Search Documents

By W. L. Penberthy, H. J. Ramey

Experimental work on the combustion oil recovery process has consisted of both laboratory and field studies. Although field experiments are the ultimate test of any oil recovery process, they are costly, time consuming and difficult to analyze quantitatively. Laboratory combustion tube experiments can be opertzted far more rapidly and cheaply, but are subject to scaling and interpretation problems. This paper points out some important design problems, operational criteria and considerations in2portunt to interpretation of results. An analytical hcut model of movement of a burning front axiully along a cylinder with heat loss through an annular insulation was developed. The result was used to identify steady-state temperatrrre distributions both ahead of and behind the burning front, with and without heat loss. Results indicate potential operating limitations on the minimum burning front rielocity (or air flux) which may be used for any given combustion tube. Results also enable estimating the effective thermal diffusivity and over-all heat loss from experimental data and thickness of the brnning zone. Resu lts of operation of a combustion tube constructed recently verify this preliminary theory in the region immediately ahead of and behind the burning front surprisinRly well. INTRODUCTION Many field and laboratory studies of the forward combustion oil recovery process have been conducted since the early publications of Kuhn and Kochl and Grant and Szasz2 in 1953 and 1954. In view of the complex and costly nature of this type of investigation, it is not surprising that no complete theory of the nature of the forward combustion Drocess is yet available. However, gross effects are understood well enough that reasonable design procedures are available for planning field operations. Nelson and McNeil 3,4 have published two comprehensive papers concerning design procedures. One major consideration in planning field operations is the fuel concentration at the burning front. Fuel concentration controls air requirements — an important cost factor in forward combustion. Although fuel concentration can be estimated from field test results by various methods, results are subject to great uncertainty in view of natural limitations on experimental observations. Nelson and hlcNeil4 recommend that fuel concentration be determined from laboratory combustion tube studies. Fuel concentration is only one of many important factors which can be studied by combustion tube experimentation. An obvious goal of imporrance must be development of a comprehensive theory of the forward combustion process. If a theory of this process can be established which matches controlled laboratory experimentation, it should be possible to apply this theory to field operating conditions with some confidence. Laboratory combustion tube studies have already yielded important information concerning the combustion process. However, details concerning the design, construction and operation of combustion tubes are rare. Combustion tubes used by various investigators vary in size, length and mode of operation. Therefore, one purpose of this paper is to present considerations important to design, construction and operation of a combustion tube. In regard to previous combustion tube studies, attention is called to Refs. 1 through 9. These references describe a wide variety of equipment types and present a great deal of pertinent experimental data. In general, combustion tubes usually consist of thin-walled stainless steel tubes containing an oil sand pack mounted within a pressure jacket. Provisions have often been made to heat the tube ex tern a lly by separately controlled heaters to reduce heat losses. This step usually permits operation at low air fluxes (air rate per square foot burning front surface) similar to those encountered in field operations. Burning is usually conducted from the air inlet end of the tube to the outflow end. The tube orientation used has been vertical or horizontal. For vertical tubes, burning has been conducted vertically downwards. As a result of laboratory studies, many of the

Jan 1, 1967

By L. VOGELSTEIN

OUTSTANDING among the year's events in copper has been the reimposition of an import duty of 4r. per pound in this country which became effective June 21. In consequence of this action by Congress, the Ottawa Empire conference recommended a duty of 2d. per pound equivalent at normal rate of exchange to our 4c. duty, on all copper originating outside of the Empire. Lip to the middle of this year only Russia and Japan had a closed market; the import duty on copper in Russia is 30 per cent ad valoremm and in Japan about 2c. Russia's consumption has always been in excess of production and she has imported from 2(1,000 to 40,000 ton, of copper per annum. Japan, with a production of 6,000 to 7,000 tons per month, has absorbed, in normal times, its production, but during recent: sears has exported varyiug quantities in 1929. 2,200 ton-: in 1930, 2,700 tons, and in 1931. 3,600 ton-. Aside from the-e two countries, the international market has heretofore been free. It and when the British Empire duty become, effective the world's markets will be divided into four unit: 1. Russia and Japan, 2. United States. 3. British Empire. 4. Rest of the world. The world's production at present is rennin it the rate of 930.000 tons per annum. This year's production will be over 1,000,000 tons because the several curtailment did not become effective until the second quarter. consumption will be slightly in excess. Deducting from 30,000 tons Russia's and Japan's production of 121.000 tons, 806,000 tons is left divided a, follows:

