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By C. K. Leith

OTHERS here are far better qualified than I to discuss some of the specific proposals for government regulation of the oil industry. I shall make no attempt to carry oil to Oklahoma. The question of public control, however, is inherent in other branches of the mineral industry in varying degrees, and my comments will be directed mainly toward some of the trends affecting the mineral industry as a whole, as a background for your more specific consideration of oil legislation. A proud American tradition has been the insistence on freedom of competition, on equality of economic opportunity, on a policy of laissez faire. Nowhere has this principle been given wider application than in the mineral industry. The mineral field has been open to all comers, and the job of mineral exploitation has naturally attracted daring and independent spirits. The laws governing conditions of discovery and development, as well as the anti- trust laws, have been devised to foster the spirit of private initiative. The result has been the building of a mineral industry on a scale never before approximated anywhere in the world. The impetus thus gained, the methods, the technique, the financial resources, have been projected be- yond our boundaries and have made the American mineral industry the purveyor to the world for many essential commodities and first in the exploitation of the world's minerals. Our habits of individual self-reliance and success are deeply ingrained, and there is hardly an individual in the entire mineral field who does not instinctively recoil fro111 the extension of collective control, whether public or private.

Jan 1, 1932

By A. L. Holley

The occurrence of this gas, in quite appreciable quantities, has been observed for many years in its escape along the creeks of Western Pennsylvania, and more recently, in much larger quantities, from the oil wells in and near Venango County. Within about five years several gas wells have been struck, from which the gas has escaped continuously in prodigious quantities and at great pressure. During the last year a systematic attempt has been made to utilize the flow of gas from one of these wells, and results have been reached which were quite unexpected. This well, near Leechburg, Armstrong County, is about twenty miles northeast of Pittsburgh, on one of the side tributaries of the Alleghany River. It had been drilled in search of oil to a depth of 1250 feet in 1871, but none was found. A great flow of gas was developed, however, accompanied by a slight spray of salt water, and this has continued with little or no diminution to the present time. The gas in its escape has been discharged through a 5-inch pipe, and at a pressure of from 60 to 80 Ibs. per square inch, but no exact determinations, either of the pressure or quantity, have been made. The rolling mill of Messrs. Rogers & Burchfield is on the opposite side of the river, and it has been for some years devoted to the production of fine grades of sheet iron from charcoal pig metal, by puddling and in knobbling fires. The usual weekly product of the mill has been 30 tons of No. 30 tin plates, and 50 tons of No. 24 to 28 sheets. The well was bought by this firm for $1000, and the gas is led across the river, a distance of about 500 feet, through a 3-inch pipe. It is distributed through half-inch pipes, and at a pressure of about 45 Ibs. per square inch, to several of the furnaces, but a large fraction of the total flow of gas is still wasted at the well. No essential alteration in any of the furnaces has been found necessary in the use of the gas fuel, except to brick up the firebridge and to put in the gas and air pipes. The old grate used for coal is loosely covered with bricks and cinder, so that a slight percolation of air may take place through them. The gas is admitted through a half-inch pipe, and blows toward the fire-bridge through 18 or 20 one-eighth inch jets. The air is blown in at about 2 lbs.

By Clarence Hicks

THE labor policy, of the Standard Oil Co. (New Jersey) is founded. first of all on paying at least the prevailing scale of wages in the community; on, the eight-hour day, with time and one-half for overtime; one day's rest in seven; sanitary and up-to-date working conditions; just treatment assured each employee; payment of accident benefits beyond the amount prescribed by the State compensation law; health supervision by a competent medical staff; payment of sickness benefits after one year's service; cooperation with employee in promoting thrift and better social and housing conditions; and assurance for a generous annuity at the age of 65, guaranteed for life after 20 years of service. Most of these features have been a part of the company's policy for many years, but it is only during the past two years that the cooperation of employees in determining these matters has been definitely assured through industrial representation. Industrial representation, in the Standard Oil Co., is a principle rather than a procedure. It is built upon the belief that personal association of those interested in any problem leads to a mutual understanding and a fair decision as to what is right. Fully believing in this, principle, representatives of employees and representatives of management evolved a simple plan, the basis of which is that it gives every individual employee representation at joint conferences on problems and fundamental principles affecting all those interested in the industry. It is based on cooperation, not antagonism; its operation makes perfectly clear both to management and to employees that their interests are identical, that mutual understanding and cooperation insure progress and success for all. Furthermore, experience has definitely shown that representatives of the employees are not only alert for the employees' interests but are as keen as the representatives of the management in determining and insisting upon fairness to the employer.

