Search Documents

By T. T. Read

FOR the second time the Mineral Industry Education Division opened the sessions at the Annual Meeting by gathering at the Engineering Woman's Club, Sunday at 3 p. in., and, in spite of the informality of the hour, with a good attendance of representative men in the educational field. The chairman of the Division, Thomas T. Read, after briefly reviewing some of the more significant events of the past year, introduced H. P. Hammond, professor of civil engineering, Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, a leading figure in the project of the Engineers' Council for Professional Development for accrediting engineering schools. Prof. Hammond made it clear that the project is not to rate engineering schools but to accredit them; not to arrange them in order of excellence, but to segregate them into two groups, those that are entitled to recognition as genuine engineering schools, and those that are not. About thirty schools in the whole country will presumably fall into the latter class; they are typified by an unnamed institution where the teacher of mathematics bears the title of Professor of Civil Engineering and the man who teaches chemistry that of Professor of Chemical Engineering, and having no engineering instruction except some elementary surveying, but still claiming in its catalogue to be an engineering college. While everyone would like to avoid the necessity of accrediting engineering colleges, it cannot be avoided, since the University of the State of New York, and several other agencies, are already doing it. If it cannot be avoided it is best that it should be done by a qualified agency set up by the national engineering societies, so that the results may command respect and general acceptance. It is for this reason, and this alone, that the accrediting committee of the E. C. P. D. has been set up. It is now ready to begin its task, and during-the coming year it will accredit the schools in two of the seven geographical districts into which the country has been divided, beginning with New England and the Mid-Atlantic States.

Jan 1, 1935

By J. J. Brown

Wilkes-Barre Meeting, Julie, runs., THE ore-hearth was the earliest type of furnace used in smelting Mississippi Valley lead-ores, which are very pure, and low in silver-content. The first smelters made no attempts to recover lead from the smoke; and since about 15 per cent. of the lead -in the charge escaped in this manner, early practice with the hearth was decidedly wasteful. At most of the large smelting-plants blast-furnaces with auxiliary roasters were substituted for the hearths long ago. But, upon the introduction of the Lewis and Bartlett bag-process for collecting fume, the ore-hearth was used by companies engaged in the manufacture -of pigments, simply on account of the large percentage of fume made by it. In fact, the extraction of lead was kept down by the use of hot blast and other devices. During recent years, however, several smelting companies have realized that the preliminary roasting of galena for the blast-furnace is not economical, and have, therefore, replaced the roasting-furnace with a modification. of the old Scotch hearth, in which a large percentage of the lead in a charge is recovered directly as pig-lead, while the remainder passes partly into fume and partly into slag low enough in sulphur to be charged into the blast-furnace without further treatment. The results obtained have proved so satisfactory, both As to recovery and operating-expense, that one eminent metallurgist has predicted the universal use of the ore-hearth on non-argentiferous ores. The-ore-hearth, thus employed as an adjunct to a blast-furnace plant, is rather a desulphurizer than a smelting-furnace proper,-the chief object being to make a blue slag suitable for the cupola-furnace. Hence, no special care is taken to obtain from it a large lead-extraction. * Head of Department of Ore Dressing and Metallurgy, Oklahoma School of Mines and Metallurgy, Wilburton, Okla.

May 1, 1911

By Leo Behr

RECENT years have seen important practical advances in the construction of recording instruments for use with thermocouples. The difficulties of the problem will be appreciated when it is remembered that a 10° F. change in temperature of a base-metal couple at 1500° means a change in the electromotive force of about 0.00035 volt. In a circuit having a resistance of 350 ohms, this means a change in the current of 0.00000,1 amp.; and despite this requirement of great sensitivity the instruments must be sufficiently robust to withstand the rough usage which is so often their lot. Two methods are in common use for the measurement of the electromotive force produced by a thermocouple: 1. The milliammeter method, in which the current produced by the thermocouple in a circuit of known resistance is measured and from. this the electromotive force is deduced by Ohm's law. 2. The potentiometer method in which a known potential difference is opposed to the thermocouple electromotive force. The use of thermocouple and milliammeter for measuring temperature introduces some possible sources of error, for the reading depends on a number of factors, including the following: (1) Electromotive force set up at the hot junction, (2) electromotive force set up at the cold junction, (3) resistance of the circuit including thermocouple, lead wires, and meter, (4) field strength of magnets, (5) strength of controlling springs in meter, (6) friction at pivots, of pointer on paper, etc. It is obviously necessary to so design and maintain the installation that the reading is independent of all the factors except the first. The electromotive force set up at the cold junction can easily be taken care of provided it is constant. This has been approximately accomplished by burying the cold junction in the ground or actually secured by locating it in a container, the temperature of which is kept constant by means of a thermostat.