Jan 1, 1932

By W. A. Alexander, L. M. Pidgeon

Metallic magnesium and similar meta!s near the top of the electromotive series have been commercially produced by the electrolysis of a suitable molten salt. Despite the success of electrolysis, sufficient inherent objections exist to justify the search for a direct reduction method. Such a method would widen the choice of raw materials, relax the rigid electrolytic requirements of raw-material purity, and, by obviating direct current, over simplicity of plant equipment. This paper describes the pilot-plant development of one such method, which has subsequently formed the basis of operation of six commercial plants-—one in Canada and five in the United States. Unlike aluminum, magnesium is volatile at relatively low temperatures. This physical property, which produces its greater inflammability, also offers possibilities of direct reduction that are not available with aluminum. In the basic reaction MgO + X = XO + Mg if X is nonvolatile, the reaction may be forced to the right at high temperatures by the evolution of magnesium vapor, despite the large negative value of the heat of reaction which is almost bound to follow the use of any available commercial reducing agent. The cheapest X, of course, is carbon, but this notable advantage is modified by the production of a volatile oxide CO, so that both Mg and CO are evolved simultaneously. Elaborate devices are required to shock-cool the equilibrium mixture in order to prevent back reaction. At best, a pyrophoric powder is produced, requiring redistillation to provide marketable metal. The practical development of this process, is due to F. Hansgirg, and his methods have recently been given a trial on a grand scale in the plant at Permanente, California, and smaller plants were previously built in Austria, England and Japan. A second class of reducing agents is available, those which produce nonvolatile oxides. When XO and X are relatively nonvolatile, magnesium is the only volatile member of the system. It may be evolved in a simple distillation step and condensed without the formation of powder. Two basic requirements must bc fulfilled in order that such a reaction may proceed: I. The reducing agent when heated to a reasonable temperature in presence of MgO must cause the production of an appreciable equilibrium vapor pressure of magnesium. This magnesium must be removed continuously. z. A supply of heat must be maintained. In order to fulfill the first requirement, operations must be conducted in vacuo or in a stream of Hz. Owing to its greater efficacy and relative safety, vacuum has been employed in the work to be described. The choice of a suitable reducing agent formed the subject of an extensive series

Jan 1, 1944

By G. R. Speich

The distribution of carbon and the type of substructure in iron-carbon martensites containing 0.02 to 0.57pct C has been studied in the as-quenched condition and after tempering at 25" to 700°C by using electrical resistivity, internal friction, hardness, and light and electron microscope techniques. in marten-sites containing less than 0.2 pct C, almost 90 pct of the carbon segregates to dislocations and to lath boundaries during quenching; in martensites containing greater than 0.20 pct C, appreciable amounts of carbon enter normal interstitial positions located far from defects. Tempering martensites with carbon contents below 0.20 pct at temperatures below 150°C results in additional carbon segregation to dislocations and to lath boundaries but no carbide precipitation whereas -carbide precipitation occurs in martensites with carbon contents exceeding 0.2 pct. Above 150°C, a rod-shaped carbide (either Fe3C or Hagg) is precipitated in all cases. At 400°C, spheroidal Fe3C precipitates at lath boundaries and at former aus-tenite grain boundaries. At 400" to 600"C, recovery of the martensite defect structure occurs. At 600" to 700°C, recrystallization of the martensite and Ost-waW ripening of the Fe3C occur. The effects of the carbon segregation that occurs during quenching and the subsequent substructural changes that occur during tempering on martensite tetragonality, hardness, and precipitation behavior are discussed. A mathematical analysis of carbon segregation during quenching is presented. RECENT studies of the strength of low-carbon martensitel-4 emphasize the importance of carbon segregation to the martensite lath boundaries and to the dislocations contained between them during quenching. Unfortunately, very few studies of the tempering of low-carbon martensites have been conducted, so the exact nature of this segregation is poorly understood. In fact, most early tempering studies5,6 were restricted to carbon contents greater than 0.20 pct. Moreover, these studies did not determine the amount of carbon segregated to the martensite substructure during quenching so that the initial state of the martensite was not established. Aborn7 studied the precipitation of carbide in low-carbon martensite during quenching but did not establish whether carbon segregation occurs prior to carbide precipitation, nor did he study the subsequent tempering sequence in detail. In the present work we have used electrical resistance and internal friction measurements, supplemented by electron transmission microscopy to establish the carbon distribution in as-quenched specimens. Specimens thin enough to avoid carbide precipitation (but not carbon segregation) were employed. The redistribution of carbon on subsequent tempering below 250°C was followed by measurements of elec- trical resistance. Additional studies were made on specimens tempered at 250" to 700°C to elucidate the overall tempering behavior of low-carbon martensites, including the formation of cementite and recrystalli-zation of the martensite. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE Eight iron-carbon alloys with 0.026, 0.057, 0.097, 0.18, 0.20, 0.29, 0.39, and 0.57 wt pct C were prepared as 8-lb ingots by vacuum melting. Typical impurities in wt ppm were 40 Si, 20 Mn, 30 S, 10 P, and 10 N. These alloys were hot rolled to 3 in. plate at 1095°C) (2000°F). The hot-rolled plates were surface ground to remove scale and the decarburized layer, then cold rolled to 0.010 in. sheet. Specimens cut from the sheet were austenitized for 30 min at 1000°C (1830°F) in a vacuum tube furnace in which the pressure did not exceed 2 x 10-3 torr. Chemical analysis of specimens after austenitization indicated no decarburization at this pressure. Immediately before quenching, the furnace was filled with prepurified helium. The specimen was then pushed rapidly through an aluminum foil gasket, which sealed the bottom of the furnace, into an iced-brine bath (10 pct NaC1, 2 pct NaOH). The quenching rate at the M, temperature is about 104'c per sec for 0.010 in thick specimens, as calculated from Newton's law of heat flow2 using a heat transfer coefficient of 25 ft-'. This quenching rate is sufficiently high so that all the alloys transformed completely to martensite throughout the entire 0.010 in thickness and no carbide precipitation occurred in the martensite. All specimens were immediately transferred to liquid nitrogen after quenching and stored there until needed. Tempering below 250°C (480°F) was done in silicone oil baths thermostatically controlled to *;"C. Tempering above 250°C was done in circulating air furnaces or lead pots with the specimens contained in evacuated silica capsules. Electrical resistance was determined by measurement of the potential drop across both a standard resistance and the specimen, connected in series. All resistance measurements were made in liquid nitrogen (77K, -196°C) to minimize thermal scattering of electrons and thus maximize the contribution of impurity scattering to the resistance. Specimen dimensions were 5.10 by 0.19 by 0.025 cm. Although the precision in the electrical resistance measurements was +0.1 pct, the electrical resistivities could only be measured with an accuracy of +5 pct because of uncertainty in the specimen dimensions. Internal friction measurements were performed in an inverted pendulum apparatus at vibration frequencies of either 1.9 or 66 Hz. The specimen dimensions were 5.10 by 0.375 by 0.025 cm. Hardness measurements were made with a Leitz-Wetzlar microhardness machine with loads of 100 g. Specimens were examined by light microscopy after etching in 2 pct Nital and by electron transmission microscopy after preparation of thin sections by electrolytic thinning in a chromic-acetic acid solution.