Jan 3, 1920

By Frances H. Clark

IN wartime, the fabrication and use of metals assumes increased importance, for a modern war of sizable proportions cannot be undertaken with- out a vast supply of this material. Light alloys of aluminum and magnesium, which were comparatively unknown in the last war, will play an important role in this one. Due to research on a vast scale in the interim of years, industry is today well equipped to fabricate metals on an enormous scale. Research for the past year has been most productive and a comprehensive survey in the space of this article would be impossible. It is hoped that the stressing of a few items here and there out of a great quantity of able work will indicate in a small way the advances made within recent times. Specific references to the literature will be omitted at the Editor's re- quest but some authors of papers that I have found of special interest are mentioned.

Jan 1, 1940

By ARCHIBALD DOUGLAS

AT various times during the past quarter century proposals have been made that the basic Federal mining law of 1872 be repealed or amended, and that in its place a new and simpler law be enacted to provide for the entry upon, working, and the taking up of claims on the unallotted Federal mining lands in our western states and in Alaska. Serious discussion and study have been given such proposals but little has resulted there from, except perhaps a lively interchange of opinion and the conclusion that though the Apex law of 1872 is in many ways highly unsatisfactory and frequently a fomenter of strife and trouble, it still bids fair to remain with us. Under this act a greater part of the non-ferrous mining industry of the United States has developed. With all its short-comings it is the legal bridge that has carried over the innumerable caravans of adventurers and prospectors who explored our mining frontiers. For without any amendments of substance this act has for fifty-eight years been the guide in the location of our western Federal mineral claims and has stood unchanged during the most important period of our mining history. While Federal and state acts and amendments have been ground out by thousands and tens -of thousands the mining act of 1872, with a :strange tenacity, has remained as constant as the Rock of Gibraltar, and under it states, mining districts, and local customs have developed different codes for its application but its fundamentals have been unaltered. "Use doth breed a habit in a man"; until now the application of the law of 1872 has become a second mining nature.

Jan 1, 1930

By Walter E. Hopper

(Wilkes-Barre Meeting, June, 1911.) I. LOCATION AND EXTENT. THE Caddo oil-field, shown in Fig. 1, is located in Caddo parish, northwestern Louisiana. The known producing territory of oil is covered by townships 19 N, 20 N, 21 N, 22 N, and ranges 15 and 16 W., shown in Fig. 2. The center of the field may be taken as Oil City, 24 miles north of Shreveport, on the Kansas City Southern railway. Shreveport is the second largest city in the State, and is the connecting point of five rail-road-lines. Drilling at the present time, however, is going on all over northern Louisiana, especially in Caddo and the neighboring parishes. II. HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT. Natural gas escaping at the surface is found at numerous places in northwestern Louisiana. At Shreveport, the plant of the Shreveport Ice & Refrigerating Co. has been lighted by natural gas for 20 years. The well was drilled for water, but was abandoned on account of the gas. A test well, put down in 1905 near the western limits of Shreveport, was driven to 1,650 ft., and encountered indications of gas and oil at various depths, but did not succeed in finding enough to be profitable. Attention was first attracted to the Caddo field in 1895 by indications in water-wells from 40 to 60 ft. deep, in which the pressure of natural gas was noticeable. This indication of gas in a shallow well led to the drilling of the first well in the Caddo field, the old Savage Brothers & Morricell, or the Caddo Lake Oil and Pipe Line No. 1. The rig for this well was erected in May, 1904, and drilling began in June, 1904. The well was bailed Mar. 23, 1905, with a small amount of oil. It was deepened July, 1905, and converted into a "gasser " Jan. 3, 1906. It was abandoned January, 1907. In consequence of the finding of oil in the Savage well, drilling-operations were pushed with energy; and in April, 1905, four wells were drilling. Great trouble was experienced with

