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By C. H. Burgess

ON June 5, 1947, Secretary of State George C. Marshall in a speech at Harvard University outlined a plan for the economic recovery of Europe. The plan contemplated that the United States should provide assistance which would enable the European nations better to help themselves and to help each other to reconstitute from their war-torn lands conditions which would make possible decent standards of living.

Jan 1, 1950

By V. C. Allison

Large-scale testing of the explosibility of coal dust as conducted by the Bureau of Mines in its Experimental Mine involves a large initial investment, and a high charge for maintenance and conduct of the test; in addition the work is necessarily slow because of the time required for the preparntion of the tests and the cleaning and repairing of the mine after each test. These tests have been made along practical mining lines that admit of a range of mixtures of dust varying from 5 to 10 per cent. and with gas as low as 0.5 per cent. increments. Because of the time and expense involved, efforts have been made to devise a type of gallery for laboratory use in which the results obtained in the Experimental Mine may be correlated as an aid in a study of dusts, the explosibility of which might be approximately determined quickly and at a minimum of expense. The explosibility of coal dust has been studied by a number of European investors, using small laboratory devices; among these may be mentioned the experiments conducted by Galloway, Vital, Hall and Clark, Abel, Mallard and Chatelier, Thorpe, Bedson and Widdas, Engler, Holwartz and Meyer, and Taffanel, results of whose experiments have becn reviewed by the Bureau of Mines.' The Bureau has conducted many tests with the Frazer-Cle1ncnt5 apparattus, which gives the pressures set up when the dust cloud within is ignited with a platinum coil or tube, heated to different temperatures, but for these tests the sample must be especially prepared as to size (200 mesh) and must be dry. Need for a Dust-testing Apparatus An attempt has been made to design an apparatus that may be used for checking and correlating the expcrimental tests. The first design was a wooden gallery, 8 by 10 in., inside cross section, and 12 ft. long, and having a number of strips along each side for creation of turbulence. The wooden gallery did not get beyond its period of calibration; it mas difficult to make the gallery sufficiently tight, for it was necessary that the top be removable in order that the gallery could be cleaned. In the use of the wooden gallery, however, sufficient operating data were obtained to be a guide in the design of a steel gallery having a circular cross-section. One of the features was a flap valve, at the closed end of the gallery, that would open inwardly thus preventing a reduced pressure within, caused by the cooling of the gases of combustion, and the explosions propagated much better than when the valve was not used; another feature was the determining of the best method for getting a cloud of dust simultaneously in all parts of the gallery, which was accomplished by the use of the concussion wave of a small quantity of powder or by the use of compressed air.

Jan 1, 1927

By Edwin Dudley Martin

DURING the past twelve years the iron and steel industry has made a major advance through the development of the continuous wide strip rolling mill. So far-reaching have been the results that not only has a better product been sold at a lower price but this improvement in quality has permitted manufacturers of products using steel to make important savings in the cost of fabrication. The net result has been a better product at lower cost to the consumer without reduction in either employment or of wages paid within the industry. That is why the iron and steel industry is proud of its attainment. Being a basic industry of strategic importance, such an advance in technology has had its effects on our internal economy, our standard of living, and our industrial power as a nation in both peace and wartime.

Jan 1, 1939

By R. H. Swallow, George Hess

Aerial photography was once a crude, uncertain tool. Today it is a precision mapping instrument which saves important time and money for strip mining and other industry. Aerial photography began in the boxkite days of aviation. The Army first used it for rough reconnaissance photographs. Then, in the early Twenties, industry began to use aerial photographs of their plants and facilities for advertising or annual reports. The quality of these pictures was not very good by today's standards, but this work began the development of better cameras, better lenses, better photographic techniques.

Jan 1, 1949

By S. G., Lasky

IT seems to be in the nature of concepts that they have many meanings, and that the meaning best reflecting the primary interests of a person tends to be accepted by him as the normal meaning of the concept. The concept of ore reserves is no exception, for there is no unanimity of meaning among the several groups of us who are interested in ore reserves, nor even among the individuals of a single group. The groups most interested in ore reserves would seem to include at least the mining industry, perhaps State taxing agencies, and the Federal Government in all its diversified activities, and I would include also the citizenry at large or at least that part of it that consciously thinks about problems-of national welfare. To each of these, and to different individuals within them, the term reserves represents something different, and the farther away the individual or group gets from physical contact with the ore, the more abstract does his or its concept become. It is something different to the policy maker from what it is to the fact-finder or to the miner.