Jan 1, 1970

By Edward B. Walker, Michel Grosmangin

The geological and economic conditions peculiar to the Greater Oficina area are presented to demonstrate the necessity of a low-cost, well-site method of distinguishing gas-bearing formations. The method of gas detection with the neutron log is briefly discussed and its limitations are explained. A new method is described which consists in running a second neutron log with a larger source-to-detector spacing. Field data indicate that under favorable conditions the larger spacing response is proportionately more influenced by the virgin gas zone than is the shorter spacing response. One important condition is that the gas sands be invaded, with a diameter of invasion equal to about two to three times the hole diameter. The calibration of the longer spacing log is made so that the two logs read the same deflection in shale and in a known water or oil sand. Under such conditions, gas is indicated by a positive separation, i.e., the curve for the longer device is displaced to the right of the curve for the shorter device. Because of the non-linearity of the long spacing response, low porosity formations also show positive separations. In sands with large porosity variations, the gas sands can no longer he located visually. They can be detected on a plot of shorter spacing vs longer spac-ing deflections. INTRODUCTION In the Greater Oficina area of Eastern Venezuela, the rapid and accurate detection of gas from well logs is of primary importance because of a combination of economic, geologic, and operational conditions. Briefly, these conditions are: economic—there is no market for gas at the present time; geologic—a single well may contain as many as 30 or more oil or gas sands for which intervals -to be tested must be selected; opera-tional—first, once opened to the casing through perforations, gas sands are extremely difficult and expensive to squeeze off, and second, gas detection must be rapid because the geologist must decide immediately, at the well, which sand to perforate. During the early period of exploitation in Greater Ofi-cina, when clay base muds were used, sidewall samples, together with electric logs, gave fairly good distinction between oil and gas sands. When exploitation became concentrated on deep fields of poorer sidewall sample recovery, and after the advent of oil emulsion muds, now the standard drilling fluid in Greater Oficina, the regular neutron log became the most reliable indicator of gas. In 1953, R. Norelius devised the dual-spacing neutron technique for gas detection. The dual-spacing neutron log has proved to be highly successful in detecting gas and has been adopted as a regular survey by all of the oil companies of the area. Several hundred dual-spacing neutron logs have been run in Eastern Venezuela and several tests per well are available for positive evaluation of the logs. The findings outlined below are based upon this extensive field experience. GEOLOGICAL CONDITIONS OF THE GREATER OFICINA AREA The Greater Oficina area lies on the south flank of the Eastern Venezuela Basin (Fig. 1). Nearly all accumulations of oil and gas in the area are trapped, in whole or in part, against normal faults. All known oil and gas reservoirs in Greater Oficina occur in the Ofi-cina formation (Miocene-Oligocene) or in the "U" sands. The U sands are the lithologic equivalent of the Merecure group (Otigocene-Eocene), which contains oil in many fields north of Greater Oficina. Most of the petroleum produced in Eastern Venezuela is from the Oficina formation.

