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By R. R. Brandenthaler

Petroleum producers in the Mid-Continent field, up to the present time, have been more concerned with the mechanical operation and efficiency of the gas-lift than with its possible effects on the physical properties of the oil. As a result few specific data are available on the subject and contradictory opinions exist. Some operators are positive that the gravity of the oil is decreased, while others present data which definitely show that the gravity of the oil is increased. In other localities, some operators have given careful attention to the effect of the gas-lift on the gravity of the oil. When the emulsions formed have given much trouble, the problem has usually been dodged by placing the well on the pump. Certain Fundamentals Certain fundamental results may be expected under ordinary conditions and with all types of crude oil, when gas is the prime mover of oil in producing formations. For example, the gravity of oil will decrease as the rock pressure in the producing formation declines, the change being greater in the higher gravity oils. Furthermore, the character of emulsion formed is primarily dependent on the kind of oil, thus more refractory emulsions are formed from asphaltic-base oils, less refractory from mixcd-base oils, and the least refractory from paraffin-base oils. However, refractory emulsions are sometimes formed from paraffin or mixed-base oils that are difficult to treat by ordinary methods, especially by electrolytic processes. With oils having the same base, those of lighter gravity are less subject to the formation of emulsions, especially of refractory emulsions. There are two types of emulsions formed; namely, water-in-oil emulsions and oil-in-water emulsions. The former are the more common; in fact, very few examples of oil-in-water emulsions have been noted in the oil fields. The amount of water produced with the oil influences the percentage of emulsion formed. Agitation and velocity of flow play an important part in the forming of emulsions.

Jan 1, 1928

By Robert Linton

THE PURCHASE of silver by the United States Government under the provisions of the Pittman Act is practically completed. Producers of silver in this country will now have to market their silver in competition with the rest of the world. It therefore becomes of interest to study such data as are available and endeavor to obtain such suggestions as may be afforded therefrom as to the probable future market position of the metal. Conditions influencing the marketing of silver are numerous and complex. It is a commodity entering. into the arts and manufactures, and therefore influenced by the condition of various lines of business which make use of it; it is currency-being used by all countries for subsidiary coins and even as the founda-tion of the system by a very few; and it serves as a frequent basis for speculation. The various factors involved can easily set up so many cross-currents in the flow of the metal that predictions in regard to the market position of silver can never be safely made, although it may be possible to form some idea of prob-able trends over a sufficiently long period. Of course price is determined, as is the case with all commodities, by the inexorable workings of the law of supply and demand.

Jan 6, 1923

By C. B. Sclar and

A graphical solution is presented for the equation v =v &-cU where vb is the volume of liquid b of density 6 that must be added to liquid a of volume va and density d, in order to obtain a heavy-liquid solution of preferred density dm for mineral fractionation. The equation is valid only for pairs of liquids whose volumes are additive, but empirical density-composi-tion data show that this condition is met over wide compositional ranges by all of the heavy solutions that are commonly used for mineralogical analysis. The chart is a nomograph which consists of two horizontal volume scales ad a vertical density scale arranged so that one volume scale occurs on each side of the density scale. All the scales are linear. For two liquids of density d, and &, respectively, each volume scale has an independent level on the density scale, ad the graphical solution for vb on the nomograph is obtained by construction of one straight line. The chart can be prepared easily to cover any density range with any desired accuracy by proper selection of the scales. Heavy-liquid separation of particulate samples is an indispensable analytical procedure in the mineralogical and mineral-process ing laboratory. Heavy liquids may be used 1) to isolate specific minerals in the form of high purity products or to fractionate samples into several products with density limits for petrographic, chemical, spectrographic, and X-ray diffraction analysis,'-' 2) to determine the density of minerals,'-l4 3) to facilitate the recognition and identification of optically similar associated minerals,15 and 4) to determine quantitatively the degree of liberation of ore minerals in ores and mill products at various limiting sizes." The preparation and recovery of heavy liquids suitable for mineralogical analysis are discussed fully in the literature and operational procedures and special equipment for heavy-liquid separation are described in numerous references.'747837' 13,18,25-42 Useful tabulations of heavy liquids for mineralogical analysis are given by Tickell, Mil-ner,' Twenhofel and Tyler,' and Lange and a very complete up-to-date list of minerals arranged according to increasing density is given by Mursky and Thompson. USEFULNESS OF THE DENSITY CHART For any particulate sample, the limiting densities selected for its fractionation by means of heavy- liquid separation depend on the respective densities of the constituent minerals and the specific objectives of the separation. In many instances, the densities of readily available and practicable heavy liquids do not coincide with those that are required, and suitable liquids of the proper density are obtained by dilution with miscible liquids. In the general case, one may wish to mix either a pure liquid (A) or a solution of two miscible liquids (AP,,) of known density with either a pure liquid (B) or a different solution of the two miscible liquids (A,B,) of higher or lower density in order to obtain a final liquid of the preferred density. In conventional practice, the latter is reached empirically by trial-and-error addition of increments of one liquid to the other. The density of the final solution may be determined either by accurately weighing a known volume of the final liquid,'' 532;4;40, or by means of I)a Westphal balance, 2)a hydrometer, a refractometer in the case of binary liquid systems for which density-refractive index data are available,15 4) natural or synthetic .indicators of known density, a pycno-meter. Like all trial-and-error methods, these procedures are time consuming and many require special equipment which may not be available, The purpose of this paper is to show that the volume of a liquid of known density which is to be added to another liquid of known volume and density in order to obtain a solution with an intermediate preferred density may be determined rapidly and accurately by a graphical method provided that the two liquids form ideal or quasi-ideal solutions whose volumes are additive. Empirical data47'8~'8~4B'49 show that solutions prepared from pairs of miscible