Jan 1, 1945

By Malcolm F. Hawkes

AUSTENITE grain size has long been recognized by metallurgists as an important property of steels because of its influence on toughness, hardenability, machinability and creep strength. Much research has been carried out on wrought steels to develop methods for disclosing austenite grain size, and to provide knowledge of the grain-size -characteristics of steels produced and heat-treated in various ways. Much less work in these fields has been done on steel castings; partly because, owing to the variable and complex microstructures of cast steels, it is frequently very difficult to obtain results that are not questionable. The object of this investigation, therefore, was to establish, for a wide variety of carbon and alloy cast steels, suitable methods for disclosing austenite grain size and some knowledge of the grain-size variations to be expected. The steel foundryman is interested in austenite grain size at two different stages in the manufacture of his products; one is just after the steel is cast, and the other is after any reheating operation carried out above the critical temperature range. In both, it must always be kept in mind that the grain size being sought is actually a previous austenite grain size, and that the austenite no longer exists once the steel has cooled to room temperature. The problem of the investigator is always to use evidence obtained from the structure at room temperature to deduce this previous austenite grain size, which was established the last time the steel existed at a temperature above the critical range. Since most steel castings today are at least annealed or normalized, the measurement of austenite grain size established by heat-treatment will be considered first. More than So commercially produced cast steels representing a wide variety of compositions and melting practices were used in the study. For each steel, grain-size determinations were made after each of three widely varying heat-treating schedules; namely, one hour at 1550°F, one hour at 1700°F, and six hours at 1700°F. The list of steels and results obtained on them will be found in the appendix. (See page 21.) A discussion of the knowledge gained on the applicability of various test methods and on grain-size characteristics of cast steels in general follows. MEASUREMENT OF AUSTENITE GRAIN SIZE ESTABLISHED BY HEAT TREATMENT METHODS SUITABLE FOR DETERMINING AUSTENITE GRAIN SIZE AFTER HEAT- TREATMENT AT ORDINARY TEMPERATURES AND TIMES It was desired, as one of the results of this investigation, to be able to recommend to steel foundries a method, or methods, of disclosing grain size best suited to accurate

Jan 1, 1947

By Sylvan Cromer

The need for a clear understanding of the physical nature of the flow of gas-liquid mixtures in vertical pipes is ever becoming more apparent. This type of flow is encountered when gas and oil are produced from a well; when water is removed from gas wells with siphon lines and when liquids are elevated by means of air or gas lift. Although a number of investigator1-7 have published data on the flow of gas-liquid mixtures, in only a few cases has the experimental setup been devised to permit visual study. In the fields of heat transmission, such as the boiling of liquids and the study of the critical phenomena of the hydrocarbons, researchers have been able to throw additional light on heretofore unexplainable happenings through actual observation in glass apparatus. This investigation was therefore undertaken in order to obtain qualitative as well as quantitative results for air-water flow. Experimental Apparatus and Procedure The flow column used in these tests was made of standard 2-in. pipe and was approximately 98 ft. in height. Pyrex observation sections 2 ft. long having the same internal diameter as the wrought-iron pipe were placed at 14-ft. intervals in the column. The bottom of the tube was cut off square and terminated in the mixing chamber. No perforated nipple or footpiece of any kind was used. To the top of the column was fastened a semicircular return bend having a 4-ft. radius. The flow column was supported by a standard cable-tool drilling derrick (Fig. 1) into which were built observation platforms at each Pyrex section.