Jan 1, 1958

By George H. C. Norman

A NUMBER of methods have been developed for the determination of the dust concentration in air, some of which have been reported as very efficient and for research may be more satisfactory than the method about to be described. In practical mine use, however, the accurate research equipment is unwieldy and requires a high degree of technical skill to manipulate it. Also, it gives less general practical information to the operator in the same length of time than the method described here. Moreover, it is doubtful whether at the present stage of affairs the results obtained from the precise methods have any more practical significance than those obtained with simpler and more portable apparatus, which can rapidly give a sufficiently reliable indication of the relative dust hazard. HISTORY OF DUST DETERMINATION IN ONTARIO The first record of mine-dust determination in Ontario is given in an article by Dr. J. H. Elliott,' in which he records a few dust counts made with the Palmer spray apparatus. There were insufficient data from which to draw any definite conclusions or reasonably compare with present-day counts using the konimeter. The first konimeter dust sampling was started in the Porcupine district in 1926, using light-field counting without adhesive and with no sample treatment before counting. A method of semidark-field counting was used from about 1928 to 1931 and dark-field illumination was adopted permanently about December 1931. The konimeter has been continued as the principal means of dust sampling in the mines of Ontario, where South African practice has been adopted because in South Africa most careful study has been given the problem of silicosis, and very complete records of work done there are

Jan 1, 1937

YOU must know, my Messer Bernardino, that all things in this world made by art or produced by Nature are made only for their own specific purpose. If there should be any that perchance should fail therein, they would be useless and imperfect, and those are in a state of imperfection that should have it and have not yet arrived at it. Thus, in short, when you have dug out the ore with so much labor and extracted the metals, when you have made from copper (in addition to other works) guns that are ready for military service and have then put them on

Jan 1, 1942

By F. L. Toy, C. E. Sims

I. A. Sirel—I would like to ask Mr. Sims what would the preferred hot metal analysis be as far as manganese and silicon are concerned if you used specially made iron for this process instead of basic iron. C. E. Sims (authors' reply)—A preferred composition would contain somewhat less silicon than the basic pig iron used in these experiments. High silicon requires a large lime addition. Lime must be added in sufficient quantity to neutralize the silica formed and to leave an excess for dephosphorization. Manganese presents almost no problem in operation. It is almost completely oxidized and, in burning, develops considerable heat. The evidence indicates, however, that, in continuous commercial operation, there will be an excess of heat produced, and the bath will need to be cooled in some manner as by the addition of scrap or by utilizing the energy for the direct reduction of ore. There do not seem to be any serious limitations on composition of pig iron. One heat was made with an iron containing 2.27 pct silicon and the phosphorus finished at 0.007 pct. In another, the iron contained 0.45 pct phosphorus which was lowered to 0.019 pct. This indicates considerable leeway in composition. D. R. Loughrey—We are all very much interested in the recent discovery of very large deposits of iron ore both in Labrador and in Venezuela. I would like to ask Mr. Sims if the iron ore at either or both of these places is such that it would lend itself to the manufacture of iron suitable for use in the turbohearth. C. E. Sims-—According to my information, those ores are not essentially different from ores now used in this country for making basic pig. They should, therefore, be adaptable to this process. D. I. Brown—You have spoken about the leeway, or spread in analysis of the various irons you can use in the vessel. I would like to have you tell us, if you can, about the different kinds of steels which can be made in such a vessel. The turbohearth process, or it might more aptly be called pneumatic openhearth, is a little different from that used in most Bessemer shops and in the one in which I worked. If we had a blow in the air over 10 min, the boss was in the pulpit in a hurry

Jan 1, 1951

By Samuel Wyer

THE art of natural-gas compressing is now over 25 years old, and has grown at practically the same rate as the increase in domestic natural-gas consumers. There are now over 200 natural-gas compressing stations in North America, aggregating more than 320,000 hp. of compressor capacity and representing a property value of more than $22,000,000, and compressing more than 85 per cent. of all the gas used. The age and magnitude of the art make it evident that the use of gas compressors is a recognized integral part and universal custom of the natural-gas business. The public also is not without its rights and vital interests in this problem. Approximately 1,700,000 domestic natural-gas consumers in North America are dependent upon gas compressors for their natural-gas service. That is, if the use of compressors were to be prohibited, the majority of these consumers would be unable to secure adequate natural-gas service. Each consumer represents between four and five persons, and it therefore follows that the comfort and well-being-as far as natural-gas service is concerned-of at least 8,000,000 persons would be affected if the use of natural-gas compressors should be prohibited. These 1,700,000 consumers have invested, in services, house piping, fixtures, and appliances, an average of about $90 each, or an aggregate of $153,000,000, which is much more than the companies' investment in gas compressors. Furthermore, in all cases where the rate paid by the consumers is fair to the gas company-considering the value of the service rendered by the gas company-the consumers are entitled to continued service and protection of the investment they have made on the faith that the gas service would be continued in the future.