Apr 1, 1911

By C. M. Young

Bituminous coal piled in heaps or bins frequently undergoes a process of spontaneous heating as the result of the absorption of oxygen. It seems probable that the first absorption of oxygen by coal which has not previously been exposed to the air may occur as a condensation or a combination of oxygen in some form which does not result in the production of carbon dioxide, but slow combustion soon begins. The absorption of oxygen is accompanied by an increase of temperature, and this by an increased rapidity of absorption; hence the dangerous condition proceeds from bad to worse, until the kindling point is reached, unless the process is interrupted. A dangerous rise of temperature can be prevented by excluding oxygen, by increasing the bulk of coal in proportion to its surface exposed, or by circulating enough air to dissipate the heat produced. The storage of coal, in practice, varies from almost complete exclusion of oxygen, by storing under water, to such freedom of access as exists when the coal is stored in open piles. Oxygen available for absorption by coal is supplied by the air in the interstices between lumps and by additional air which may enter the pile through circulation. The size of the coal largely affects both of these supplies; for if the fragments are small the spaces between them constitute a small percentage of the total volume, and little oxygen will be available unless the circulation of air brings in a fresh supply, while with large fragments the percentage is relatively large; circulation also is much easier through a pile of coarse lumps. In the case of lump coal, although a large amount of air may be present, the exposed surface is comparatively small and there is little opportunity for the absorption of oxygen to be so rapid as to cause dangerous heating. Attempts have been made to prevent heating by allowing a sufficient circulation of air to carry off the heat generated; obviously this method cannot be applied to fine sizes nor mixed sizes. When storing coal at the University of Illinois, an attempt has been made to use so much fine coal and to pack it so thoroughly as to prevent circulation of air, while also reducing the original air in the pile so as to prevent heating. This method has been fairly successful, but in some

Jan 1, 1918

By G. K. Zaharlev

With a productive output growing at an annual rate of 8%, the Soviet mining industry should emerge as the world's leader in total mineral output during the 1980's. (The Soviet Union's share in the world's total mineral output in 1973 was estimated at 22 to 23%.) According to estimates by Soviet mining experts, the mineral potential of the Soviet Union will sustain the current 8% annual growth rate in the future.

Jan 12, 1974

By Charles Waidner

IN response to many urgent requests for a concrete realization of a series of standard temperatures that would be available to any one anywhere for the standardization of pyrometers and the reproduction of the standard scale of temperature for use in laboratories and industrial works, the Bureau, in 1916, made arrangements with several manufacturers to prepare a series of- pure metals that could best serve this purpose. After the necessary preliminary work of chemical analysis, as a check on the purity, together with exact determinations of melting or freezing points, the Bureau began, in 1917, the issuing of melting -point standards of tin, zinc, aluminum, and copper. At the outset, it was decided to secure metals of the highest purity and of American manufacture, and this was accomplished in a more satisfactory manner than anticipated. In the preparation of these temperature standards, the Bureau has had the hearty cooperation of several American companies, which have succeeded in producing metals highly satisfactory for the purpose and of as high a state of purity as could have been obtained anywhere. Each company that undertook the responsibility of furnishing a metal for this series of standards exercised most painstaking care to produce the best possible product as to purity and uniformity. A representative of the Bureau witnessed the actual preparation of each metal. The 300 and 400-lb. (136 and 181-kg.) samples making up the first series were all used up, with the exception of the aluminum, early in 1919. The Bureau has taken steps to replenish its stocks of metals serving as pyrometric standards and to the list has been added lead. The copper and lead are being ordered this time in 1-ton lots and the zinc and tin in 300-lb. (136 kg.) lots as before. The wide dissemination of these samples will be appreciated when it is noted that the metals are distributed by the Bureau inn quantities of 50 cu. cm. each, at $2 a sample and accompanied by a certificate which gives the melting point as determined by samples from the same lot. The manufacture and detailed description of chemical analyses, physical measurements, and precautions in use of these pyrometric standards, are described in detail in the Bureau Circulcar No., 66.

