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By F. L. Bosqui

Discussion of the paper of F. L. Bosqui, presented at the San Francisco meeting, September, 1915, and printed in Bulletin No. 101, May, 1915, pp. 997 to 1033. H. A. WHITE, Springs, Transvaal (communication to the Secretary*). -It is, as the author points out in his valuable paper, a, fact, that in many plants the "trommel washings" are allowed to become eyesores, but the simpler system of pumping the entire product direct to the tube-mill circuit will avoid the extra expense of separation and small-scale treatment when one considers the relative distance of the points and the proportionately small amount of water. It is a matter of record that in stamp batteries the increase of weight has been developed concurrently with the increased use of tube mills, but independently and on its own merits. The satisfactory duty, excellent running time, and freedom from breakages in the newer mills, such as the Modder Deep, with 2,000-1b. stamps, will probably go far in removing some of the conservative prejudices mentioned by Mr. Bosqui. The success of the City Deep trial of the Nissen stamp cannot be entirely attributed to better feed distribution and discharge effects (published experiments on two-face discharge mortar boxes showed no advantages). Attention is directed to the treatment costs given by the author both before and after the increased capacity resulting from the addition of 16 Nissen stamps at Modder B. It will be observed that the only item of cost resisting the tendency to reduction caused by increased tonnage is that of milling, which has risen 1.3c. With reference to the provision for amalgamation in the new plans, it seems obvious that a great loss of head would be eliminated by passing the tube cone overflow over a separate top series of plates; three at the top and three at the bottom will effect the maximum amalgamation. This plan is followed at the Princess Estate and Gold Mining Co., Ltd., Modderfontein Deep Levels, Ltd., and Geduld Proprietary. Mines, Ltd., but elsewhere reliance is placed upon ample cone capacity and the underflow only is passed over three plates after going through the tube mill, while the overflow is passed direct to the cyanide works; both methods avoid the largely unnecessary elevation of considerable quantities of water, fine sand and slime involved in Mr. Bosqui's scheme.

Jan 1, 1916

Jan 1, 1934

By John R. Lotz

DEVELOPMENTS in Iran currently arousing interest in a considerable portion of the world, particularly on the part. of that country's immediate neighbor on the North and in our own country, an inseparably related to and largely dependent upon the government's attempts to strengthen its economy and improve the standard of living of its people. These efforts are encompassed by provisions of the Seven-Year Development Plan recently enacted and not, in the process of implementation. It is a fine example of what one financially sound but extremely backward and poorly equipped country has undertaken to do on its own account and with its own resources. This Seven-Year Plnil was formally authoriztld by an act of the Iranian Parliament in February 1948. Its stated objects are to carry out such plans for the development of the country and its economy as ail1 raise the standard of livinc: and standard of education of the people, and re- duce the cost of living. A seven-yrar program for carrying out the work within the limits of appropriations was assigned under the law. The total amount to be expended during the seven- year period was fixed at the equivalent of $670 millioil at current rates of exchange.

Jan 1, 1950

By G. G. Oberfell

THOUGH the largest volume use of natural gas has been, is. and in all probability will continue to be as a fuel for domestic and industrial heating, it has various market outlets, both as a fuel and as a raw material for the chemical industry. Natural gas is a preferred type of fuel where ease of control, fuel uniformity, and freedom from ash are of primary importance. Other industrially important uses are as a source of carbon black and as a fuel in various low-cost heating operations. Many other uses are of varying importance and new potential uses are continually being uncovered, some being of economic importance to the gas indus¬try as a whole, but most of them involve such small volumes of gas that they are only of passing interest. Since various products extracted from natural gas and recovered as by-products from petroleum refining, such as liquefied petroleum gas and fuel oil, are being utilized in many industrial and domestic heating applications, some consideration will have to be given such materials in order to present a reasonably complete story of the importance of natural gas. Some of these materials may prove to be transient competitors and will not be available when more profitable uses are found for them. Meanwhile, however, the potential volumes of such materials available, the current volumes being marketed, and the nature of the utilization are considered as constituting an essential part of the over-all fuel picture.