Jan 1, 1961

By F. Lynwood Garrison

It is not intended to make in the present paper any deduction or to formulate any theories from the results obtained by experiments. The further expenditure of considerable time and labor would be required to obtain a sufficient basis for positive assertions as to the microscopic structure of the different varieties of iron and steel, and the structural changes which take place in them. It is therefore my purpose at this time to offer simply a synopsis of the general results arrived at in a few months' work, a brief description of apparatus used, and a few hints as to the preparation and preservation of the material which it is intended to investigate. The study of the microscopic structure of iron and steel is not altogether new. Some attention has been given it in both England and Germany. But the foreign publications on the subject have thus far been confined, so far as I am aware, to two papers, one by Herr Martens, of Berlin, contributed to the Verein zur Befoerderuny des Gewerbfleisses and the other a lecture by Dr. H. C. Sorby of Sheffield. Dr. Sorby, it seems, was induced to investigate the subject as bearing on the structure of meteoric iron ; and the results he obtained are certainly very interesting. At the Boston meeting of this Institute, in February, 1883, Mr. J. C, Bayles called attention to the subject in a neat and exceedingly interesting paper, in which the work of Messrs. Martens and Sorby was summarized,* and original suggestions were added. It is at present difficult to say what will he eventually the practical value of the microscope, thus employed, in the sciences of engineering. The role which it seems most likely to play is that of' an adjunct to the testing-machine, and not (as some have supposed) a rival to the chemical laboratory. That it will be a most valuable accessory seems, to say the least, highly probable. I need hardly go at length into the details of preparing the material for examination. Mr. Bayles has described the process in such a plain and comprehensive manner that if his instructions are

Jan 1, 1886

A shrinkage stope is an overhand stope in which the broken ore accumulates until the stope is completed to, or near, the level above. As broken ore generally occupies at least 60 per cent. more space than ore in place, about a third of this must be drawn out as the stope advances to leave a working space under the back. The ore remaining supports the miners and gives temporary support to walls, and is all withdrawn when the stope is finished. The shrinkage-stope method is applicable to steep-dipping deposits of strong ore with strong walls. It may be applied to narrow or wide veins, and is simple and cheap. Five examples, which include important and varied types of deposits, are given: namely, Kennecott, Homestake, Jarbidge district, Mogollon district, and Cripple Creek district.