Jan 1, 1940

By Sylvan Cromer

The need for a clear understanding of the physical nature of the flow of gas-liquid mixtures in vertical pipes is ever becoming more apparent. This type of flow is encountered when gas and oil are produced from a well; when water is removed from gas wells with siphon lines and when liquids are elevated by means of air or gas lift. Although a number of investigator1-7 have published data on the flow of gas-liquid mixtures, in only a few cases has the experimental setup been devised to permit visual study. In the fields of heat transmission, such as the boiling of liquids and the study of the critical phenomena of the hydrocarbons, researchers have been able to throw additional light on heretofore unexplainable happenings through actual observation in glass apparatus. This investigation was therefore undertaken in order to obtain qualitative as well as quantitative results for air-water flow. Experimental Apparatus and Procedure The flow column used in these tests was made of standard 2-in. pipe and was approximately 98 ft. in height. Pyrex observation sections 2 ft. long having the same internal diameter as the wrought-iron pipe were placed at 14-ft. intervals in the column. The bottom of the tube was cut off square and terminated in the mixing chamber. No perforated nipple or footpiece of any kind was used. To the top of the column was fastened a semicircular return bend having a 4-ft. radius. The flow column was supported by a standard cable-tool drilling derrick (Fig. 1) into which were built observation platforms at each Pyrex section.

Jan 1, 1940

By J. M. GLEDHILL

(Washington Meeting, May, 1905.) A Discussion of Mr. J. M. Gledhill's paper, read by title at the Lake Superior meeting, but presented first at the New Yolk meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute (October, 1904), and here published under a mutual agreement. Between the two Institutes. Discussion. MR. E: WINDSOR RICHARDS, Past-President, said that at a recent meeting of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers a paper was read on tool steel, and he called the attention of the members to the high-speed tool steel at the Bethlehem Works. They would have the pleasure of seeing those wonderful works and would see 60, 70, 80 and 100 tons oil lathe with half-a-dozen of these high-speed tools running. PROP. H. M. HOWE (Columbia University) said that they all looked upon these high-speed tool steels as of very great importance, particularly to the machine shop. One point occurred to hire : Had it really been shown that Swedish steel is necessary, or better than equally pure steel that is not Swedish; and is cemented steel really necessary, and is there any advantage in using that, rather than equally pure open-hearth steel'! It might be well if the author could indicate the kind of evidence on which lie bases his assertion that it is necessary to have cemented Swedish steel. Many were hoping for the development of high-speed steels from elements which exist in great quantities, such as silicon, manganese and chromium, rather than from rarer metals like molybdenum, vanadium and tungsten, the supply of which is likely to be soon exhausted. If the high-cutting speed was to last more than a generation, it. seemed to him that they would have to draw upon the common ele¬ments and not upon the rare ones. MR. Tom WESTGARTH (Middlesbrough) said he fully appreci¬ated what had been said about the advantages of using high-speed steel, because great benefit had been derived from the

Mar 1, 1905

By R. G. Green, R. L. Dowdell

LEAD POISONING as a result of eating lead pellets deposited in marsh areas is a cause of high mortality among ducks, geese, and other waterfowl ingested lead shot become trapped in the gizzard with gravel and are slowly ground away by the grit. Absorption of lead as it passes through the intestine in a finely divided state produces severe lead poisoning which is usually fatal. Ducks and geese with lead poisoning develop first a typical green diarrhea. Later, paralysis of the wing muscles prevents flight. As the poisoning continues with further grinding of the shot trapped in the gizzard, increasing paralysis reduces the bird to helpless-

Jan 1, 1937

By P. Barnes

EXACT accounts have been kept of the cost of these chimneys, and it may be a matter of some possible interest that the plans and details of cost should be laid before the Institute. The statement of cost herewith submitted does not give minute particulars of the weights or quantities of material used, although these are noted upon the company's books.