Jan 1, 1946

By AIME AIME

OVER-ALL operations of the oil industry, as measured by production of crude oil and consumption of products, are almost exactly of the same magnitude as a year ago. Does this mean that the great oil industry has been undisturbed by the war? Has this industry, so vital to the prosecution of the war and to the maintenance of our way of life, been unaffected in its operations? No indeed - changes within the industry are great. It has been called upon to revamp its trans¬portation methods so as to move about one fourth of the total amount of crude and refined products by railroad tank car instead of by ocean-going tankers. Its fundamental internal economy, based on maximum gasoline yield from a barrel of crude, has been relegated to memories of the past. Rationing of oil products, which has been forced upon us in face of an abundant supply, is not only disagreeable medicine but is in itself completely disruptive to the marketing end of the-business.-

Jan 1, 1942

By D. T. Van Zandt

IN the late 1920's rotary drills began to replace the churn drills in the petroleum industry, but until the middle 1940's the churn drill was the only widely accepted means of drilling large-diameter blastholes for quarry operations. The Calcite plant of the Michigan Limestone Div., U. S. Steel Corp., was one of the first to experiment with rotary drills for quarry blasthole drilling, and the first to employ compressed air on a fully rotary rig to cool the bit and raise the cuttings to the collar of the blasthole. The Calcite plant operates a limestone quarry near Rogers City, Mich., in the northern part of the lower Michigan peninsula. The formation quarried, a portion of the middle Devonian series, is the Dundee limestone, which is uniform, seldom massive, and characterized by definite bedding planes. The dip is southeast, 40 ft to the mile. Quarry faces vary from 20 to 116 ft in height. Vertical blastholes are used entirely, from three to five rows of holes being drilled parallel to the working face, spaced 18 ft apart with 18-ft burden and drilled 6 to 8 ft below shovel grade. Quarry operations coincide with the navigation season on the Great Lakes, as the bulk of the stone is transported by lake carrier. The normal operating season runs from April to December, the remaining time being devoted to stripping operations and plant and equipment maintenance. In the followirig discussion drilling rates mentioned refer to overall drilling time and include all operations such as moving from hole to hole, penetration and extraction of tools, and routine maintenance. Time consumed by such factors as power delays and major machine repair is not included in drilling time unless otherwise stated. Figures cover only operations at this one plant in the formation mentioned. Needless to say, a very different set of figures could be obtained in a different formation. However, the comparison of footage obtained with churn drills and rotary rigs in this particular formation has been used as an indication of what might be the expected performance of rotary rigs in other formations. Prior to 1950 the bulk of the blasthole drilling at the Calcite plant was done by electrically powered churn drills. Both crawler and wheel-mounted rigs were used. These machines, which mounted a 22-ft drill stem of 4½ in. diam and a spudding type of bit 2 to 4 ft long, drilled a hole of 5 ?-in. diam. Average drilling rate of these rigs in the Rogers City formation was 8 % ft per hr. In 1946 one of the first rotary blasthole drills offered to the quarry industry was put into use on an experimental basis. This machine, known as the Sullivan Model 56 blasthole drill, Fig. 1, was on 16-in. crawler pads and electrically powered at 440 v. The drill bit, a Hughes Tri-Cone roller bit of 5?-in. diam, Type OSC, was threaded into the end of the 4-in. square hollow drill rod or stem. These drill rods were 20 ft long with female threads on one end and male on the other to allow for addition of the desired number of rods for drilling holes of various depth. Rods were handled by a single drum hoist geared to the main drive motor and racked by a 30-ft derrick or mast when not in use. The cable from the hoist drum fed through a crown block on the top of the derrick back to the water swivel mounted in the top end of the drill stem in use. This cable remained attached during drilling operations and was used to hoist the tool string from the hole. Down pressure was applied to the tool string by means of a pair of 4-in. diam hydraulic cylinders acting on the drill chuck holding the drill rod. The first chuck consisted of flat jaws which gripped the flat sides of the stem. These jaws were controlled by set screws forcing them into contact with the drill stem. As these set screws had to be loosened and tightened by hand with each stroke of the hydraulic feed cylinders, there was great delay. For this reason the semi-automatic chuck was developed which automatically gripped the stem on the downward stroke but released for retraction of the hydraulic feed cylinders. Rotation was imparted to the tool string by a rotary table acting on the chuck and geared to the main drive motor through a separate gear train and clutch. A positive displacement water pump, mounted on the drill, fed water through a system of pipes and hose into the water swivel mounted on the top of the drill rod and through the rod and bit, washing the drill cuttings to the collar of the hole. Where water was scarce, provision was made to settle out the cuttings coming from the collar of the hole and re-use the water. Where water was abundant the stream coming from the hole was wasted. Drilling rate with this machine was about 20 ft per hr and bit life 1600 ft of hole. While this rate was more than twice that obtained with the churn drills employed, the problem of water supply and drill cuttings disposal rendered the machine impractical from an operating standpoint. Consequently it was used only in that part of the operation for which water was easily supplied, when the character of the formation made it least difficult to wash cuttings away from the collar of the hole. In October 1949 it was suggested that drill cuttings be removed by compressed air, long used for this purpose on pneumatic drills, and collected at the collar by suction. Thereafter, the water pump on the Sullivan 56 was replaced by a 500-cfm air compressor and a trial run made. Air pressure at