Jan 1, 1925

By L. S. Castleman, H. A. Froot

A study was made of the growth kinetics of B-brass layers in a-brass us y-brass diffusion couples in which both phases were saturated in the 6 phase. It was found that useful estimates can be made of the difhsion coefficients at the ß-phase interfaces from interface displacement data, which are relatively easy to measure experimentally; also, a useful estimate can be made of the mean heat of activation for diffusion from layer growth data. The effects of pressure on layer growth kinetics were explored and found to be consistent with a vacancy model for diffusion in 6 brass in both the disordered and ordered temperature range. 1 HE study of multiphase diffusion receives relatively little attention in comparison with that devoted to diffusion in homogeneous materials. Of the hundred or so papers on diffusion written each year,' only a few are devoted to the subject, and it is the rare review article2,3 that devotes any space to multiphase diffusional phenomena. This is unfortunate, since the metallurgist frequently encounters practical situations involving cementation processes such as cladding, protective coating of metals, and so forth in which he needs guidance of a fundamental nature. The investigation of multiphase diffusion phenomena is complicated by the fact that one must consider reactions at phase interfaces as well as the migration of atoms within the individual phases; these reactions cause the interfaces to be displaced within the diffusion zone. The relative displacement of two adjacent interfaces corresponds to the growth of an intermetallic layer, and it is not difficult to determine experimentally the kinetics of layer growth. In the past few years it has been pointed out4,5 that valuable fundamental information may be gained about diffusion coefficients and the concentrations at interfaces through a study of their motion. Accordingly, it is the purpose of this paper to report the results of an investigation of interface motion in a simple multiphase binary system. In the work reported herein, attention was focussed on the growth of a 6 -brass layer in a diffusion couple prepared from a- and y-brass compositions saturated with respect to the 6 phase. This particular system was chosen for a number of reasons. First, the bcc ß-brass phase is disordered for all compositions at temperatures above 468°C and becomes increasingly long-range ordered for all compositions at temperatures below 454° C;6,7 thus, the effects of a variation in order on interface displacement could be determined. Second, diffusion coefficients have already been obtained as a function of temperature in the ß phase both in the ordered and disordered Re- and a theoretical picture of the mechanism of diffusion in this and other ordered solutions is emerging.11'12 Third, some thermodynamic data are available for the a-, ß-, and ?-brass phases,13,4 and these data could be used to gain insight into questions of phase equilibria and concentrations at phase interfaces.

Jan 1, 1963

By D. J. McAdam, G. W. Geil, R. W. Mebs

AS shown in previous papers by the authors 9-l7† the resistance of a metal to fracture, like its resistance to plastic deformation, is a function of all three principal stresses.‡ A technical cohesion limit is the technically determined resistance to fracture under a specific stress system. The technical cohesive strength thus comprises an infinite number of technical cohesion limits corresponding to the infinite number of possible combinations of the principal stresses. The technical cohesive strength, therefore, may be represented by a surface in a diagram with the three principal stresses as coordinates. As shown in previous papers, 9-I8 the technical cohesive strength increases with plastic deformation, with decrease in temperature, and with increase in the strain rate. The technical cohesion limit, therefore, is affected by the same factors that affect the flow stress, § namely, the stress system, plastic deformation, temperature, and the strain rate. More- over, the influence of each of these factors on the technical cohesion limit has been shown to be qualitatively similar to the influence of the same factor on the flow stress.9-18 Advance of knowledge about the conditions determining fracture, of metals has been retarded by the reluctance of some investigators to abandon preconceived ideas about how metals "should" behave. The incorrect idea is still prevalent that the conditions determining resistance to fracture are very different from those determining the flow stress. Attempts are still being made to express resistance to fracture in terms of a single parameter, such as a limiting value of the greatest principal stress, the maximum shearing stress, or the volume stress (one-third the algebraic sum of the three principal stresses). In these attempts, a sharp distinction is sometimes made between a ductile or "plastic fracture " and a "brittle fracture." In making this distinction, however, the meaning attached to the term "brittle fracture" sometimes is not made clear. The term could mean fracture after very little plastic deformation or it could be used to designate the type of fracture. An ordinary fracture of a ductile metal at room temperature starts as a cleavage, generally transverse to the direction of the greatest principal stress, but eventually changes to a shearing fracture. In some conditions, however, the metal fractures entirely by cleavage, with no evidence of plastic deformation during the fracture; the surface of such a fracture may have a