Jan 2, 1916

By W. F. Stowasser

downdraft traveling grate process to agglomerate pelletized iron ore concentrates has been successfully demonstrated in a pilot plant at Carrollville, Wis. Work there followed several years of development in the Allis-Chalmers Mfg. Co. laboratories, and the pilot plant phase was carried out in cooperation with Arthur G. McKee & Co., consultants and engineers to the iron and steel industry. End result of the process is conversion of iron ore concentrates into a form which can easily be transported and smelted in the blast furnace. Process Description The first of two process steps incorporates the art of balling and prepares the concentrates for burning. The second step consists of burning the green balls on the grate machine to the hardness required for shipping and handling purposes and for reduction in blast furnaces, see Fig. 1. Facilities are provided at the pilot plant to receive carload quantities of concentrate. The concentrates are loaded into a 50-ton bin direct from railroad cars. Because of the variable moisture content of the concentrates after shipment in an open railroad car it is necessary to repulp and refilter the concentrates to maintain a uniform and proper moisture content for the balling operation. Concentrates are conveyed to slurry tanks, and the slurry, at 50 to 60 pct solids, is pumped to a 4x4-ft drum filter. The filter provides feed of uniform moisture to the plant. Magnetite concentrates are normally filtered to produce a cake containing about 10 pct moisture, a necessary requirement for the following balling operation. The filtered concentrate is conveyed to a rotary bin table feeder which acts as a surge bin for the filter cake and delivers a steady flow of concentrates to the balling drum. It is often desirable to make additions to the concentrates as they are fed to the balling drum. These additives, such as bentonite, increase the strength of the finished green pellet and improve ballability of the concentrate. A vibrating feeder supplies additive to the feed belt, and the additive is mixed with the concentrate in the balling drum. The balling drum, shown in Fig. 3, is 8x3-ft diam. An oscillating cutting bar maintains the lining in the drum by trimming off the buildup of excess concentrate as it forms. The drum is operated in closed circuit with a lx4-ft rod-deck vibrating screen. Undersize pellets or seed pellets from the screen are returned to the balling drum until they grow to the desired size. Size of pellets is controlled by the opening in the screen deck. The formation of pellets in the balling drum is affected by many variables. Some of these are: the size distribution of the feed, the particle shape of the concentrate, the feed rate to the drum, the moisture in the concentrate, the speed of rotation of the drum, the slope of the drum, and the type of trimming obtained with the cutting bar. In this process, attempts are made to control the pellet size within the limits of % to 5/8 in. diam. The screened oversize pellets are conveyed under a coal feeder where sufficient powdered coal is added to the belt to produce desired results in the burning process. The top size of the coal successfully used has been 20 mesh, and anthracite was used in the test program. Fig. 4 illustrates the vibrating screen and the coal feeder. The pellets and free coal are conveyed together to the 5x3-ft diam- reroll drum that rolls the coal onto the surface of the pellets. This drum is also equipped with a cutting bar. The prepared pellets, containing bentonite, water, and surface coal, are elevated to the traveling grate, which consists of a continuous strand of 37 pallets. Each pallet, with a grate bar area 2 ft wide by 1 1/2 ft long, has 14-in. high side plates, Fig. 5. Feeding and distribution of the green balls to the grate is handled by a short conveyor which oscillates back and forth across the 2-ft width of the grate. An adjustable vertical plate located several inches in front of the head pulley of the oscillating conveyor controls the height of the bed and levels the moving bed of pellets. This method of feeding prevents segregation of various size pellets as well as fines and produces a uniform, permeable bed. The pallet train moves under the furnace and across four windboxes, located beneath the pallet frames, see Fig. 2. As the green pellets are deposited on the grate, partial drying of the pellets begins over a 2-ft long updraft windbox. The low temperature air reduces the moisture in the pellets in the lower level of the bed and this operation is essential to prevent sagging of the bed during later stages of the Process. The air used for this drying is recuperated from cooling the pellets on the grate, and supplemental heat, required for starting the Process, is obtained from an auxiliary burner. The pellets are then moved by the grate into the furnace and over an 8-ft windbox, designated as the downdraft waste windbox. Products of combustion are exhausted from this windbox to atmosphere. The furnace, shown in Fig. 6, is constructed with three chambers to provide downdraft drying, preheating, and ignition, respectively, to the pellet bed as it passes through. Overall length of the furnace is 5.57 ft; however, the exterior wall ends may be moved to reduce the length and also adjusted to Obtain the bed height desired, The drying, preheating, and ignition sections of the furnace are supplied with medium temperature

Jan 1, 1956

By H. M. Howe

(New York: Meeting, October, 1913.) 1. INTRODUCTION.-This paper gives the results of our micro-graphic determinations of the position of Ae3 in a series of 14 hypo-eutectoid steels of varying carbon content, one of them very rich in phosphorus, and of SEe for one hyper-eutectoid steel. We have pro-ceeded chiefly by noting the temperature -at which the reabsorption of the pro-eutectoid element is found to be complete after a 30-min. holding, but in part also by noting the temperature at which its precipitation begins. Observations on these same steels by Messrs. Burgess, Crowe, and Rawdon, of the United States Bureau of Standards, are given in a paper' issued simultaneously with this, while in a third paper s one of us compares these data with those of earlier observers. These three papers are treated as one whole by numbering their sections, tables, and illustrations continuously, and by setting the folding plates of micrographs at the end of the last paper. THE COMPOSITION OF THE STEELS EXPERIMENTED ON is given in Table I. Notation. and Definitions.-Following Osmond's development of Tschernoff's notation; in which " Ac3 " is the upper limit of the hypo-eutectoid part of the transformation range as observed in heating up, and " Ar3 " is that same limit as observed in cooling down, and following the usual custom of calling the upper limit of the hyper-eutectoid part of that range "SE," we may go farther and call this latter limit " SEc " when observed in heating up .and " SEr " when observed in cooling down.