Jan 9, 1919

By JAMES GAYLE

(Presented at the Washington meeting, May 3, 1905, and simultaneously sent to the Iron and Steel Institute, for presentation at the meeting of that Society in London, May 11, 1905.) IT is to be regretted that the data respecting the use of dry-air blast, which was presented to the Iron and Steel Institute at its meeting in the United States, in October, 1904, should. have been restricted to the period from August 25th to September 9th inclusive, and from September 17th to 30th inclusive. In order to present the paper at all it was found necessary to limit the record of operations to the period above stated. In the discussion of the paper it would appear from the conclusions of some participating therein, that they have been placed at some disadvantage in considering the economies obtained through the use of dry-air blast, by reason of the data covering such a short period. It is the purpose of this communication to present in detail the record of operations of the Isabella Furnaces from November, 1904, to March, 1905, inclusive, as shown by the furnace-records. The month of October, 1904, is not included, as the furnace using dry-air blast was stopped several times for repairs, and while the record was a very good one considering these interruptions, yet it was not a continuous one. The record for Furnace No. 1 using dry-air blast, and the comparison with Furnace No. 3 using natural air for the month of November, 1904, is set forth in Table I. By a reference to my former paper it will be noted that the month of November is the beginning in this country of the winter period, when the atmosphere decreases rapidly in humidity. The month of October being the transition month in the autumn and April in the spring, and furnaces using natural air approach more closely, from November on, to the conditions obtained by the use of dry-air blast. The data given in

Jul 1, 1905

By Warden A. Moller

(Pittsburg Meeting, March, 1910.) THE Fushun coal-field, now being opened up by the South Manchurian Railway Co., is connected with the main line by a branch, 30 miles long, from Sui Chia Tun, 10 miles south of Mukden, the capital of Manchuria. The coal-field, which lies on the southern bank of the Hun river, 25 miles east of Mukden, consists of a long narrow valley,. running east and west between hills composed of granitic and volcanic rocks. At the foot of the northern hills, the Hun river flows westward towards the Liao river, which drains the greater part of South Manchuria. At the foot of the southern hills, resting immediately upon volcanic rocks, and overlain by 20 ft. of alluvial, is a thick layer of Tertiary shales, carrying near the base two coal-seams. In many places the lower of these two seams is in immediate contact with volcanic lauds and basalts, the flows of which were evidently both prior and subsequent to the formation of the coal-seams. This contact has practically destroyed the lower seam for commercial purposes. The value of the field lies in the upper seam, which, for a length of nearly 8 miles, varies from 100 to 130 ft. thick. Of this seam, 85 per cent is good coal. The seam dips to the north conformably with the shales, at angles of from 25° to 30°, and appears to have an uninterrupted dip for about 1.5 miles before being possibly cut o$' by the northern hills. The coal-bearing shales extend east and west for a length of about 20 miles, but towards the east the continuity of the seams is broken by intrusive rocks. The coal is of the sub-bituminous variety, low in ash, bright in appearance, and breaks with a conchoidal fracture. It has the usual qualities of Tertiary coal-quick steam-raising and poor stacking-qualities. Pieces of resin, varying in size from

