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By AIME AIME

T'HE Columbia Section of the A. 1. M. E. took charge of the Western Mining Convention on Oct. 3, and the meeting was held under their auspices. W. L. Zeigler, chairman of the Section, called the session to order. The first paper on the program, "Lead Refining Practice at Bunker Hill Smelter," was presented in per-son by the author, A. F. Beasley, superintendent of the smelter. He pointed out the differences in the refining practice at Bunker Hill from other American refineries. The Bunker Hill plant was the first to adopt the liquation process for silver skims as developed in Australia. Details were given of operating practice with results. F. F. Colcord questioned the author in regard to the kind of metal best suited for kettles, which was said to be cast iron.

Jan 1, 1929

The fall meeting of the. Institute of Metals Division will be held in Philadelphia on Sept. 30 to Oct. 2. All meetings will be held in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Broad and Walnut Streets, which is also the hotel headquarters. As this meeting is being held in conjunction with the meeting of the American Foundrymen's Association, the members of the Institute will have the privileges of the exhibit of the Foundrymen's Association. This, it is expected, will be one of the largest exhibits made in this country. On Monday evening, Sept. 29, there will be a meeting, in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, of former officers and members of the Executive Committee of the Institute. It is requested that all officers and Committee members, the present as well as the past, will arrange to be present.

Jan 8, 1919

The fall meeting of the Institute of Metals Division Will be held in Philadelphia on Sept. 30 to Oct. 2. All meetings will be held in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Broad and Walnut Streets, which is also the hotel headquarters. As this meeting is being held in conjunction with the meeting of the American Foundrymen's Association, the members of the Institute will have the privileges of the exhibit of the Foundrymen's Association. This, it is expected, will be one of the largest exhibits made in this country. On Monday evening, Sept. 29, there will be a meeting, in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, of former officers and members of the Executive Committee of the Institute. It is requested that all officers and Committee members, the present as well as the past, will arrange to be present.

Jan 9, 1919

By A. S. C. Owili-eger

Coal mining is one of the major activities that may affect the natural or existing hydrologic equilibrium of a basin. Consequently, the mining industry is committed to the conservation and protection of the hydrologic balance within and around mining environments. This commitment embodies thorough and careful consideration of the quantitative and qualitative variations and, in general terms, the environmental impacts of mining activity on the natural water systems. A research program was undertaken to study the impacts of full extraction coal mining on the ground water systems at one of the coal basins in the Appalachian region. The primary objective was to provide reliable information for determining the local and possibly the regional effects of longwall mining on well yields, and the hydraulic and hydrogeochemical parameters of the immediate surface and subsurface water resources.

Jan 1, 1985

CHICAGO SECTION CHARLES H. MACDOWELL, Chairman, LUTHER V. RICE, Vice-chairman, HENRY W. NICHOLS, Secretary-Treasurer, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Ill. ALEXANDER K. HAMILTON, G. P. HULST, HENRY P. HOWLAND, FREDERICK T. SNYDER. A meeting of the Chicago Section was held at the Chicago Engineers' Club on the evening of March 30, 1918, on the occasion of the visit of the President, Vice-president. and Secretary of the Institute. The meeting was called to order by Henry W. Nichols, Secretary of the Chicago Section. The first speaker of the evening was Mr. Allen, Deputy Fuel Administrator for the State: of Illinois, who spoke on the problems and difficulties encountered by the Fuel Administration during the past -winter, He paid high tribute to the spirit of cooperation shown by the

Jan 5, 1918

By J. P. Carson

(Read at the Wilkes-Barre Meeting, May, 1877.) THE works of the Tula Iron Company are in the Republic of Mexico, State of Jalisco, twenty-eight leagues southwest of Guadal¬ajara, ten leagues northwest of the town of Sayula, through which passes the projected line of the Mexican National Railroad. Its geographical position would be about: latitude, 20° 10' N., longi¬tude, 4° 35' W. of Mexico City. The surrounding country is a roll¬ing plateau, 6000 feet above the sea, enjoying the most magnificent climate in the world, the average temperature being about 70°. The works were commenced in 1850 by a company with very small capital, having not the least idea of the undertaking. They soon fell into the hands of the money-lenders, and after changing

Jan 1, 1878

By H. Tanner, T. Heikkinen

In1950 studies concerning mining and milling of the approximately 17 million tons of ore remaining at Outokumpu revealed the surface facilities for economical treatment were inadequate. The two shafts would soon be too far from the mine workings. Moreover, in spite of several extensions, mill capacity was insufficient and recoveries were not satisfactory. Therefore it was decided in 1951 to sink a new shaft and to build a new mill and auxiliary surface buildings around the shaft. The new shaft was sunk near the center of the remaining orebody, about 650 ft from the ore to the footwall side. This location placed the main part of the shaft as well as the crusher rooms and the ore bins around the lower end of the shaft in the firm and strong mica-schist.