Jan 8, 1919

By H. H. Kellogg

Equations representing the standard free energy of formation as a function of temperature, for thirty metallic chlorides, are presented and plotted on a free-energy vs. temperature diagram. The use of these data for calculations on reduction of metallic chlorides, refining of metals with chlorine, and chlorination of metallic oxides and sulphides is illustrated. CHLORINE metallurgy' has attracted metallur- gists for more than a century because the unusual properties of the metallic chlorides—low melting point, high volatility, and ease of formation from the oxides—make possible many useful extractive processes. Interest in chlorine processes is undergoing a renaissance due to present availability of chlorine at relatively low prices, and to recent advances in technology. During the present century there have accumulated a considerable number of reliable values of the thermodynamic constants for the metals and their chlorides. These data permit the calculation of free-energy equations for many metallurgically important reactions. Consideration of free-energy values makes possible certain predictions of the direction and extent of a given reaction, as well as the effect of temperature, pressure, and composition upon the result. Reaction rate, although not predictable from free-energy data, is usually sufficiently great at elevated temperatures that diffusion of the reactants and products to and from the zone of reaction determines the actual rate. Thus, if the free-energy indication is favorable, the chances are good that a high temperature metallurgical reaction will proceed at a reasonable rate, if adequate provision for rapid diffusion has been made. This paper presents standard free-energy equations for a number of metallic chlorides, based on data which are scattered throughout the literature. The equations are presented in a form that simplifies their use, and typical examples are given of the application of free-energy data to metallurgical processes. Free Energy of Reaction The free-energy change (AG) of a reaction is the true measure of the "driving force" of the reaction under a given set of conditions, and this is related to the standard free-energy change (AGO) of the reaction as follows: For the reaction: bB + cC = dD + eE ?G = ?G°+RTln ADd. AEA / ABb. ACc where A, = activity of constituent (i) T = absolute temperature, OK R = gas constant The criterion of a spontaneous reaction from left to right, at constant temperature and pressure, is a negative value for the free-energy change (?G). The standard free energy of the reaction is equal to the free energy of the reaction when all the reactants and products are at unit activity, since under these conditions the second term on the right-hand side of eq 1 is equal to zero. The concept of activity is treated fully in many textbooks on chemical thermodynamics1 and in a recent article by Chipman.2 Briefly, the activity (A,) of a constituent (i) is a measure of the reactivity of this constituent relative to its reactivity in some arbitrary standard state. For liquids and solids the standard state most often used is the pure liquid or solid constituent. Thus the activity of a pure liquid or solid in a metallurgical reaction is equal to unity. Gases under moderate pressure and at elevated temperatures behave very nearly as 'idea1 gases,' and the standard state is chosen as the gas at 1 atm pressure. The activity of an ideal gas is therefore equal to its partial pressure, and this relation is sufficiently exact for real gases in most metallurgical reactions. For a liquid or solid solution there is in general no simple way to express the activity of a constituent as a function of its concentration, and activity must be determined by experiment. A few solutions follow a so-called 'ideal' behavior, and if the pure constituent is chosen as the standard state, the activity of a constituent in an ideal solution becomes equal to its mol fraction. When a reaction reaches a state of thermodynamic equilibrium at constant temperature and pressure, AG becomes equal to zero and eq 1 reduces to: [ADd . AEe ?G°=RTln Abb ¦ Ac c equilibrium [2] The brackets surrounding the activity term are used to emphasize that each of the activities is an activity under equilibrium conditions—not just any arbitrarily assigned value. The bracketed term is the equilibrium constant (K) of the reaction. Eq 2 makes possible the calculation of equilibrium activities for a given reaction, if AGO is known at the desired temperature. The standard free-energy equations presented in this paper were calculated from the fundamental thermodynamic values of enthalpy of formation at 298°K (AH°,), standard entropy at 298°K (So298), heat capacity as a function of temperature (Cp), and enthalpies of transition, fusion, vaporization, and sublimation for the various constituents. Where possible the data reported in the recent "Selected Values of Chemical Thermodynamic Properties," published by the Bureau of Standards," were used. A large number of data came from the publications

