-butane-carbon dioxide and ethylene-n-heptane systems, between the critical points of the light and heavy components in the methane-n-pentane, methane-n-heptane and methane-n-decane systems, and close to the critical point of the heavy component in the methane-pmpane and methane-n-butane systems. An empirical formula was developed to find a value of the constant B in the Sugden equation for binary hydrocarbon systems from the parachor values of the two components. Interfacial tension for binary hydrocarbon systems was found to be a direct function of liquid-vapor phase density difference in the same manner as a single-component system. DISCUSSION Interfacial tension may be defined as the measure of the specific free surface energy between two phases having different compositions.1 The interfacial tension (IFT) for a binary system may be predicted for any temperature and pressure if the

Jan 1, 1967

By H. M. Day, C. H. Mathewson

THE constitution of the system silver-mercury has attracted the attention of many investigators during the last two decades, but since their results are for the most part in poor agreement, there is little need for a review of their individual contributions. It remained for the very careful thermal and microscopic investigation of Murphy' in 1931 to give the constitutional diagram in its present and unquestioned form, which is shown in Fig. 1. He devised methods for taking cooling curves on alloys under high pressures and for the microscopic observation of alloys which contained liquid mercury as a structural constituent at ordinary temperatures. The compositions of the intermediate phases were confirmed and supplemented through X-ray analyses by Preston2 and Stenbeck.3 According to Murphy, at 276° C. silver is able to dissolve 44 to 45 weight per cent of mercury, which may increase at lower temperatures to about 50 per cent. Preston concluded that the saturation boundary occurred at 46 ± 2 per cent at 100° C. From the values reported in the literature, these are the only ones that may be accepted as lying even in. the right region. PREPARATION OF ALLOYS The silver used in the present investigation was supplied by the United States Metals Refining Co. through the courtesy of the Committee on Industrial Uses of Silver and, since a complete spectrographic and chemical analysis was furnished, no attempt was made to purify it or to further establish the impurities present. The analyses reported by the company are shown in Table 1. Milligan4 has found that the magnesium content is probably less than 0.0005 per cent.

Jan 1, 1938

By C Gunther

In the examination of an undeveloped prospect a decision must be arrived at from an inspection of the outcrops and the exposures in a few shallow pits. Prospects that are offered for sale rarely expose any important quantity of good ore, work having usually been stopped when the immediate exploration no longer yielded favorable results. It should be borne in mind, furthermore, that a great majority of prospects have been examined many times, and if of conspicuous promise, would have been acquired for development. In most cases the problem for the engineer, therefore, is to discover the traces of a valuable mineralization that has disappeared through solution, or the conditions that indicate the possibility, or probability, of underlying secondary enrichments. The available data being meager, every feature should be the subject of careful study-the condition of the outcrop, the structural relationships, the associations of minerals, the alterations of wall rocks, the chances for underlying enrichments, and so forth, as well as the actual assay value of the material exposed. It is frequently advisable to spend the time and money necessary to have trenches dug at various significant points along a promising outcrop; such exposures, even if the depth attained is slight, often disclose conditions that are not apparent at the actual surface, as for example, the existence of soft minerals and the distribution of the various minerals through the mass of the deposit. Trenches also permit samples to be taken from points that were not accessible during former examinations. Strong, persistent outcrops of uniform width may be taken to indicate the probable size and character of the underlying vein,

Jan 1, 1932

By S. R. Zimmerley, John Gross

A survey of the status of ore dressing in 19231 placed particular stress on the need of research in the crushing and grinding of ore, especially on the need for a method of measuring the surface of the products obtained in crushing and grinding and for fundamental data on the law of crushing, in order that intelligent conclusions may be drawn from actual crushing or grinding experiments. There has been no satisfactory means of determining the surface of crushed products. The results have been judged entirely by the amount of the various sizes produced, based on sieve sizing for particles above 74 microns in size and on microscopic measurement or elutriation for particles below 74 microns, a method which could give only a general idea of what had been accomplished. The fact that the long controversy between the followers of Kick and of Rittinger has resulted in no accepted conclusion is evidence of the need for fundamental data on the crushing law. Some Methods of Measuring Surface of Particles A dissolution method was used by Wolff to measure surfaces of glass powder. A mixture of sodium carbonate and sodium hydroxide was the solvent and the amount of glass dissolved in two hours from the powder was compared with that dissolved from a glass plate.2 Lately Herbert F. Kriege has used the dissolution method in determining surface of calcite and limestone.3 Dr. Geoffrey Martin and his coworkers in England have also used a dissolution method to determine surface on quartz. They compared the amount of quartz dissolved from the sample in one hour by a hydrofluoric acid solution with the amount dissolved from a measured quartz