Jan 1, 1947

By D. J. McAdam, G. W. Geil, R. W. Mebs

As shown in previous papers by the authorsg-17t the resistance of a metal to fracture, like its resistance to plastic deformation, is a function of all three principal stresses. A technical cohesion limit is the technically determined resistance to fracture under a specific stress system. The technical cohesive strength thus comprises an infinite number of technical cohesion limits corresponding to the infinite number Of possible com-binations of the principal stresses. The technical cohesive strength, therefore, may be represented by a surface in a diagram with the three principal stresses as coordinates. As shown in previous papers,'-'' the technical cohesive strength increases with plastic deformation, with decrease in temperature, and with increase in the strain rate. The technical cohesion limit, therefore, is affected by the same factors that affect the flow stress,$ namely, the stress system, plastic deformation, temperature, and the strain rate. More- over, the influence of each of these factors on the technical cohesion limit has been shown to be qualitatively similar to the three of the same factor on the flow stress.9-18 Advance of knowledge about the conditions determining fracture of metals has been retarded by the reluctance of some investigators to abandon preconceived ideas about how metals ''should,, behave. The incorrect idea is still prevalent that the conditions determining resistance to fracture are very different from those determining the flow stress. Attempts are still being made to express resistance to fracture in terms of a single parameter, such as a limiting value of the greatest principal stress, the maximum shearing stress, or the volume stress (one-third the algebraic sum of the three principal stresses). In these attempts, a sharp distinction is sometimes made between a ductile or ,plasticdeformation, fracture,, and a "brittle frat-ture.H In making this distinction, however, the meaning attached to the term "brittle fracture" sometimes is not made clear. The term could mean fracture after very little plastic deformation or it could be used to designate the type of fracture. An ordinary fracture of a ductile metal at room temperature starts as a cleavage, generally transverse to the direction of the greatest principal stress, but eventually changes to a shearing fracture' In some conditions, however, the metal fractures entirely by cleavage, with no evidence of plastic deformation during the fracture; the surface of such a fracture may have a

Jan 1, 1948

By R. W. Mebs, G. W. Geil, D. J. McAdam

As shown in previous papers by the authorsg-17t the resistance of a metal to fracture, like its resistance to plastic deformation, is a function of all three principal stresses. A technical cohesion limit is the technically determined resistance to fracture under a specific stress system. The technical cohesive strength thus comprises an infinite number of technical cohesion limits corresponding to the infinite number Of possible com-binations of the principal stresses. The technical cohesive strength, therefore, may be represented by a surface in a diagram with the three principal stresses as coordinates. As shown in previous papers,'-'' the technical cohesive strength increases with plastic deformation, with decrease in temperature, and with increase in the strain rate. The technical cohesion limit, therefore, is affected by the same factors that affect the flow stress,$ namely, the stress system, plastic deformation, temperature, and the strain rate. More- over, the influence of each of these factors on the technical cohesion limit has been shown to be qualitatively similar to the three of the same factor on the flow stress.9-18 Advance of knowledge about the conditions determining fracture of metals has been retarded by the reluctance of some investigators to abandon preconceived ideas about how metals ''should,, behave. The incorrect idea is still prevalent that the conditions determining resistance to fracture are very different from those determining the flow stress. Attempts are still being made to express resistance to fracture in terms of a single parameter, such as a limiting value of the greatest principal stress, the maximum shearing stress, or the volume stress (one-third the algebraic sum of the three principal stresses). In these attempts, a sharp distinction is sometimes made between a ductile or ,plasticdeformation, fracture,, and a "brittle frat-ture.H In making this distinction, however, the meaning attached to the term "brittle fracture" sometimes is not made clear. The term could mean fracture after very little plastic deformation or it could be used to designate the type of fracture. An ordinary fracture of a ductile metal at room temperature starts as a cleavage, generally transverse to the direction of the greatest principal stress, but eventually changes to a shearing fracture' In some conditions, however, the metal fractures entirely by cleavage, with no evidence of plastic deformation during the fracture; the surface of such a fracture may have a