Jan 1, 1951

By Lysle E. Shaffer

TEACHING engineering students how to write and speak effectively -is one of the greatest problems facing the technical schools today. No phase of engineering education has received more criticism, and rightly so, for the criticism is justified. Year after year we continue to graduate men that are indifferent to the use of a tool they will need every day of their lives. Our young engineers cannot write a clear, concise report, and their business letters are a disgrace to the profession that takes pride in precision. The problem is not new. The remark ascribed to Sir James Barrie, that "The man of science appears to be the only man who has something to say, just now-and the only man who does not know how to say it" is as uncomfortably true today as it was thirty years ago. The records of meetings of engineering educators and the transactions of the engineering societies show that the inability of the engineer to communicate his ideas has been discussed for years. Engineering educators, prodded by industry, have recognized that the problem exists, but they have not solved it. Instead they continue to expose the student to composition and rhetoric, hustle him through English and American literature, and then blame his high school because he does not know enough English grammar to write a clear sentence. We must face the fact that the graduate is not going to reflect on the high school, but on his college. If the high school has shirked the job, the responsibility for correction rests on the faculty of the professional school.

Jan 1, 1948

By G. W. Josephson

VIRTUALLY every year inventors find one or more startling new uses for one of the varied products of the nonmetallic mineral industries. For example, in November a major step toward positive control of rainfall was made when an experimenter converted a cloud to snow by dropping a few pounds of solid carbon dioxide into it. Other examples of ingenuity in the development of markets and production methods are noted in the following pages. For most of the industrial mineral products one of the outstanding features of 1946 has been the high level of production. There are exceptions, such as quartz crystal and lithium, whose production capacity during the war outgrew current peacetime needs, but they are few. Some technical men point out that this prosperity is not an unmixed blessing to technologic progress, because so much effort must go into day-to-day production problems that relatively little opportunity is left for the pursuit of new developments.