Jul 1, 1955

By AIME

The Taconites Are Ready, the editorial appearing on P. 933 of the September issue, has provoked comment from several informed engineers to the effect that the indicated profit margin was considerably exaggerated. The cost figures in the editorial, taken from the Congressional Record, were characterized as inaccurate by some correspondents. The theme of the story was, however, substantiated in the announcement (P. 1023, October) that Republic and Armco had joined forces in a $160 million project for taconite development. Chief among the dissenters was E. W. Davis, , Director of the Mines Experiment Station at the University of Minnesota. Mr. Davis has worked up the following set of cost figures:

Jan 1, 1950

The Duluth Engineers' Club was formally organized on the evening of Aug. 5, 1918, at a meeting .attended by over l00 members of the several engineering professions. W. G. Swart, a member of our Institute, was elected the first President of the Club. At the organization meeting, an opportunity was given, to Alfred D. Flinn, Secretary of the United Engineering Society, to outline the assistance that is being rendered to the Federal Government in the present contingency by members of the engineering profession. Membership in the Duluth Club is to be open to mining engineers on the iron ranges as well as to the residents of the city of Duluth.

Jan 10, 1918

P. H. Dudley, Yew York, N. Y. (communication to the Secretary*) :—The characteristics of Professor Home's metallurgical papers are, that he is able, from the mass of confusing evidence on the subject, to make an analysis and present hypothetical and essential principles in concrete form for consideration and discussion. I can appreciate, from the practical side of the subject, the labor of collecting and investigating the data which was essential to prepare the paper. Much of it necessarily came from material of preceding years of manufacture in which time was allowed for chemical reactions of the re-carburizer, and for the elimination of the oxidation-products before teeming the ingots. This practice gave a favorable time-element to free the metal from slag and other impurities— a requisite condition for the production of sound steel in the ingots. But, in allowing them to become cold before they were charged into the furnace, a subsequent time-element entered as a detrimental factor in the development of the pipe or shrinkage-cavities, which gave an ingot-structure deficient in soundness, at least in the upper portion. (The term slag is used in a general rather than in a strictly technical sense.) Traces of manganese sulphide are often associated with manganese silicates in the same thread or seam, and at other places they are separate and distinct. Interpretations from material thus manufactured must be made with due allowances for the methods of fabrication and the requirements of service. The only way we now have to estimate what the degree of soundness of the ingot-structure was, in the early foreign and American manufacture of steel rails, is by examination of the worn and failed material after years of service. We must remember also that the poorest material was long since consigned to the scrap-heap without any full record of its history. The rails from a given ingot cannot now be identified ; and in many

Jan 1, 1909

President H. M. Howe, Boston, Mass. (communication to the Secretary): Le Chatelier's pyrometer is certainly a most convenient and accurate instrument for the laboratory, and one that may be used under some conditions in the mill. I have used it for several years and with great satisfaction. Like Prof. Roberts-Austen and unlike Herr Blass, I have always found that its indications remain constant over long periods. Like Prof. Roberts-Austen, also, I find it possible, in a quiet place, to read with extreme accuracy ; and, by the use of a telescope, I can read temperatures to within a degree, for some delicate determinations which I have in hand. Variations in the temperature of the room affect the readings of the instrument far less than one would expect. When the current is cut off, the mirror does not always return exactly to the same place; in other words, the zero shifts appreciably, and must be determined often, indeed every few hours if accuracy be desired. In some cases I have had it determined within a very few minutes of every important reading. To this end a switch should he introduced, so that the circuit may be broken readily. With this arrangement we can determine accurately the position of the zero within a very few seconds of the time of taking any especially important reading. The chief causes of the variation of the zero which I have noticed are as follows: a. The suspension may not be tight enough, so that the momentum of the galvanometer frame as it swings makes its supporting wires slip in their bearings. b. Changes in the position of neighboring iron objects may deflect the mirror. c. Changes in the temperature of the room may, perhaps, change the torsion of the suspension wires, and so shift the mirror. d. Dust may attach itself to the galvanometer frame, and by friction against the surrounding fixed parts of the galvanometer, may