Jan 1, 1876

By James Gayley

(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, 1906.) It is to be regretted that the data respecting the use of dry-air blast, which were 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. It appears from the reported discussion that some of those who took part felt themselves to be at a disadvantage, in considering the economies secured through the use of dry-air blast, by reason of the fact that the data presented covered so short a 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 natu-ral air approach more closely, from November on, to the conditions obtained by the use of dry-air blast. The data given in

Jan 1, 1906

By Jules E. Jenkins

In the past quarter century the seismograph has I played an increasingly important role in evaluating vibratory effects transmitted to adjacent communities by industrial blasting operations. In this period research has advanced through two major phases-from falling pin seismometers to three- component recording seismographs. The initial phase of this research is now regarded as the era of recording, during which the seismograph merely recorded occasional events. It has emerged from this stage into the era of control and analysis and in this later period has been recognized as a full-fledged industrial tool. Although the falling pin machines of earlier years indicated probable amplitudes of industrial blasting vibrations, they gave no reliable measure of such displacements, nor did they provide essential information concerning direction or frequency of motion.

May 1, 1956

By Edward H. Robie

THE registration badges gave out, there were not enough programs, the Pioneer Hotel's rooms were insufficient, and some hundred applicants for banquet tickets had to be turned down at the Institute's Regional Meeting in Tucson, Nov. 1-5. Minor inconveniences these, however, occasioned by the fact that, optimistic as they are in Arizona, about half again as many partook of the week's activities as were expected. For this, the local program committee can be blamed-both the technical and social features were too attractive in quantity and quality. Seriously speaking, though, the Institute has probably never had a more successful Regional Meeting than this one. It being the first that has been held in Arizona in 22 years, no effort was spared to make it the distinctive gathering that it was.

Jan 1, 1938

Discussion of the paper of PHILIP W. HENRY, presented at the New York meeting, February, 1915, and printed in Bulletin No. 97, January, 1915, pp. 23 to 30. C. ,E. GRUNSKY, JR., San Francisco, Cal. (communication to the Secret ary*).-The difference of opinion of engineers on the subject of depreciation is justified, to some, extent, by the many viewpoints from which such a subject can be considered when applied to properties of widely differing physical characteristics. Mr. Henry takes up the subject of depreciation as applied alone to oil properties, and in doing so makes a clear distinction between amortization and the repair or renewal requirement. After carefully reading the paper the purpose of its author in suggesting a "depreciation" reserve or fund to keep the property at a constant value does not seem clear. As shown by Mr. Henry, the depreciation element as compared with the operating expense per gallon of oil is very large because of the comparatively short life of the oil properties, and it is also evident that such a "depreciation" fund would in a short time contain a very large amount of money. It seems desirable and permissible in income-tax matters to take into account the depreciation of property and to separate from the income such money as is necessary to amortize the invested capital to an extent warranted by the depreciation. However, it does not seem either necessary or desirable to create a large fund which will in time approximate the entire invested capital and which may he invested by the directors, as Mr. Henry suggests, "in the property itself or in outside securities." This method seems cumberome and liable to offer in the reinvestment of such a fund temptations to a directorate that might show more devotion to its own interests than that of the stockholders. A reserve fund is very frequently desirable in mining and oil operations, but to keep up a fund of this magnitude or to reinvest it in outside securities does not seem desirable from a stockholders' standpoint. The. money withdrawn from the receipts to be placed in the depreciation fund (not including replacements and the drilling of new wells necessary to keep up the productiveness) should he returned to the stockholders of the company, not as dividends, but as an amortization of the invested capital.

Jan 5, 1915

By J. E. Tobey

NATIONAL DEFENSE should not create a dilemma in coal utilization such as obtained during the World War. Even under the heavy pressure of a total preparedness program there should be a smooth flow of the right coals from mines to plants. The more than 100,000 industrial plants of the nation must he served with coal of such characteristics and qualities for their individual requirements that no loss of production due to coal failure shall occur. This problem challenges the ingenuity and cooperativeness of producers. transportation executives, consumers and engineers.