Apr 1, 1910

Ware B. Gay, Richmond, Va.: Having followed the remarks of Prof. Woodworth with great interest, especially his suggestions for drilling in the part of the coal-field on the south side of the James river, I would like to inquire of him if he reached his conclusions after fully considering the situation as existing upon the north side of the James ? My reason for this inquiry is, that upon the north side the eastern and western outcrops are much nearer each other than appears to me to be the case upon the south side, and also that the western outcrop on the north side is much more clearly defined than upon the south side. It is now about twelve years since I first became interested in the Richmond coal-field—and until about six years ago I passed much time in investigation and spent thousands of dollars in developments. About six years ago the properties in which I was more especially interested were leased to other parties, and since that time I have had little or nothing to do with the mining operations. I regret to say the price of coals has ruled so low during most of the time since the lease was made that the developments have not been as extensive as the lessees had originally intended. The result of my investigations after considering all the theories, expert reports, legends and other information I could obtain bearing upon the subject, was the opinion, which I still hold, that the most practicable and most economical way for proving the extent and value of the field is by sinking slopes from the eastern outcrop, and by prosecuting such slopes in the vein and following the coal to the western outcrop, thus obtaining an actual cross-section in fact and not in theory. Proceeding upon this hypothesis, I sought for the positions where this could probably be accomplished most quickly and develop a marketable coal-area as the work thus progressed. The outcrops on the north side being nearer each other, and

Jan 1, 1902

By James F. Kemp

Discussion of the paper of D. Foster Hewett, Bulletin To. 27, March, 1909, pp. 291 to 310. JAMES F. KEMP, New York, N. Y.:-Mr. Hewett's paper is one of exceptional interest, because it not only adds an important contribution regarding one of the rarer, valuable elements, but also because it introduces compounds hitherto unknown and in associations no less novel. While we have occasionally dis¬covered and recorded asphaltite in metalliferous deposits, for example in the Joplin and Granby districts, we have not seen a metallic ore in a deposit essentially asphaltite. The source and method of introduction afford a subject well worth serious reflection. Vanadium was first discovered and recognized as a distinct element in the slags obtained in smelting the titaniferous magnetites at Taberg, Sweden. For a long time, therefore, we looked upon the titaniferous magnetites as its hone. Analyses proved, years ago, that it was present in the ores of this type in New Jersey and in the Adirondacks. It was quite rarely determined, but when looked for it was, I think, invariably found, although the Amount seldom exceeded 0.5 per cent. of V,05., In just what combination it exists in the titaniferous ores is uncertain. One might imagine V2O3 replacing some of the Fe2O3 of magnetite; or, since in the lead series vanadates and phosphates are closely akin, one might wonder if a lime-vanadate could take the place of apatite. Yet no lime-vanadate has been found in nature, and apatite itself is usually rare in the titaniferous ores. When percentage-curves are plotted for a series of analyses of the ores, the line of vanadic oxide shows a curious sympathetic behavior with the line of chromic oxide;' but the data are somewhat limited, and no compound has sug¬gested itself which throws light on the matter. Dr. W. F. Hillebrand has discussed the occurrence and dis-

Oct 1, 1909

Mr. A. Bement, Chicago, Ill. (communication to the Secretary*) :—Mr. Campbell, in proposing his method of sampling coal-seams, has rendered an important service in insisting on the presentation of an adequate history of the sample; and it is to be hoped that his suggestion will meet with further recommendation. In my opinion it is fully as important that a complete description of the sample and the conditions surrounding its taking be given, as the results of the analysis itself; and if such should become standard practice, coal-analysis would assume greater value. As it is, the published data are very confusing, and only to an extremely small extent are they really useful. The method suggested by Mr. Campbell, however, cannot have a general application; for example, in the Eastern Interior coal-basin, particularly at the present time, the output consists largely in grades other than mine-run, which in Illinois, for the year 1905, was only about 24 per cent. of the total product; and inasmuch as Mr. Campbell's method of sampling cannot give values for any other grade than mine-run, my contention that, at best, it can have but a limited application, is apparent. To illustrate the argument, there are two coal-seams, with the characteristics of which I am particularly familiar; each seam, as it lies in the ground, contains almost exactly 10 per cent. of ash; the lump coal from one of these seams ranges from 10 to 11 per cent. of ash, but from the other seam it does not average more than 6 per cent., although, as before mentioned, the average percentage of ash in the full seam is the same for each case. A careful and proper sampling of coal-seams, to be followed by analyeis, is to be commended in connection with all investigation; in fact, it should precede any careful study. A serious error, however, may be made in attempting to use such results to set values on the product as shipped or received. The only