Jan 1, 1947

By L. P. Davidson

THE new electrolytic zinc plant of the American Zinc Company of Illinois commenced operation in April 1941. The simple flowsheet using the standard current density and the economic reasons that dictated it are given herewith. The Evans-Wallower Zinc Co. built an electrolytic zinc plant at Monsanto, Ill., in 1929 and .operated it for about two years. The plant stood idle from 1932 and was purchased by the American Zinc Co. in 1940. Because of the condition of the equipment, excepting the motor generator set, a complete rebuilding was necessary. The Fairmont City plant of the American Zinc Co. could treat the leach residues, the purification cake and the skimmings from the melting furnace in its various plants. This possibility permitted a simple flowsheet with good economic results. The flowsheet is shown in Fig. I. The calcined concentrates are leached in mechanically agitated tanks with spent electrolyte and such ferric iron solution as necessary. When the acid has been neutralized and the iron coagulated, the fluid is discharged to settling tanks. The underflow from these thickeners is filtered on a Moore filter; the filter cake leaves the plant for retreatment and the filtrate joins the thickener overflow. Zinc dust is added to this solution until the copper and cadmium are precipitated. The pulp is filtered through Shriver presses, which deliver the purified solution to storage tanks, and the copper-cadmium-zinc cake is shipped for retreatment and recovery of these three metals. The purified solution is electrolyzed; the regenerated acid is returned for use in the leaching plant and the cathode zinc, after stripping, goes to the melting furnace, from which it is cast in slabs. The skimmings from the melting furnace are shipped to the Fairmont City plant for reduction to metal in. the retort furnaces. The choice of this simple flowsheet was made possible only because of the facilities of the Fairmont City plant. The long leaching period, with high acid content and high temperature which characterize the high-density process, gives a higher zinc extraction but also dissolves more impurities, which must be removed. The same is true to a lesser degree of the multi-step leaching of the western low-density plants. By the sacrifice of some initial extraction, solutions can be obtained that are relatively easy to purify and give good ampere efficiency. This loss in initial extraction is made up in the retreatment of the residues in the Waelz plant. The impurities that accompany the zinc thus extracted are inconsequential when the Waelz product is treated in a distillation plant. It was recognized that this flowsheet would require a somewhat greater amount of sulphuric acid-either as acid or as sulphate sulphur in the calcine-because of poorer washing. The sulphuric acid plant at Fairmont City could deliver 60° Be. acid to compensate for the sulphate loss and the cost would be less than the cost of more intensive washing.

Jan 1, 1942

By L. P. Davidson

The new electrolytic zinc plant of the American Zinc Company of Illinois commenced operation in April 1941. The simple flowsheet using the standard current density and the economic reasons that dictated it are given herewith. The Evans-Wallower Zinc Co. built an electrolytic zinc plant at Monsanto, 111., in 1929 and operated it for about two years. The plant stood idle from 1932 and was purchased by the American Zinc Co. in 1940. Because of the condition of the , equipment, excepting the motor generator set, a complete rebuilding was necessary. The Fairmont City plant of the American Zinc Co. could treat the leach residues, the purification cake and the skimmings from the melting furnace in its various plants. This possibility permitted a simple flowsheet with good economic results. The flowsheet is shown in Fig. I. The calcined concentrates are leached in mechanically agitated tanks with spent electrolyte and such ferric iron solution as necessary. When the acid has been neutralized and the iron coagulated, the fluid is discharged to settling tanks. The underflow from these thickeners is filtered on a Moore filter; the filter cake leaves the plant for retreatment and the filtrate joins the thickener overflow. Zinc dust is added to this solution until the copper and cadmium are precipitated. The pulp is filtered through shriver presses, which deliver the purified solution to stor- age tanks, and the copper-cadmium-zinc cake is shipped for retreatment snd recovery of these three metals. The purified solution is electrolyzed; the regenerated acid is returned for use in the leaching plant and the cathode zinc, after stripping, goes to the melting furnace, from which it is cast in slabs. The skimmings from the melting furnace are shipped to the Fairmont City plant for reduction to metal in the retort furnaces. The choice of this simple flowsheet was made possible only because of the facilities of the Fairmont City plant. The long leaching period, with high acid content and high temperature which characterize the high-density process, gives a higher zinc extraction but also dissolves more impurities, which must be removed. The same is true to a lesser degree of the multi-step leaching of the western low-density plants. By the sacrifice of some initial extraction, solutid'ns can be obtained that are relatively easy to purify and give good ampere efficiency. This loss in initial extraction is made up in the retreatment of the residues in the Waelz plant. The impurities that accompany the zinc thus extracted are inconsequential when the Waelz product is treated in a distillation plant. It was recognized that this flowsheet would require a somewhat greater amount of sulphuric acid—either as acid or as sulphate sulphur in the calcine—because of poorer washing. The sulphuric acid plant at Fairmont City could deliver 60" BC. acid to compensate for the sulphate loss and the cost would be less than the cost of more intensive washing.