Jan 6, 1913

By R. C. Nelson, T. L. Weaver, A. I. Michals

This paper describes the design and performance of an apparatus for making continuous nondestructive resistance measurements throughout a spool of fine wire. Highly reproducible results on clean and graphite coated tungsten and rnolybdenum wires from 1 to 9.5 mil are presented. A linear relation between resistance and wire weight (per standard length) was obtained on clean wires, but only on those coated wires with very uniform coatings. Results indicating a correlation between tensile strength, hardness, and resistivity are reported. THE increasing demand for greater uniformity in fine tungsten and molybdenum wires destined for use as mandrels, grids, and coils in radio tubes and as filaments in light bulbs has rendered inadequate the standard (sampling) approach to the control of wire diameter and other physical properties. This ap-

Jan 1, 1961

Ellsworth Daggett, who joined the Institute in 1873, and had beeu a prominent figure in the mining profession of Utah and other Western states for many years, died in San Francisco, Jan. 5, 1923. Mr. Daggett was a contemporary and intimate friend of Clarence King, James D. Hague, R. W. Raymond, and other Nestors of the mining engineering profession prominent in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. He was born at Canandaigua, N. Y., May 24, 1845; graduated from Sheffield Scientific School in 1864; pursued post-graduate courses there for two years, and for one year at the Bergakademie, in Berlin. He was in active practice as mining engineer from 1866 to 1914, but devoted most of his time during the World War to the perfecting of a submarine torpedo. He was connected with the United States Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel in 1870. The plates illustrating mining industry, Volume III of the reports of that survey, were engraved from drawings obtained in the field during progress of the survey and prepared for the engraver by Mr. Daggett. He operated the Winnamuck mine and smelter at Bingham Cation, Utah, in the early seventies; the mines and mill at Cusihuiriachic, Chihuahua, 18867; and the Berlin mine near Austin, Nevada, 1904-6. On June 24, 1874, Mr. Daggett married Miss June Spencer, of Salt Lake City, who survives him, residing in New Haven, Corn. Appointed United States Surveyor General for Utah by President Harrison, in 1888, he was the first engineer to hold that office in Utah. He reorganized the mineral division of the office, required the courses of mineral surveys to be referred to the true meridian determined by solar or stellar observations, and did much to improve the accuracy and reliability of such surveys. Mr. Daggett was a member of the Alta and University Clubs of Salt Lake City, and president of the latter from 1890 to 1892; he was also a member of the Century Club, New York. Through his instrumentality, irrigation was brought to considerable tracts of land in northeastern Utah, and Daggett County of that state is named for him. Re wrote numerous technical papers, and an economic review entitled "A Quarter of a Century of Prices," in which was shown the close relation

Jan 1, 1923

Ellsworth Daggett, who joined the Institute in 1873, and had beeu a prominent figure in the mining profession of Utah and other Western states for many years, died in San Francisco, Jan. 5, 1923. Mr. Daggett was a contemporary and intimate friend of Clarence King, James D. Hague, R. W. Raymond, and other Nestors of the mining engineering profession prominent in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. He was born at Canandaigua, N. Y., May 24, 1845; graduated from Sheffield Scientific School in 1864; pursued post-graduate courses there for two years, and for one year at the Bergakademie, in Berlin. He was in active practice as mining engineer from 1866 to 1914, but devoted most of his time during the World War to the perfecting of a submarine torpedo. He was connected with the United States Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel in 1870. The plates illustrating mining industry, Volume III of the reports of that survey, were engraved from drawings obtained in the field during progress of the survey and prepared for the engraver by Mr. Daggett. He operated the Winnamuck mine and smelter at Bingham Cation, Utah, in the early seventies; the mines and mill at Cusihuiriachic, Chihuahua, 18867; and the Berlin mine near Austin, Nevada, 1904-6. On June 24, 1874, Mr. Daggett married Miss June Spencer, of Salt Lake City, who survives him, residing in New Haven, Corn. Appointed United States Surveyor General for Utah by President Harrison, in 1888, he was the first engineer to hold that office in Utah. He reorganized the mineral division of the office, required the courses of mineral surveys to be referred to the true meridian determined by solar or stellar observations, and did much to improve the accuracy and reliability of such surveys. Mr. Daggett was a member of the Alta and University Clubs of Salt Lake City, and president of the latter from 1890 to 1892; he was also a member of the Century Club, New York. Through his instrumentality, irrigation was brought to considerable tracts of land in northeastern Utah, and Daggett County of that state is named for him. Re wrote numerous technical papers, and an economic review entitled "A Quarter of a Century of Prices," in which was shown the close relation