Jan 1, 1906

By R. H. SWEETSERS

A Discussion of Mr. Hall's paper, read at the Washington Meeting, February, 1905. R. H. SWEETSER, Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. (communication to the Secretary*) :-The recent work of furnace No. 1 of The Algoma Steel Co., at Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, using for fuel, first all charcoal, then a mixture of charcoal and coke, and finally all coke, upsets the estimates given by Mr. Hall in the last two paragraphs of his interesting paper. Furnace No. 1 was built for a charcoal-furnace, and it was run on charcoal fuel from March 6 until July 9, 1905; then, for a week, a mix¬ture of charcoal and coke was used, and, since then, coke alone has been the only fuel. It is to be regretted that at no time, during the run on charcoal, was there enough charcoal on hand and " in sight'" to warrant blowing the furnace as hard as it should have been blown. During April and May the supply of charcoal limited the amount of blast to about 8,000 cu. ft. of air per min.; in June, to about 8,900 cubic feet. For a few days in July about 10,000 cu. ft. were blown, and then the maximum daily output, 173 tons (2,240 1b.), was reached. At all times the quality of the charcoal was poor, having been made from wood cut from three to four years before. Doubtless this furnace could have produced .200 tons of iron per day, even with this quality of charcoal, provided the supply had been sufficient; and with good charcoal I see no reason why it could not make as much iron per day as it has made with coke. During the one week of using a mixture of charcoal and coke, the changes in quantity of blast and composition of the slag followed each other so closely that no single condition could last long on the furnace. The results were good, and the pig-iron was about the same in quality as that made during the

Jan 1, 1906

By E. P. Mathewson

THE experiments described in this paper were made at the Washoe Reduction Works, Anaconda, Mont., for the purpose of determining the relative speed of elimination of the iron, sulphur and arsenic during the process of bessemerizing copper-mattes. The samples were taken from a horizontal "barrel" converter, 8 ft. in diameter and 12 ft. 6 in. long, having an average charge of 9 tons of matte, and blown with a 16-1b. air-pressure. All samples were taken with the blast on, turning the converter from its normal blowing-position to nearly verti¬cal, so that a conical mold, with a long handle attached to a horizontal rod, could be introduced from a platform above the converter into the mouth of the converter and a sample taken. The difficulties of taking a sample with the blast on are appar¬ent, and the irregularities of the lines in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 can be readily accounted for by the amount of slag in the samples. On the whole, the plotting of the results gives comparatively uniform lines, considering the conditions. The samples were taken by the regular sampling-force of the works at 10-min. intervals, as shown in Tables I., II and III, which also give the chemical analysis of the samples so taken. The test shown in Table I. was made with a new converter; that of Table II with a converter that had made three charges and had been cleaned out; that of Table III with a converter that bad blown one charge to white metal, and had then been " washed " out and used for the test. In plotting these results, it was necessary to take, as a basis, the percentage of copper in the samples. This basis does not exactly represent the true condition, since the volume is constantly decreasing and a certain quantity of copper passes into the slag, but it is as near as can be obtained in practice. Take, for instance, in Table I., the sample No. 5, which shows : Cu, 59.9;