Jan 1, 1948

By Henry G. Granger

I. INTRODUCTION. REPEATED failures in attempts to work gold-bearing gravels by means of suction-dredges have created the impression that this method is impracticable. The suction-dredges have failed from three special causes excessive wear and frequent breakage of pump-shell, runners and liners; inability to dredge compact gravel which would ,not. readily move towards the intake; and, most important of all, closing. of the suction-pipe by stones too large to enter it. In my opinion, all three causes of trouble may be remedied: the first, by making stronger the parts most liable to wear and breakage; the second, by means for loosening the gravel at the intake; and the third, by sufficiently... Increasing.. the diameter of the suction-pipe. In suction gold-dredges, this diameter has not usually exceeded 10 or 12 in.; whereas there are few profitable gold-fields which can bee considered dredgeable, in which stones more than' 12 in. in diameter, are-.not frequently encountered. II. AN EFFECTIVE SUCTION-DREDGE. In harbor-operations, much larger stones are handled by suction-dredges.., The large dredge of the Henry Steers Contracting Co. worked for nearly four years at League Island, Philadelphia, where it sucked up, passed through the pump, and forced through 3,700 ft. of discharge-pipe; gravel containing boulders up to 200 lb. in weight. This was done with no bad breaks and few shut-downs. The cutter; and liners were the only parts liable to damage, and these were easily replaced with brief interruption of work. The chrome-steel liners are said to have lasted from six to nine months. I am informed that this dredge worked continously for nine

Apr 1, 1909

By Immo H. Redeker

The Asheville Minerals Research Laboratory at North Carolina State University is engaged mainly in applied nonmetallic mineral processing research to assist the North Carolina mining industry. The laboratory helped to bring the flotation process to North Carolina feldspar. spodumene, mica and phosphate producers and it maintains a versatile batch and pilot plant. The conservation of mineral resources through improved processing methods has been the object of most of the laboratory's projects. Current laboratory work is sponsored by three feldspar companies, the State of North Carolina, and the U.S. Bureau of Mines. This work is aimed at reducing the amounts of feldspar tailings in the Spruce Pine area. Mineral dressing techniques are applied to these tails to reclaim salable mineral products such as feldspar, mica, quartz, and to make a more uniform material for possible ceramic and other applications.

Jan 1, 1970

By Lawrence Dykers

The paper presents a generalized history of the growth and utilization of electronic data processing in a medium- size, mining-oriented company. A brief narrative outlines a corporate wide data gathering system, its hardware and application. Responsibility areas for corporate accounting, operations control, engineering, and research program development are defined. A Synopsis of programs within responsibility areas is presented along with a review of program language requirements for each of these areas. Anticipated additional uses of computers and the programs being developed for these uses are outlined. The scope and growth of an Information Systems Department within Duval Corporation is briefly discussed. Suggestions are presented which should help minimize the problems and avoid some of the pitfalls of program development for those contemplating the initiation or revision of an electronic data processing system. The importance of lucid and comprehensive program documentation is stressed.

Jan 1, 1969

Jan 1, 1969

By E. Gybbon Spilsbury

The introduction of underground machinery in mines, and especially the invention of the rock drill, called attention to the necessity for some motive power to drive them. The use of steam generators underground is as a general thing inadmissible, owing to the difficulties of ventilation and the transportation of fuel, and the great loss of power by condensation in the pipes, when surface generators are used, added to the inconvenience of getting rid of the exhaust steam, has precluded the direct use of steam for this class of machinery. Water as a power has with very few exceptions proved a failure, owing to its weight and incompressibility, and therefore the attention of mining engineers has very naturally turned to the use of compressed air. This agent not only answers all the requirements for power, but has the double advantage of greatly assisting in thoroughly ventilating remote workings, and in cooling the underground atmosphere. It is therefore clear that the successful introduction of underground machinery is dependent on the economical production of good and efficient air-compressing machinery. Although many improvements have of late years been introduced in this class of machines, the most of them are open to serious objections, the chief of which are the very small duty they perform for the power expended, and their great expense, due to the complexity of their construction. This latter fault is the chief reason why the introduction of rock drills and other underground engines is so limited, as comparatively few mines can afford to expend the required capital for the installation of a complete compressing plant. But with the introduction of a cheap and effective compressor, there is no doubt that power drills will become as generally used in mines as the hand drills are now. The great excess of power required in most machines to compress air over that given out again by the use of the air thus compressed (amounting as it does in most cases to sixty per cent.) is well known to all mining engineers. Of course a portion of this loss is due to the friction of the air through the pipes, and will always occur however effective the machine used may be, but the chief cause of the