Jan 1, 1930

By C. H. Mathewson, H. M. Day

The constitution of the system silver-mercury has attracted the attention of many investigators during the last two decades, but since their results are for the most part in poor agreement, there is little need for a review of their individual contributions. It remained for the very careful thermal and microscopic investigation of Murphy1 in 1931 to give the constitutional diagram in its present and unquestioned form, which is shown in Fig. 1. He devised methods for taking cooling curves on alloys under high pressures and for the microscopic observation of alloys which contained liquid mercury as a structural constituent at ordinary temperatures. The compositions of the intermediate phases were confirmed and supplemented through X-ray analyses by Preston2 and Stenbeck.3 According to Murphy, at 2760 C. silver is able to dissolve 44 to 45 weight per cent of mercury, which may increase at lower temperatures to about 50 per cent. Preston concluded that the saturation boundary occurred at 46 ± 2 per cent at 100° C. From the values reported in the literature, these are the only ones that may be accepted as lying even in the right region. Preparation of Alloys The silver used in the present investigation was supplied by the United States Metals Refining Co. through the courtesy of the Committee on Industrial Uses of Silver and, since a complete spectrographic and chemical analysis was furnished, no attempt was made to purify it or to further establish the impurities present. The analyses reported by the company are shown in Table 1. Milligan4 has found that the magnesium content is probably less than 0.0005 per cent.

Jan 1, 1938

By H. M. Day, C. H. Mathewson

The constitution of the system silver-mercury has attracted the attention of many investigators during the last two decades, but since their results are for the most part in poor agreement, there is little need for a review of their individual contributions. It remained for the very careful thermal and microscopic investigation of Murphy1 in 1931 to give the constitutional diagram in its present and unquestioned form, which is shown in Fig. 1. He devised methods for taking cooling curves on alloys under high pressures and for the microscopic observation of alloys which contained liquid mercury as a structural constituent at ordinary temperatures. The compositions of the intermediate phases were confirmed and supplemented through X-ray analyses by Preston2 and Stenbeck.3 According to Murphy, at 2760 C. silver is able to dissolve 44 to 45 weight per cent of mercury, which may increase at lower temperatures to about 50 per cent. Preston concluded that the saturation boundary occurred at 46 ± 2 per cent at 100° C. From the values reported in the literature, these are the only ones that may be accepted as lying even in the right region. Preparation of Alloys The silver used in the present investigation was supplied by the United States Metals Refining Co. through the courtesy of the Committee on Industrial Uses of Silver and, since a complete spectrographic and chemical analysis was furnished, no attempt was made to purify it or to further establish the impurities present. The analyses reported by the company are shown in Table 1. Milligan4 has found that the magnesium content is probably less than 0.0005 per cent.

Jan 1, 1938

By C. Z. Serpan, L. J. Wittenberg

The density of liquid plutonium was determined, by a pycnometm'c technique, from 664 to 788°C and exhibited a temperature dependence, which could be expressed as:. P= C17.63 - 1.52 x 10-"t] +0.04 g per cc where t = OC. These density values compare favorably with the values previously obtained by a technique utilizing Archimedes' principle. The apparatus and method were evaluated when the densities 0.f molten tin and bismuth were measured and found to be in agreement with accepted literature values. PLUTONIUM or an alloy of plutonium in the liquid state has been proposed as a fuel for a fast-breeder type nuclear power plant.' Since knowledge of the liquid density of plutonium is required for the proper design of such a system, this study was undertaken. In addition, the density and volume expansion coefficient of liquid plutonium are of interest for comparison with these same properties of the six allotropic modifications of the solid metal. Comstock and GibneyZ were first to report a value for the density of liquid plutonium. The value for only one temperature, 665"C, was calculated from data obtained by the radiography of the meniscus, Fig. 3. Recently, the density at a series of temperatures has been reported by Knight,3 who obtained his values by using a differential volumeter, and by 01-sen, Sandenaw, and Herrik, who obtained their values from measurements of the loss in weight of a tungsten bob immersed in the liquid. The density of liquid plutonium reported here was determined by a vacuum pycnometer method. In an evacuated system, the tips of calibrated tantalum pycnometers were lowered beneath the liquid sur-

Jan 1, 1962

By W. Robert Power

Dimension stone is considered by many the premium material for beauty and durability in institutional and monumental construction. Nonetheless in the United States it commands an ever decreasing share of the total market. At the beginning of the century dimension stone accounted for more than half the stone produced in the United States, but by 1974 it accounted for little more than 0.2% and the number of producing quarries and finishing plants had greatly reduced. This decrease in use is accounted for in part by competition from cheaper materials, but another factor seems to be the demand by many designers for uniformity and exact repetition of modular units in construction. Even where stone is used in large buildings modem architects want blandness of pattern and uniformity of color in the stone. Because most natural stone contains variations in color and pattern great strain is put on the quarriers to overcome this and produce a uniform product. This results in increased costs, increased waste at the quarries, and consequently increased price in the market. In spite of this, stone is still looked on as the most prestigious of building materials and its aesthetic appeal is born out by the many simulated stone patterns found in synthetic materials. End Use and Specifications The principal uses of dimension stone are in building construction and monuments. Other uses include flagging, curbing, paving, mill-stock slate, roofing slate, laboratory furniture, and refractory brick. Because many of these uses overlap, an orderly classification of dimension stone uses is most difficult. Various classifications have been used by Cumer (1960), Barton (1968), the U.S. Bureau of Mines yearbooks, and the Building Stone Institute (Anon., 1972).

Jan 1, 1975