Jan 1, 1907

By P. K. Guerrero, N. Arbiter

The correlation of power consumed by a tumbling mill with the dimensions, speed, and load has been attempted by three principal methods. One of these, the torque formula, has been reviewed critically elsewhere.' This approach, while analytical, disregards the individual motion and speed of the tumbling bodies and assumes that the gross geometry of the entire load is sufficient to establish the power requirement. A more general approach, using dimensional analysis, has been applied in this laboratory by the present authors1'1, and more recently by Rose.3 This disregards the internal conditions within the mill entirely and in effect is an empirical procedure for correlating data. Finally, the complete analysis of tumbling mill dynamics as first made by Davis' attempts to develop the power requirement from individual ball and rod paths and velocities. Although Davis' result is applicable only at a single speed for a given size and load it could be useful, since his optimum speed is at the upper limits of conventional tumbling mill practice. Where power values predicted by the Davis equation were compared with actual mill requirements, they were found too low for small mills and much too high for the largest mills. This suggested that the agreement with actual intermediate range requirements might be fortuitous, and the development of the equation was examined critically. The probable source of error was found to lie in an erroneous assumption made by Davis in converting the energy of ball or rod motion to power. With the same approach, but with different assumptions, a modified equation has been obtained which predicts results that are usually consistently high. This is to be expected, since it is assumed that there is no slip between load and shell and no interference among tumbling bodies. Both these effects should account for the difference. Development of Equation: When a cylindrical shell charged with a substantial weight of rods or balls is slowly rotated about a horizontal axis, the load surface first assumes an inclination that gradually increases to a maximum. Continued rotation results in failure within the load, characterized by a sliding of the top layers down the slope and a reduction in the angle of inclination. Further rotation again increases the angle, and the cycle repeats. If the speed is increased, there is continuous load failure and build-up and a continuous stream of rods or balls descends over the upcoming mass, which moves in circular arcs. At higher speeds the up-

Jan 1, 1961

By H. T. Kennedy, J. E. Little

An empirical equation for the prediction of the viscosity of several pure paraffin hydrocarbons and nitrogen is presented. It involves temperature, pressure and six constants of the material, and it applies reliably to both liquids and gases. The equation is similar in form to van der Waal's equation of state. For the paraffin hydrocarbons methane through r-hexane and nitrogen, an average absolute deviation of 1.9 percent was obtained on 1,006 data points described in the literature by 14 authors. When this equation is extended to complex, liquid hydrocarbon mixtures, a correlation was obtained with an average absolute deviation of 9.9 percent. INTRODUCTION Equations describing the flow of gas and liquid through porous media contain the viscosity coefficient of the fluid. If other pertinent variables remain constant, the volume rate of flow is inversely proportional to this coefficient. In dealing with condensate fluids and volatile oils, however, the compositional effects resulting from changing pressure materially affect the viscosity. The effect of compositional changes also may be significant in certain secondary recovery or pressure maintenance processes, notably miscible displacement or gas injection. Early attempts to describe the performance of reservoirs utilized a volumetric material balance method wherein gas and liquid in the reservoir were identified as produced gas and liquid at the surface. This method of analysis proved adequate for reservoirs at moderate temperature and pressure that contained gas with moderately low amounts of condensable materials. The volumetric material balance procedures for "black oil" reservoirs leave much to be desired when applied to condensate and volatile oil reservoirs because phase behavior and compositional changes are relatively more important in these cases. The alternative is a compositional material balance, which in turn, requires a correlation of properties of the reservoir fluid with composition. This paper supplies this correlation in regard to viscosity, for reservoir crude oils. REVIEW OF LITERATURE The literature contains many empirical equations describing the effects of composition, temperature and pressure on the viscosities of pure liquids and binary liquid mixtures. However, the applicability of a majority of these equations is limited to very low pressures and to a small number of systems. Most of them, when applied to complex hydrocarbon systems, are of little value. The lack of utility of the majority of equations results from the fact that they were developed to show the separate effect of temperature, pressure or composition on viscosity, but not to predict the viscosity as a function of all three variables. And with the few exceptions noted below, they were developed to apply to much simpler systems than hydrocarbon mixtures. Eakin1 developed an equation for the viscosity of pure light hydrocarbons applicable in the gas, liquid and dense fluid regions, and in its most general form is written as µ - µo =A(ebP - e-cpk) The pure component viscosity at atmospheric pressure and temperature T, µo, was calculated using the Sutherland equation: µo = BT3/2/T + S The constants in Eakin's equation permitted the term e-CPk to become quite small at high densities (above 0.215 gm/cc), and the general equation would simplify to