Jan 1, 1923

By Henry M. Howe

The object of the present paper is to suggest injecting into the hearths of iron blast furnaces, whose temperature has become unduly lowered, some form of fuel whose calorific intensity, under the peculiar conditions existing there, is considerably higher than than of liquid petroleum, the rose of this substance for melting out chills having grievonsly disappointed the high hopes which were at first entertained of it. A chill being a fall of the temperature below that needed for the complete liquefaction of the slag, which requires, according to Plattner, about 1800' C., one would suppose that the chief thing to be accomplished in curing it would be to raise the temperature in the crucible of the furnace. The most obvious ways of doing this seem to be to raise the temperature of the blast, and to increase the amount of fuel in the crucible itself. Simply increasing the rate at which the blast enters the furnace, if carried beyond a certain point, should lower the temperature in the crucible. The existence of a chill shows that the fuel is arriving too slowly at the tuyeres. If air be introduced so rapidly as to he in excess of that required for the combustion of the fuel, all that excess will simply lower the temperature around the tuyeres, carrying the region of intense heat upwards, and weakening its intensity by increasing its size. Up to a certain point, increasing the rate of introducing the blast will increase practically pari passu the rate at which the fuel reaches the tuyeres. But when mechanical obstructions, which so often accompany chills, retard the descent of the fuel, there must be a point beyond which this does not hold good, and beyond which farther

Jan 1, 1883

By M. Cohen, D. J. Blickwede

Quantitative observations concerning the carbide phases in high speed steel are of importance for two general reasons: (1) the carbides, being inevitable constituents of the final structure, exert a direct influence on the properties of the steel; and (2) a substantial proportion of the total alloy content is tied-up in the carbides, and hence the extent of their solution on austenitizing governs the composition of the steel matrix. The latter relationship has a vital bearing on the response of the steel to tempering as well as on its performance in subsequent service. Accordingly, in the course of a long-term study of the behavior of high speed steels, the authors were confronted with the problem of securing quantitative data on the carbide phases. The obvious method for acquiring such information is to isolate the car-bides from the steel and subject them to chemical, X ray diffraction and other measurements. There are well-known extraction techniques which involve the chemical or electrolytic solution of the less noble matrix (ferrite, marten-site or austenite), thus leaving a residue of the carbide phases. However, the results obtained must be scrutinized carefully1,2 since the carbides may be affected by the chemical or electrolytic action. It is the purpose of the present paper to describe the experiments leading to an electrolytic-extraction technique for quantitatively isolating the carbides from both I and hardened high speed steel. Particular attention is paid to the amount, as well as the composition, of the carbides so that the matrix analysis becomes ascertainable by subtraction from the overall steel composition. Illustrative results are given for the M-2 grade of tungsten-molybdenum steel. Review of the Literature The chemical method of dissolving the matrix selectively with respect to the carbides makes use of dilute non- oxidizing reagents such as hydrochloric or sulphuric acid. Although this simple procedure has led to the determination of the cementite composition,3,4 it achieved only limited success because of the interaction between the acid and the carbide residue. Some of the carbides may not only be destroyed in this way, but the hydrogen released is likely to remove part of their carbon as hydrocarbon gases. The electrolytic technique of isolating carbides has the advantage of rapidly dissolving the specimen (anode) in the presence of less reactive solutions than are practicable with the chemical method. This reduces the possibility of chemical attack on the carbides, and furthermore, the hydrogen evolved during the electrolysis is released at the cathode which is not in close proximity to the carbides. The common electrolytes adopted for this purpose are hydrochloric and sulphuric acids.5-l1 Aqueous solutions of ferrous salts have also been used.12,13 A considerable advance in experimental technique was introduced by Treje and Benedicks14 who developed a double-compartment cell for electrolytic extraction, the anode and cathode chambers being separated by a porous diaphragm. A solution of 15 pct sodium citrate, 2 pct potassium bromide and 1 pct potassium iodide was selected for the anolyte, while the catholyte consisted of a 10 pct solution of copper sulphate, with copper serving as the cathode. This type of cell has a number of desirable characteristics: 1. The anolyte has a pH value close to 7, at least at the beginning of the run. 2. The iron that dissolves from the anode-specimen forms a water-soluble complex ion with the citrate, thereby preventing the precipitation of iron hydroxide (which would contaminate the carbide residue) despite the neutrality of the solution. 3. Copper deposition instead of hydrogen evolution occurs at the cathode, and this avoids an increasing concentration of hy-droxyl ions which (in an otherwise neutral solution) might cause the precipitation of insoluble hydroxides. 4. Contamination of the anode chamber by copper sulphate is inhibited by the porous diaphragm. Houdremont and coworkers15 applied the above method (with the further refinement of excluding oxygen during the electrolysis, washing and drying) to the extraction of carbides from a series of plain carbon steels after various heat treatments. They had quantitative success only with specimens in the annealed condition, and concluded that the size and shape of the carbide particles play an important role in the isolation process, with large spheroids exhibiting the least tendency to decompose during the electrolysis. Up to the present time, the citrate double-cell has not been used to any extent for isolating the carbides of high alloy steels, apparently on the grounds that the complex carbides are more resistant than cementite to attack in the simpler acid electrolytes. In particular, Bain and Grossmann7 and Gulyaev10.10a have employed the hydrochloric acid cell for their investigations of the carbides in high speed steel.* It will be demonstrated here that this type of cell is capable of yielding quantitative results in the case of high speed steel, and actually has certain advantages over the more complicated double cell. However, in order to provide a rigorous test of the quanti-tativeness of electrolytic procedures for the problem at hand, both methods were studied in considerable detail.