Jan 1, 1880

By R. H. Doremus

From measurements of carbide precipitation rates in a iron it was concluded that the carbides nucleated on dislocations in both strained and unstrained samples, except for the latter at lower temperatures and higher carbon concentrations, where there were more muclei than could form on the dislocations. The equation of Cottrell and Bilby for the segregation of atoms to dislocations was found to be inapplicable to this system. No satisfactory theory for the growth process is available. A study of the rate at which a second phase separates from solid solution can frequently reveal much about the mechanism of separation. There are still many features of the precipitation of carbon from a iron that are not understood, although this system has been examined extensively. To provide more insight into the mechanism of carbide precipitation in a iron, rates of this process were measured at different temperatures, carbon concentrations, and densities of dislocations in the iron. The concentra- tion of carbon in solution was followed from the height of the internal-friction peak; this height is directly proportional to the amount of carbon in solution and is not affected by the growing carbide particles. In this paper these rates are compared with those found by earlier investigators, and the mechanism of precipitation is discussed in light of these results as well as two earlier studies1, 2 and the electron microscopic work reported in the preceding paper. EXPERIMENTAL The amount of carbon in solution was followed by

Jan 1, 1961

By D. A. Dukelow, K. Li, G. C. Smith

Decarburization in the Fe-C system by oxygen top blowing has been studied in laboratory -scale experiments. It is shown that equilibrium models fail to explain or predict either the course of refining or endpoint conditions, giving results which either are incompatible with the chemistry of the system or do not satisfy material balance requirements. Also the path of decarburization was found to vary even for heats made under apparently identica1 conditions. A promising approach to analyzing the decarburization results is to relate oxygen efficiency fm carbon removal to bath carbon content. This relationship for Fe-C heats shows the same range of oxygen efficiencies as is obtained in pilot-plant and commercial heats using hot metal-scrap charges. This implies that oxygen transfer is primarily controlled by the decarburization reaction itself, independent of other refining reactions. Therefore, it should be possible to study separately decarburization and slag-metal reactions. DECARBURIZATION is probably the most important reaction in steelmaking. Not only is it a main reaction in the refining of iron to steel but it also provides the stirring action in the bath necessary for the diffusion processes to proceed at reasonable rates so as to make a steelmaking process practical. Kinetics of decarburization in the open-hearth process has been a subject of investigation for many years.&apos;-B It is generally accepted that at steelmaking temperatures the rate of homogeneous C-0 reaction is extremely high and cannot constitute a rate-controlling step. Diffusion of oxygen through a boundary film in the metal phase has been suggested by arken&apos; as rate-determining. Recently, Larsen and sordah16 concluded from experiments in a laboratory furnace that, with oxygen supplied from air or combustion gases, the rate of "steady-state" carbon boil is controlled essentially by a diffusion process of O2, Co2, or H2O through a film of nitrogen above the slag surface. Displacing this diffusion film by a stream of nearly pure oxygen produced a ten-fold increase in the rate of carbon boil with the rates of slag-metal oxygen transfer, bubble nucle-ation, and other steps all apparently able to keep pace. In the top-blown basic oxygen process, however, the transport of oxygen takes a more direct route. and the state of bath agitation is much more turbulent than in the open-hearth process. In addition, direct contact of the gas with the metal phase provides opportunity for direct oxidation of carbon. It is likely that the rate-limiting factor for the decarburization reaction will be different. However, only a few descriptive discussions of the subject have been reported in the literature.10-l2 Studies of the decarburization kinetics based on plant or pilot-plant data are necessarily complicated and are influenced by other refining reactions which occur simultaneously. In order to investigate the mechanism of decarburization, experiments have been conducted in which carbon-saturated iron melts were top-blown with pure oxygen over a range of conditions. It is hoped that this study will form a foundation on which a more basic understanding of this important reaction may be built. EXPERIMENTS One group of blowing experiments was made in a standard 200-lb induction furnace and another group in a 500-lb induction furnace. The furnaces were modified to the general shape of a basic oxygen furnace by adding a rammed refractory cone section to the regular crucible body. Crucible and cone were of high MgO (95 pct) material. A water-cooled lance, 1/2 in. in diam and threaded at one end to take a nozzle, was used for blowing oxygen. The lance with its water and oxygen lines was supported on a cantilever arrangement so that it could be moved up, down, or sideways. Oxygen of 99.5 pct purity was supplied from a cylinder and metered through a rotameter equipped with pressure and temperature gages. Another pressure gage was located at the top of the lance. A schematic diagram of the assembly is shown in Fig. 1. Before each experiment, a weighed amount of ingot iron, containing 0.02 pct C, < 0.01 pct Si, 0.10 pct Mn, 0.019 pct P, and 0.015 pct S, was charged in the furnace and melted down by induction heating. Graphite was then added to the molten charge until it became saturated. When the temperature of the charge reached the desired level, the lance was lowered to a predetermined height above the bath