Jan 1, 1969

By Nico Van Wingen

Experiments performed with distilled water, unconsolidated sand and dead oil for the purpose of determining the influence of oil flow on the water content of sands were described. While results found are not necessarily, therefore, identical with those that would be obtained under natural petroleum reservoir conditions, the following conclusions were drawn. 1. When oil under constant head is flowed through an unconsolidated sand, the amount of water retained in the core is inversely proportional to the specific permeability of the core. This corroborates the view that the degree to which oil displaces water out of the pore space is limited by the size of the pores. 2. For the range investigated, the displacing action of a more viscous oil of higher specific gravity was found to be the same as a less viscous oil, or lower specific gravity. 3. The amount of interstitial water retained in the sand bears an inverse relationship to the pressure head of the displacing liquid. 4. The degree of retained water saturation of the sand appears to approach 100 per cent as the specific permeability approaches zero. 5. For the higher values of specific permeability and for the pressure range investigated the remaining amount of water in the sand occupies approximately 10 per cent of the pore space. This, together with the fact that the limiting oil velocity curve approaches approximately 10 per cent water saturation as an asymptote, indicates that beyond this point removal of water is achieved only by a stripping of the grains requiring considerable pressure drops across the sands; or by a balancing of the molecular forces. 6. As the water saturation of the sand exceeds approximately 15 per cent of the pore volume, the permeability of the sand to oil decreases rapidly. 7. Sands with water saturations as high as 40 per cent were found to produce 100 per cent oil.

Jan 1, 1939

The resignation of Herbert Hoover, Director General of Relief in Europe, from his post as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Food Administration Grain Corporation, in which capacity he had served for nearly two years; and the reorganization of the corporation under the name of the United States Grain Corporation, with Julius Barnes, United States Wheat Director, as its new head, took place at the annual meeting of the stockholders, held in New York, July 1. This action on the hart of Mr. Hoover is believed to be one of the first steps in his intended withdrawal from public service upon the conclusion of the war service of the various departments of the Food Administration, or as soon as they shall have been absorbed by other agencies. The Grain Corporation has been, for the past two years, a vast collection and distribution agency. Its function has been to assist in supplying to the Allies and the American Army and Navy large quantities of wheat, wheat flout, and other foods, with very little disturbance of American prices, and with such an even control of American distribution that reserves from one crop to another have been brought down to the lowest possible compass and without the dvelopment of actual scarcity anywhere in the United States. In the year just past, it carried on all the buying and the shipping for, the Belgian Relief Commission, until the commission retired on May 1 and the Belgian Government itself undertook its own overseas supplies. During the twenty-two months of its existence the corporation had disbursed $3,500,000,000 and collected an equal amount, selling for over-seas shipments commodities valued at $1,800,000,000, at an operating expense of about $3,250,000, or one-sixth of 1 per cent. During this time it has not lost a single dollar through fire loss.

Jan 8, 1919

By O. C. Wheeler

The slackening of activity in oil development in Colombia, which was noted in 1931, continued throughout 1932. In the producing fields output was further curtailed and active operations were substantially reduced. Exploratory work was at the lowest level reached in a good many years. Applications and Contracts for New Concessions The areas covered by the four applications accepted by the government in 1931 for concessions on national lands were not finally awarded the applicants, although the indications are that these will be granted during the coming year. iln application of Sr. Luciano Restrepo for a concession of 49,232 hectares located on the north side of the Sogamoso River in the Municipality of Bolivar, Department of Santander, was accepted by the Government toward the end of the year. The Government is expected to take action toward granting or denying this concession during 1933. The Richmond Petroleum Co. (Standard Oil Co. of California subsidiary) leased from Manuel Davila P. and Eduardo Villar a private tract known as the Fierro Arriba and Fierro Abajo lands located in the municipality of Victoria, Department of Caldas, near Honda. The terms of the lease provide for a cash rental and royalty. The company is allowed 10 years in which to start exploratory work. The lease covers a period of 15 years and is subject to renewal by periods of similar duration. Richmond Petroleum Co. The Richmond Petroleum Co. finally abandoned its Repelon No. 3 at 4312 ft., owing to drilling difficulties. No new hole was made on this well during the year. This was the only active drilling project in the country outside the Tropical Oil Company's concession, and with its abandonment all wildcat activities in the country ceased. South American Gulf Oil Co. This company did no drilling on its Colombian properties during the year. As in the preceding years, small amounts of oil, of no commercial