Jan 1, 1950

As a service to its readers, MINING ENGINEERING is publishing the mineral industry portion of the 1957 list of Accredited Undergraduate Engineering Curricula in the United States. This list, revised annually, is issued by the Education Committee of the Engineers Council for Professional Development, and covers all phases of engineering education. The AIME is actively represented on ECPD, which was jointly organized by the Founder Societies and various other groups interested in the professional recognition of engineers. ECPD is merely authorized by its constituent organizations to publish a list of accredited engineering curricula for use as desired by those agencies which require such a list. It has no authority to impose any restrictions or standardizations on schools. (Date following school refers to year of initial accrediting.)

Jan 7, 1958

By Raymond Howe

SOME time ago,, a prominent engineer asked a representative of the firebrick industry to prepare a comprehensive paper on blast-furnace refractories. It was to have been the purpose of this paper to gather practical experiences from widely different sources, in the hope of determining what kind or kinds of firebrick were best adapted for certain uses. This engineer sent questionnaires to the large consumers of blast-furnace linings and stovebrick and received very detailed replies as to their experiences. These replies are conflicting, but, having been turned over to the writer, form the basis of this attempt to meet the request. Because of the impossibility of making final recommendations at this time, a few of the more interesting and commonly known methods of studying refractories are also discussed, as well as the more recent developments in this field. The first reply to, the questionnaire stated that good service was being secured from the linings. This satisfactory condition was attributed to the use of a very good distributor. The writer believed that manufacturers try to and do produce a good product and that the proper handling of equipment is of the utmost importance, if good results are to be secured. The type of bricks used was not mentioned. The second reply stated that good life was secured from the furnace linings, but that the writer had had soft-fired stovebrick crumble and, for that reason, preferred a hard-fired product for use in this position. The type of bricks used was not mentioned. The third reply stated that firebrick had crumbled from the mantle up; the cause was not known. The fourth reply stated that the stove linings were satisfactory. Hand-made furnace linings failed after 4 years' service so a steam-pressed lining was installed which was still good after 4 years of service. Consequently, a second steam-pressed lining was installed but this disintegrated at the top after the furnace had been in- blast 7 months. The firebrick manufacturer attributed this failure to the expansion of iron blocks that had been installed at the stock line to prevent erosion.

Jan 9, 1919

Jan 1, 1950

By Howard Willey

Mining operations of the Charcas unit at present are limited to the Tiro General mine at Charcas, in the State of san Luis Potosi, Mexico. The Tiro General mine was first operated during the Spanish occupation of Mexico for rich silver ores in an oxidized zone along the outcrop of the principal vein. In depth the ore is a complex sulfide with widely varying proportions of sphalerite, argentiferous galena and chalcopyrite ; and until recent years, it was economically impossible to carry on mining otherwise than irregularly in sections of the veins richest in galena and chalcopyrite. The advent of selective flotation brought the orebody as a whole within the field of economic interest, and a flotation mill of 650 metric tons daily capacity was constructed in the year 1925. The mining of partly worked-out sections of the mine, as well as the very heavy ground in most of the stopes opened in virgin ore, presented an unusually difficult problem. This paper describes the so-called "filled top slice" stoping method finally adopted as the standard system. Physical and Geological Conditions The principal orebody of the mine is an oreshoot about 1400 ft ng in a fissure vein striking about east and west and with an average lip of 70" to the north. The footwall of the orebody is fairly cleancu and regular both longitudinally and vertically and generally shows a dell-marked post-mineral slip. The footwall rock varies from a fairly strong limestone to a broken, metamorphosed limestone which requires heavy timbering. In some sections it is an altered, crumbly porphyry, which swells badly and necessitates frequent renewal of drift and raise tirnber. The hanging wall is irregular and frequently an assay wall. The stopina width ranges from a few feet up to more than 90 ft.; it averages about 30 ft. For the most part the hanging-wall rock is a shattered and altered monzonite porphyry, nearly aways requiring heavy timbering. The orebody is greatly fractured by post-mineral movement, which usually followed the footwall and left it as a smooth surface frequently covered with a slippery clay gouge. Two well marked transverse faults

Jan 1, 1931