Jan 1, 1964

By AIME AIME

THE following is the discussion of a paper, with the same title, by N. L. Alison, which appeared in our February issue: E. F. Tillson commented that while the fundamentals are well presented it would have been of interest to him to have had the author add some of his own experiences with fan installations. A. W. Hesse remarked concerning the use of the forward curved blade fan on the surface at a metal mine which has, ordinarily, but few airways, that the farther they are driven, the higher the resistance rises, and less air will be delivered, as the water gage will remain constant with a consequent loss in quantity. D. Harrington added that the metal mines do not or¬dinarily install fans until the mine is well developed, so changes are relatively slower after fan installation than at a coal mine.

Jan 1, 1930

By W. D. BRENNAN

AS a rule the thoughts of engineers are more often directed toward the mechanical and physical conditions of mining practice than they are toward the disposition and the marketing of the product. This, I think, has been true of the coal industry to the present time not only among the engineering force but also generally true of operators. There has been a tendency to place the sales department in a rather secondary position; for a great many years there was a greater demand for coal than the supply would meet, so it was only necessary to increase production: either by expansion of operating mines, or opening new mines of greater capacity. While the production of coal is still a highly important phase of the industry, its enormous development throughout the country, the great advance in fuel, efficiency and economy, and the discovery of new reserves of competitive fuels have combined to create a buyers&apos; market and force the present-day attention upon merchandising in modern ways. A buyers&apos; market has a natural tendency to develop the keenest competition, frequently unscrupulous and nearly always profit-wrecking. Under such conditions bad practices are bound to grow and to extend until the industry is wrecked, or until wiser heads get together to reduce or eliminate unfair methods of competition. This is not so recent a condition as one might believe.

Jan 1, 1931

By Carl Henrich

Jan 1, 1893

By C. R. Ince

The term "differential flotation" is used to denote a flotation operation in which separation is effected between two or more minerals of the same class; e. g., lead sulfide from zinc sulfide, pyrite from blende, chalco-pyrite from pyrite, chalcopyrite from blende. At present, so far as published work shows, there seem to be two theories as to the mechanics of differential flotation. The earlier and more generally accepted theory is that the so-called depressing agents alter the surface of one or more of the sulfides in the ore, either by chemical action or adsorption, so that it is no longer amenable to flotation, but that these depressed sulfides can be revived, after the unaffected sulfide has been floated, by reagents which react chemically with the altered surface and make it amenable to flotation. More recently, Professor Taggartl has advanced the theory that slime adsorption is an important factor in differential flotation. He believes that, with the proper use of a class of agents, which he calls dispersion agents and which include practically all the depressing agents, one can cause the slime to adsorb differentially on sulfide surfaces. A gangue-slime coated sulfide surface will act as a gangue particle and will not float. If, subsequently, an agent that will remove the gangue-slime coating is added, the sulfide again assumes its original surface and can be floated as an ordinary sulfide. This is the basis of the slime theory of differential flotation. Timber Butte mill at Butte, Mont., is a typical lead-zinc flotation concentrator. Neihart ore, chosen for investigation in this work, is one of the custom ores treated at that mill. Practice at Timber Butte mill in February, 1928, was as follows: A combined lead-zinc concentrate was first made using 0.2 Ib. per ton on the ore of potassium xanthate and 0.03 lb. per ton of Cleveland Cliffs oil after 1.5 lb. per ton of lime and 1 lb. per ton of calcium chloride has been added just before the ball mill. The concentrate was then thickened to 70 per cent. solids. Potassium cyanide to the amount of 0.3 lb. per ton and zinc sulfate in the quantity of 0.5 Ib. per ton were added to the thickened pulp and the whole

Jan 1, 1930