Jan 1, 1895

By W. J. Tait, A. E. Craig, E. P. McCurdy

C. M. Marquard—The problem of the automatic control of a grinding-classification circuit is not nearly as simple as has been indicated and it cannot be universally solved through the application of this device. The sound emanating from a ball mill such as the metallic clink of the balls against the liners can at times be misleading. The fact that the sound level due to the balls hitting the liners may be at a minimum does not necessarily mean that the mill is properly loaded. I have in mind an ore we treat that has a soft talcy gangue. The soft fluffy nature of this material makes the sound from the ball mill a most misleading parameter that is worthless as a means for controlling the amount of ore fed to the mill. In every milling plant there are transportation lags due to the time it takes the ore to travel from the mill bins to the ball mill. In many plants there may be several different transportation lags due to varying distances of bins from ball mill. These transportation lags can most seriously affect the operation of a controller. It has been found that under many circumstances the transportation lags can be so bad as to cause the controller to hunt seriously. Hunting can and in many cases does become so serious as to render automatic control impossible because of the surges it causes. While it is possible to compensate for this type of lag, this apparatus does not lend itself readily to accomplish the required compensation. Further, if there are groups of bins at various distances from the ball mill, compensation for one may not be sufficient or may be too great for another. Each milling plant presents a separate problem. The apparatus as presently described does not appear sufficiently flexible to accomplish this. It should be noted that the load on the classifier rakes is determined by measuring the current input to the rake drive motor. Variations in line voltage will

Jan 1, 1951

By E. P. McCurdy, W. J. Tait, A. E. Craig

C. M. Marquard—The problem of the automatic control of a grinding-classification circuit is not nearly as simple as has been indicated and it cannot be universally solved through the application of this device. The sound emanating from a ball mill such as the metallic clink of the balls against the liners can at times be misleading. The fact that the sound level due to the balls hitting the liners may be at a minimum does not necessarily mean that the mill is properly loaded. I have in mind an ore we treat that has a soft talcy gangue. The soft fluffy nature of this material makes the sound from the ball mill a most misleading parameter that is worthless as a means for controlling the amount of ore fed to the mill. In every milling plant there are transportation lags due to the time it takes the ore to travel from the mill bins to the ball mill. In many plants there may be several different transportation lags due to varying distances of bins from ball mill. These transportation lags can most seriously affect the operation of a controller. It has been found that under many circumstances the transportation lags can be so bad as to cause the controller to hunt seriously. Hunting can and in many cases does become so serious as to render automatic control impossible because of the surges it causes. While it is possible to compensate for this type of lag, this apparatus does not lend itself readily to accomplish the required compensation. Further, if there are groups of bins at various distances from the ball mill, compensation for one may not be sufficient or may be too great for another. Each milling plant presents a separate problem. The apparatus as presently described does not appear sufficiently flexible to accomplish this. It should be noted that the load on the classifier rakes is determined by measuring the current input to the rake drive motor. Variations in line voltage will

Jan 1, 1951

By E. P. JENNINQS

(Cleveland meeting, October, 1912.) LARGE deposits of titaniferous iron-ore occur at Caribou, an old silver-mining camp in Boulder county, Colo., 17 miles west by south of Boulder, and a few miles northwest of the tungsten-mines. Professor Regis Chauvenet 1 published a part analysis of the ore many years ago, but gave no description of the wall-rock. Caribou hill, which contains both the silver-bearing veins and the iron-ore deposits, is a low dome of gabbro surrounded by the Archaean schists and gneisses of the Front range of the Rocky mountains, the peaks of which, a few miles west of Caribou, attain an elevation exceeding 12,000 ft. The gabbro stock is roughly elliptical in outline, with approximate diameters of 1 and 3 miles. The crest of the dome is 10,500 ft. above sea-level, and the town and ore-deposits are 500 ft. lower. Outcrops of the iron-ore occur in the town and extend NW. for 2,000 ft., where they disappear under the swampy meadows of Caribou park. Portions of the deposit are covered by drift, but one continuous outcrop is 900 ft. long and from 200 to 250 ft. wide. A second deposit is 0.25 mile south of the town along the eastern slope of the hill. It is not as well defined as the north bed, but is approximately 1,000 ft. long and from 100 to 200 ft. wide. The easily disintegrated ore does not form prominent outcrops, but the outlines of the deposits are readily traced by the large amount of ore fragments that cover the ground. Trenches and pits sunk on the outcrop expose a roughly banded magnetic iron-ore, with pyroxene as the principal gangue-mineral. The Gabbro. This rock was classified in the field as a gabbro from the presence of pyroxene and striated feldspars, and for convenience the field-name will be retained. 1 Chauvenet, Regis, Biennial Report of State School of Mines, Golden, Colo., p. 16 (1886).