Jan 1, 1933

By Nico Van Wingen

Experiments performed with distilled water, unconsolidated sand and dead oil for the purpose of determining the influence of oil flow on the water content of sands were described. While results found are not necessarily, therefore, identical with those that would be obtained under natural petroleum reservoir conditions, the following conclusions were drawn. 1. When oil under constant head is flowed through an unconsolidated sand, the amount of water retained in the core is inversely proportional to the specific permeability of the core. This corroborates the view that the degree to which oil displaces water out of the pore space is limited by the size of the pores. 2. For the range investigated, the displacing action of a more viscous oil of higher specific gravity was found to be the same as a less viscous oil, or lower specific gravity. 3. The amount of interstitial water retained in the sand bears an inverse relationship to the pressure head of the displacing liquid. 4. The degree of retained water saturation of the sand appears to approach 100 per cent as the specific permeability approaches zero. 5. For the higher values of specific permeability and for the pressure range investigated the remaining amount of water in the sand occupies approximately 10 per cent of the pore space. This, together with the fact that the limiting oil velocity curve approaches approximately 10 per cent water saturation as an asymptote, indicates that beyond this point removal of water is achieved only by a stripping of the grains requiring considerable pressure drops across the sands; or by a balancing of the molecular forces. 6. As the water saturation of the sand exceeds approximately 15 per cent of the pore volume, the permeability of the sand to oil decreases rapidly. 7. Sands with water saturations as high as 40 per cent were found to produce 100 per cent oil.

Jan 1, 1939

By Arthur C. Simmons

Oil production and activity in northern and central Pennsylvania was slightly less in 1939 than in the previous year, but owing to higher average prices 1939 was undoubtedly a better business year. The last quarter showed markedly increased activities throughout all of the Pennsylvania fields. Production, Stocks and Price Storage of Pennsylvania crude oil at pipe lines and refineries totaled 5,413,000 bbl. on Dec. 31, 1938, and declined during the year 1,124,000 bbl. to a total of 4,319,000 bbl. at the end of 1939. The stocks of crude at the end of the year represent the lowest point reached in Pennsylvania-grade crude storage in recent years. Stocks increased slightly during April, May and June, but decreased during all other months of 1939. The Bradford field production within the state of Pennsylvania averaged 35,340 bbl. per day throughout 1939, which represents a decrease of 1419 bbl. a day from the 1938 average. The production in central and southern Pennsylvania increased 1176 bbl. per day, averaging 12,159 bbl. throughout 1939. Table 1 includes annual production for the part of Bradford field situated within the state of Pennsylvania, for central and southern Pennsylvania, and for the entire state of Pennsylvania. A definite segregation of production between the Bradford field and central and southern Pennsylvania is slightly ambiguous because a portion of the oil from the newly discovered Music Mountain pool is included statistically in each area. In all probability the entire increase and some small addition to the production from southern Pennsylvania can be attributed to oil produced from the Music Mountain pool. Within the Bradford field, six price changes occurred throughout the year. At the beginning of 1939 the price of Bradford crude oil was $1.80 per barrel, whereas by the end of the year it had risen to $2.50. The weighted average price for Bradford crude during 1939 was $2.059 per barrel.