Jan 1, 1944

By THOMAS LEONBRD WATSON

INTRODUCTION. IN a paper read by title at the Washington meeting of the Institute, May, 1905,1 discussed at considerable length the geological relations, node of occurrence, and the genesis of the lead- and zinc-ores of the Virginia-Tennessee region. The present paper treats of the purely economic phases of the zinc-ores of the district; such as methods of mining the ores, their preparation and treatment. The Albemarle county mines and plant were discussed in the paper referred to above, and will not be considered here. METHODS OF MINING. Until very recently the mining of lead- and zinc-ores in Virginia was limited wholly to the surface belt of weathering. The mode of occurrence and the character of the ores to be mined were such as to demand the employment of methods used in mining secondary concentrated ores. Accordingly, a system similar to that practiced in mining brown iron-ores was employed, being modified to meet the changed conditions. Oxidized or Soft Ores.-Up to the present time practically all the ore mined in the Virginia district has been of the oxidized or soft type;-the silicate, calamine, and the carbonate, smith-sonite; largely the former, which has been localized and concentrated at only slight depths below the surface. Because of the extreme irregularity with which the limestone weathers when stripped of the overlying residual clay, it presents a roughened surface of large and small irregular "chimneys"

Mar 1, 1906

By H. Ries

In the marketing of mineral products, it is always highly desirable for both the producer and the consumer to be able to discuss things in a common language, and this can only be done if there are standard methods for expressing the properties of the raw materials. Having developed such a form of expression, the next step would be the making of specifications, which may serve as a basis for selecting raw materials. Considering the large number of non-metallic minerals that are used, there are not a few for which there are no standard laboratory tests to be used in determining their properties, or even standard specifications on which grades or market price may be based. Indeed in many cases the consumer simply requests the producer to submit samples, and rejects or accepts them without any explanation. Could the producer know in advance just what the consumer needed, time and money might often be saved. It appears to the writer that it is of the highest importance to devise standard laboratory tests wherever possible, as this enables the consumer to state definitely what he needs, and is of great assistance to the producer. It should also work to reduce misunderstandings and disputes. In the case of sands, we find that they show a wide variation in their character, ranging from those that are so coarse as to be of gravelly nature to those that are so fine that they might be classed as silt; and from very clayey ones to those that are practically free from clay. For this wide range of sands, we have a corresponding variety of uses, which are based mainly on the physical properties of the sand, although these are not always very definitely stated. The chemical composition need rarely be considered, if the sand is of siliceous nature. To determine and express these properties there should be standard tests, which are to be followed in all cases where the material is tested in the laboratory. The use of sands for foundry work (making molds or cores) is old, and it has been recognized for some time that the important properties to be

Jan 1, 1926

By Robert M. Weidenhammer

For years before the war, Coal had the reputation of being a sick industry. Currently it is operating at peak production and succeeding pretty well in keeping out of the red. But, says Mr. Weidenhammer, it will have a relapse as soon as the war ends unless (1) working capital can be built up; (2) it gets the support of the people and Congress; and (3) a truly long-range national fuel policy is formulated.