Oct 1, 1912

By T. T. Read

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

Jan 1, 1935

By Stanly A. Easton

SEVEN years ago there was installed in the hospital of the Bunker Hill & Sullivan Mining & Concentrating Co. at Kellogg, Idaho, an ultra-violet ray quartz lamp, the standard equipment which is found everywhere in the offices of physicians and among usual hospital equipment. The use of this lamp was con- fined largely to treatment of pathological cases, still treatment of under-nourished children, run-down anemic people, both men and women, and, as a general tonic, was part of the routine hospital procedure. At the latitude of the Ceur d'Alene district and especially because of the position of the towns in deep canyons, with much overcast and cloudy weather, sunshine is not plentiful at any time of the year; for many of the winter months there is scarcely any. Underground workers, particularly during the winter, have little sun- shine; it is not unusual to have none at all for weeks at a time. Treatment by the ultra-violet ray lamp in the hospital has resulted in many extraordinary benefits but the use of the lamp is expensive and limited. Some weeks ago attention was directed to the automatic solarium equipment of the Burdick Corporation. The doctors strongly recommended the increased use of the ultra-violet lamp for its curative powers and tonic effects, urging that it be made accessible to all employees. Real interest was . . also displayed by employees with the possibility of securing ultra-violet ray treatment for themselves and families under better conditions than it was possible to have by the limited use of the lamp at the hospital. This resulted in the installation of the so-called sun room or automatic solarium as an adjunct to the mine change-house. An annex was built to the change-house, with dressing rooms for women, children and men from other departments, and the outfit put into use on Sept. 5, 1929. The installation consists of an escalator, or

Jan 1, 1929

By ANDREW CARNEGIE

Although the noble building provided in New York City by Mr. Carnegie for the United Engineering Society has been pushed to about half-completion, the ceremony of laying its corner-stone was not performed until Tuesday afternoon, May 8, 1906. The stone lies just back of the southeast corner of the building, on the north side-of West 39th Street. Among those present were Mr. and Mrs. Carnegie, Miss Whitfield, the sister of Mrs. Carnegie, Ralph W. Pope, Secretary of the Institute of Electrical Engineers, Frederick R. Hutton, Secretary of the. Society of Mechanical Engineers, Rossiter W. Raymond, Secretary of the Institute of Mining Engineers, Charles H. Haswell, the first Chief Engineer of the United States Navy (1836-1851), now in his ninety-seventh year, John Fritz, of the Bethlehem Steel Company, William H. Fletcher, President of the Engineers' Club, E. E. Olcott, President of United Engineering Society, and other interested friends. After an inspection of the interior of the building, the group formed about the corner-stone, which had been draped with the American flag. The exercises were opened by Mr. Olcott, who appropriately welcomed Mr. Carnegie, and briefly expressed the essential value of the building, saying, in part " The societies to be housed underneath this roof have as their aim the pre¬serving and putting in tangible form of the records of scientific accomplishments so as to avoid the repetition of mistakes. The possibility of finding the records of these results all at one center, so near the great Public Library of our city, will be an inestimable advantage to all professions. It is an occasion of no ordinary moment, therefore, when we can welcome Mr. Carnegie and have him lay for us the corner-stone of this great building which his liberality has provided." Mr. Carnegie responded in happy vein, thanking the committee for their greeting, and expressing his pleasure. in being able to do what he had done to further so worthy a cause. Among other things, he said

May 1, 1906

By R. W. Raymond

PROF. HENRY Louis, of Armstrong College, Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, a distinguished member of this Institute and other technical societies, has recently sent to the Institution of Mining Engineers, and to the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, in Great Britain, a communication, the substance of which is as follows Prof. Louis calls attention to the absence of any recognized English term for the definite description of a frequent phenomenon-namely, the oblique position of an ore-body in the plane in which it. lies. In this connection, Prof. Louis says that in America the term " pitch " has been occasionally applied to this relation, and proposes that, in the literature of ore-deposits, it shall be hereafter restricted to this particular meaning, the angle of the pitch, like that of the dip, being always measured from the horizontal, and the dip being always taken at right angles to the strike, while the pitch is taken on the plane of the dip, in the direction of the strike. Thus, for example, in a vein or bed striking N-S., and dipping, say, 45° E., there might be an ore-body, the axis of which pitched northward, at an angle of 45° below the horizontal line, as measured on the plane of the inclosing vein or bed. If the term " pitch " had this universally recognized meaning, the situation could be simply and perfectly expressed by its use, in connection with the general data of strike and clip. As Prof. Louis says ?This suggestion has a certain practical value, and is not merely academic. Every mining engineer of practical experience in such types of ore-deposit will have met with cases, in which a vertical shaft has been sunk with the object of cutting the deposit, but has missed it, because the dip alone has been taken into account, while the pitch has been overlooked." He adds the acute observation that such an oversight is much likelier to occur with regard to a condition not definitely desig-