Jan 1, 1941

By Yu A. Chernegov

Building up the USSR's economic strength was the result of all the achievements and successes of our economy. The Soviet Union was the first to begin planned guidance of the economy. The mining industry of the USSR, which holds the first place in the world output of mining production, has always been considered as the main raw materials basis of the country's economy. High and stable development rates are a feature of planned economic management, based on the social ownership of the means of production. During the past ten years from 1965 to 1875 the national income used for consumption and accumulation increased practically by 1.9 times. There has been no inflation, no unemployment in the Soviet Union for about forty years already. High and stable growth rates of the production of mining industries and that of the branches, which are their direct consumers are characterized by the data in table I. The achievements and successes of the economy's development are to a great extent determined by the three planning components, which are as follows:

Jan 1, 1977

By F. Z. Schellenberg

(Pittsburg Meeting, March, 1910.) SYSTEMATIC exploitation in the Pittsburg coal-seam on a large scale is simple where the boundaries of the property do not interfere by forcing drainage-, ventilation-, and transport-lines of entries to be run to particular confined fronts. A prime condition governing development is the natural direction of the seam's perpendicular cleavage-planes, giving long lines of smooth faces near together and parallel, bearing about 65° to the left of the meridian and therefore crossing the basins. The gradients of dip into the basins change from 10 per cent at the east rim to practical flatness northwestward across the great coal-fields, a hundred miles wide; the clip being halved in rate at each successive crossing-over of an anticlinal crest. Elevations above sea-level on this transverse section, in scope of present development, differ by 1,000 ft. between low trough and high outcrop. Local irregularities of dip are found, but the main feature to be recognized is the pitch of the basins-the general rise northeastward at 20 ft. per mile, from 100 ft, below sea-level at the low point near the. SW. corner of Pennsylvania to 1,500 ft. and more above tide, and the appearance then, at the surface, of the lower coal-seams carried in the next deeper-lying thousand feet of rock-measures; below which series come the oil- and gas-sands of Oliphant's charted column of strata, reaching down altogether 3,000 ft. below the Pittsburg coal-seam. Because of -the general regularity of occurrence of the coal-seam, the mine-map depicting the courses of economic operation to be undertaken and the steps in controlled exhaustion, need be but a projection of two dimensions on the horizontal plane of space, and this for the most part composed of natural, almost unbroken lines, on the face and on the end of the coal, co-ordinating rectangularly.

Jul 1, 1910

By S. M. Shelton

SINCE the Saar started. the real progress in scrap-metal recover is in the change of point of view regarding secondary metals. The tendency had been to regard scrap as the normal outgrowth of obsolescence, fluctuating somewhat from periods of depression to periods of prosperity. but nevertheless an unwieldy economic factor more to be contended with than embraced. Now, metals above the ground are being looked upon as semi-permanent reserves or stock piles in various stages of repeated use or revolving life cycles. The change in point of view is due to the forced realization that domestic supplies of new metals are limited and many foreign sources are at least temporarily closed. The stock piles must be cultivated. The reserves must be made more nearly permanent. Steps are being taken : (1) develop methods for recovery of scrap metals heretofore not recovered, and (2) restrict strategic metals to uses ensuring a large percentage of re-use, which in turn means substitute materials in the dissipative uses.

Jan 1, 1942

EDITORIAL comments on the anthracite report of the Federal Fact-finding Coal Commission, which became public on July 5, together with an analysis of its more important conclusions, will be found on another page of this issue. In this place, only a few extracts from the report, bearing more directly on technical matters, can be quoted, for lack of space. COST OF MINING Mining cost, as it stands on the books of each mining company, represents the average cost of the total output, all sizes, of anthracite. Egg coal has at least five times the market value of barley, but these' sizes are mined together and their costs can not be separated. Mine costs directly reflect the conditions under which these deposits of coal are recovered. Even within the few counties in which anthracite is found there is a conspicuous range of natural conditions. The distinc-tion between the Northern, Middle, and Southern field, or, as they are also termed, the Wyoming, Lehigh, and Schuykill regions, is primarily geologic and topo-graphic, but the effects of the natural conditions largely control costs. The contrast is great between Some of the level-lying beds of moderate but fairly constant thickness under the broad Wyoming Valley, where mining and underground haulage present relatively simple problems to the engineer, and the steeply pitching or overturned and faulted beds of variable thickness in the Schuykill field, where crushed coal' and treacherous roof multiply the difficulties of mining; and increase the unavoidable waste. Even more direct is the connection between geologic processes and the, differences in the character of the coal as mined, the varying proportions of large and small sizes demanding differences in preparation and resulting in different average prices realized for the product of the mines.

Jan 8, 1923