Jan 1, 1943

By AIME AIME

A discussion of the Papers by Prof. H. Hubert, Liege, Belgium ; Mr. Tom Westgarth, Middlesbrough, England ; and Mr. K. Reinhardt, Dortmund, Germany, presented at the London Meeting, July, 1906, and printed in Bi-Monthly Bulletin, No. 12, November, 1906; pp. 910 to 930, 971 to 987, 1037 to 1163. MR. ADOLPH GREINER, Seraing, Belgium :-I have nothing special to add to Professor Hubert's paper except to say that there are some little things that it would be well to have cor-rected when the paper comes to be published. In dealing with the thermal efficiency of the engine, you will find that the 29.84 per cent was a very high one. Professor Hubert has forgotten those engines built under the Cockerill type, but he has referred to them in Appendix II. At our works at Cockerill we have built 63 engines, giving 63,000 h.p., and the other companies who have received licenses have built 113 engines, making 103,000 h.p., and aggregating 176 engines and 166,000 h.p. Eight years ago I had the pleasure of giving to the Institute the results obtained up to that time. Since then a good many engines have been constructed. In 1898 I thought a blast-furnace producing 100 tons of pig iron would allow 3,000 h.p. Professor Witz and Professor Hubert show that with the same production of pig the new engines take 3,800 h.p. out of the gas. At present at Cockerill we make 700 to 800 tons of pig iron per day, and we hope to have 26,000 h.p; in a few years. At present we have only half of that in gas-engines, but we hope to have in five or six years all the gas out of these furnaces to the number of 25,000 or 26,000 h.p. MR. Tom WESTGARTH, Middlesbrough, England:-My contribution is not a paper in the ordinary sense of the word, because I am sure you will agree with me that what I have written is only supplementary to the other two papers. The notes are schedules of the larger-size gas-engines built by the engine-makers, of 500 h.p. and upwards. If you look at the schedules you will find that in England gas-engines have be-

Jan 1, 1907

By C. A. Heiland

NOT only has the demonstration of progress in all fields of science been characteristic of the Chicago "Century of Progress," but the manner in which the fundamentals of these sciences have been displayed captivated the visitor's eye and ear at the same time. The average individual is interested most in progress which concerns his every-day life. He is fairly well educated in medicine, biology and certain aspects of physics. But how raw materials and chiefly minerals occur, how they are located, taken out of the ground and refined, is something which appears to be more remote from the every-day line of interest, and about which, therefore, the public knows comparatively little. This is particularly true of the oil industry, although it ranks in size second only to agriculture in the United States. In appreciation of the tremendous educational value which a complete exhibit on all phases of the mineral industries would have, both mining and metallurgical as well as oil inter¬ests took steps early to make these exhibits at Chicago a reality. The board of directors of the A. I. M. E. authorized an advisory committee to the Museum of Science and Industry early in 1932. It is divided into four subcommittees - for geology and petroleum, for metal mining, for coal mining, and for metallurgy respectively. The entire committee held its first meeting in Chicago on April 11 and 12, 1932, to advise with the Museum's officials and experts about the most advantageous arrangement of the minerals industries' and geology exhibits.

Jan 1, 1933

H. H. Campbell, Steelton, Pa. (communication to the Secretary) : I wish to thank Mr. Webster for the copious quotations he has made from my writings, as he has given nearly all the arguments I wish to advance. It is necessary to note, however, his statement that most of his experiments were made on universal-mill plates, and that these were not subject to my condemnation of irregularity. I think this is a mistake. It is well known that universal-mill plates are finished under very different conditions of temperature, with the express purpose of regulating the tensile strength. This is a perfectly legitimate practice; but it renders almost worthless any calculations on the relations of the chemical and physical equations when the influence of such finishing is omitted. Another important point Mr. Webster has not answered at all. I have shown by an excerpt from his own table that two entirely different formulæ may be constructed; and it is undeniable that one is as valid as the other, since Mr. Webster started with no premise at all save an assumption that the effect of carbon was constant. This was an assumption pure and simple, and hence has no special virtue. The whole result of Mr. Webster's investigation is not that the effect of carbon is a constant, and that those of phosphorus and manganese are variables. On the contrary, there are two answers, with nothing to show which is right. We learn that if carbon is a constant, then phosphorus and manganese are variables; but that if phosphorus and manganese are constants, then carbon is a variable. This is a distinct advance over complete ignorance, but it is not final and satisfactory from either a mathematical or metallurgical standpoint. Regarding my own formulæ, I would say that they are used regularly in the testing-laboratories of the Pennsylvania Steel Company. The tensile strength of every heat is calculated

Jan 1, 1899