Mar 1, 1908

By J. E. Johnson

Discussion of the paper of Mark A. Amnion, presented at the Cleveland meeting October, 1913, and printed in Bulletin No. 70, October, 1913, pp. 1167 to 1 79. J. E. JOHNSON, JR., Ashland, Wis.:-Mr. Amnion's paper is of great value and it is not with any desire to reflect. on it that I wish to make some comments on the use of the scleroscope. We obtained one on trial some months ago and made very extensive tests with it, but without getting very satisfactory results. The readings on good car-wheels and bad ones were just about the same, but the factor in its use most likely to produce erroneous results is a variation in the thickness of the specimen being tested. In order to find out something on this subject we cut a thin disk, about -1,: in. thick, off a brass rod; then one 0.25 in. thick, and another about 1 in. thick, put the surfaces of all in about the same condition and tested them with the scleroscope. The readings varied widely; the resilience of the anvil evidently entered to a very high degree on thin pieces. By putting a soft cushion between such a thin specimen and the anvil, and forcing it up against the tube, the softness of the cushion cut off the resilience of the anvil and the results were more like those of the thick specimens. After a thickness of 1 in. was passed, the specimen seemed to have mass enough so that the resilience of the anvil no longer played an important part, and above that thickness results on different materials would be comparable, even though the thicknesses differed. But in order to get comparable results on thin specimens the thickness of those being tested should be the same. I should like to ask how the variations introduced in this way were overcome, so as to get strictly comparable results. Mr. AMMON :-.I have not had much experience in that, but the scleroscope is simply an indication of the surface harden-

Dec 1, 1912

By John T. Norton

N order to attempt to arrive at a better under-Jl standing of the whole basic problem of sintering, these remarks will serve as an introduction for discussion that is included and will, perhaps, help to isolate specific questions which need to be answered or to suggest some definite avenues of investigation which should be followed. To bring some sort of logical order into the presentation, I will consider the various types of interaction between the metal to be sintered and the atmosphere which surrounds it, depending upon whether the phenomena are essentially chemical or physical in nature. For example, when the only necessary criterion for the satisfactory sintering of a certain powder is the removal of an oxide skin, then the problem of choosing a suitable atmosphere is primarily chemical; however, if a special surface condition as a consequence of the oxide skin removal is necessary for particularly effective sintering, then the problem becomes a physical one. Of course, the two aspects overlap considerably, but it may be possible to make a distinction in principle if not in practice. The chemical characteristics of the phenomena will be emphasized, since these are the better known. Metal-gas reactions involved in sintering are controlled primarily by the thermodynamics of the processes involved. In which direction will a reaction go and how far before it stops? The answer is to be found in the magnitude of the free energy change associated with the reaction. If a constituent is to be removed from the specimen as completely as possible or if a constituent is to be formed in the specimen as completely as possible, then one chooses conditions which are far from equilibrium so that the reaction is driven toward completion. On the other hand, if the composition is to be maintained at a desired value, then conditions are adjusted as closely as possible to the equilibrium point. This aspect of the problem is susceptible to quite precise analysis, provided, of course, that the significant reactions can be recognized and the required thermodynamic data are available. Conversely, if one asks how fast the reaction goes or how far it proceeds in a given time, the answer is frequently much more difficult to answer in quantitative terms. Yet the rate-con trolling factors of the reactions may be of primary importance in the success of a particular operation, especially where competing processes are at work. Both equilibrium and rate factors must be understood if a clear picture is to be obtained. For instance, in a process for carburizing titanium dioxide, is the difficulty of obtaining a stoichiometric Tic due to a true limitation of the equilibrium or simply to a very slow rate of reaction? An example of this appears in the work of Kalish and Mazza.' They showed that the oxygen content of sintered iron compacts was lower when sintered in pure hydrogen than in the case where the hydrogen was diluted with either argon or nitrogen. The equilibrium oxygen content of the iron would be the same in the two cases, since it is determined by the ratio of the partial pressures of water vapor and hydrogen and this pressure ratio is unchanged by dilution. The rate of oxygen removal, however, under the conditions of a constantly replaced furnace atmosphere, depends upon diffusion and thus upon the concentration of hydrogen in the furnace atmosphere. Possibly the clearest way to illustrate the interplay of these two factors is to consider in more detail some of the typical metal-gas reactions. Adsorbed Gases It is common experience that fine metal powders with their very large surface areas often contain large quantities of gas. This gas, which results from exposure to air or perhaps from some step in the

Jan 1, 1957