Jan 1, 1940

I. N. KNAPP, Ardmore, Pa. (written discussion*).-The possibility of storing natural gas in the sands f exhausted gas pools might be, in many cases, a, good engineering proposition, but it cannot be considered a practical business proposition tinder the usual competitive leasing and operating conditions that exist in the natural-gas business. Under the usual conditions of diversified land ownership and leasing with all lack of cooperation, various operators drill into the same pool or reservoir and drain out the gas under each other's land. To attempt to use for storage purposes the depleted sands f any one pool having such various competing ownerships would be highly impractical, considered from operating and business standpoints, unless there was cooperation with the interests owning adjacent wells and leases or the purchase f the same. Also, it would be very difficult to find out whether all old or abandoned wells in any pool had been properly, plugged and thus prevent the waste of gas brought from a distance for storage. Another objection to Mr. Panyity's proposition is the probability that no lease made in the past contemplated the use of a gas sand for storage purposes. Very likely, then, the operator would have a lawsuit on his hands for the unlawful use of a lease if he attempted the storage f such gas without first obtaining additional lease rights. In some instances salt water could not be pumped from a gas well in the customary way of pumping oil wells on account of the deposition of salt in the pump valves or in the working barrel or tubing. Very ingenious compressed air jets have been devised and arranged with suitable piping to blow out such salt-water accumulations. In many pools it would be impracticable to drill a water pocket below a gas sand, as suggested, since such deeper drilling would probably. intensify water troubles.

Jan 5, 1919

THE award from the fund established by Mrs. John-son, in memory of her husband, J. E. Johnson, Jr., to be given to some promising engineer, not over 40 years of age, because of meritorious research, inven-tion or contribution to the professional literature of iron and steel along the lines of blast-furnace process, has been given, for, 1928, to P. H: Royster. Mr. Royster was born at Raleigh, N. C., in 1888. and graduated from the University of North Carolina, in 1907, taking his A.M. degree at, the same school in 1908. He then went to Harvard where he continued research work in physics. After engaging for a while in commercial research in the turbine department of the General Elec-tric Co. and with Cutting and Washington he joined the staff of the Bureau of. Mines in 1916 and was assigned to work on the physical chemistry of the blast-furnace process. He worked with A. L. Feild on slag viscosity and they jointly presented-to the Institute the. papers on "Temperature and Viscosity Relations in the Ter-nary System CaO-A12O3-SiO2" (TRANS. LVIII, 658) and "Slag Viscosity Tables for Blast-furnace Work" (TRANS. LVIII, 650). He also presented a paper on "Production of Ferromanganese in the Blast 'Furnace" .(TRANS. LXII, 18), and jointly with T. L. Joseph contributed a paper on "Effect of Coke Combustibility on Stock Descent in Blast Furnaces" (TRANS. LXX, 236), and another on "Pyrometry in Blast-furnace Work" which was included in the special pyrometry volume published in 1920. The titles of these works perhaps sufficiently indicate the part Mr. Royster has played in the notable research work on the blast-furnace process carried on by the Bureau of Mines, and for which the committee recommended him to the Board of Directors to receive the Johnson award.

Jan 2, 1928

By Myron K. Rodgers

In rock- or ore-crushing tests all data, in order to be valuable for study and comparison, should be obtained and tabulated under conditions as uniform as possible. The results of many such tests have no value for comparison, because of incomplete data and the lack of uniform conditiops, screens and scale of sizing, etc. The purpose of this paper is to suggest a form of standard specifications which may be developed by the Milling Committee and approved by the A. I. M. E. for rock-crushing tests. It is not intended to discuss any theories of rock crushing. Reports of rock-crushing tests should include the following details: 1. Description of the machine employed (jaw or gyratory crushers, rolls, stamps,tube mills, Chilean mills, etc.), 2. Method and material (timber, concrete, etc.) of foundation. Much power is dissipated in the vibration of poor foundations. 3. Locality from which the rock or ore was obtaincd, and geological, mineralogical, and physical characters of the material. 4. The power consumption of the machine running with no load and with full load, the unit of power being 1 hp. per 24 hr, 5. The capacity of the machine in tons (of 2000 Ib.) per 24 hr. 6. The duty in tons per horsepower-day. 7. The screen analysis of feed and product by the proposed A. I. M. E. standard screen scale. On the foregoing statement, the following remarlrs are offered. Toughness of Rock Table P shows the relative crushing duty of the same machine on three different characters of rock, all other crushing conditions being the same. This table indicates that the specific resistance of the rock to crushing, may affect the crushing duty of a unit of power as much as 300 per cent. Perhaps this quality may be called toughness. It is not a function of hardness only. For comparison of tests, rocks should be divided into

Jan 1, 1916