Jan 1, 1955

By C. O. Fairchild

ONE of the fundamental principles of efficiency is the use of adequate and permanent records. The rapid increase in the manufacture and use of recording pryometers is a proof of the appreciation of efficiency principles on the part of the manufacturers engaged in the various technical industries. Where recording pyrometers are not employed in an industry in which temperature measurements are necessary, one will generally find that a printed form is used upon which is written, periodically, the temperatures measured by an indicating instrument. It is no serious condemnation of the workman to state that such records are often "doctored," but it is rather a reflection upon the executive who puts such temptation in the way of a workman. One of the well-known "tricks of the trade" is to "force." a furnace so that it will be at the proper temperature during the periodic trips of the foreman or other official. Indicating instruments and recorders may be used together to great advantage. The recorder furnishes .a printed record and a check upon the operator of the furnace, and a record of value in correlating properties of the finished product with the heat treatment. The indicator should be of assistance to the operator in controlling the furnace or oven. Modern practice requires a temperature-recording instrument that is as simple as possible, rugged, reliable, and sufficiently accurate. Of these qualifications reliability is paramount, particularly in cases where the recorder is used for controlling the temperature automatically. By a reliable instrument is meant one that will run continuously with little attention and with a consistent degree of accuracy. That is, if it is in error by 5 per cent. one day, it must be in error by a like amount on any other clay, and not by 2 per cent. or 10 per cent. The earlier forms of recorders were complex and delicate, or mechanically unsatisfactory and inaccurate, and required considerable attention to keep them in operation. Within the past few years, however, the development in the manufacture of temperature recording devices has been highly satisfactory and many excellent instruments are now available. .

Jan 9, 1919

By Thomas T., Read

T HE preceding chapter has recorded the initiation of mineral industry education during the period 1890-1910 in numerous institutions that had not previously offered it. It should also be emphasized that in many institutions where instruction had begun before 1890, as recorded in earlier chapters, but had not yet become firmly established,, this period was one of marked growth and development. This was not universally true, however, for at the Universities of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Washington (St. Louis), Iowa, Vanderbilt and Tennessee, and at the Polytechnic College of Pennsylvania, mineral industry instruction was being dropped during this period, instead of gaining in strength. It is necessary to emphasize this, because writers on the subject have not infrequently , attempted to make a much too simple correlation between mineral -discovery or production and the intensity of student interest in mineral industry curricula. It would naturally be true that periods of large mineral production would, in general, coincide with cycles of business prosperity, and the latter are conducive to starting new ventures, educational as well as business. It should be equally evident that opportunities for business and professional success might, in such periods, appear to increase at a more rapid rate in industries other than mineral, or in the utilization of minerals rather than in their production. The author has not been able to perceive any simple and clear relation between interest in mineral industry education and mineral discovery, production, and utilization, or general business prosperity. On the contrary, the more the problem is studied the more complex the factors involved in it appear to be. In a later chapter an attempt will be made to analyze them in more detail.

Jan 1, 1941

By B. M. Larsen

NEVER having actually tried to engage in the systematic education of anyone, and having little direct knowledge of the practical problems and limitations in the field of education, I can pose only as a "nonexpert" in this field, one whose ideas are to be regarded as personal opinions. The necessity for compromise between educational ideals and the practical limitations of time, money, and mental capacities of both student and teacher is evident in the preparation of an end product that we may regard with a reasonable degree of conviction as a professional engineer. We need to do so many things. The engineering student must have a clear understanding of the basic sciences; he should develop manual skills and co-ordination; he should speak and write the language with simple clarity and directness; he should gather knowledge of a special field; and, he should be educated for living in a broad ..

Jan 1, 1948

By E. C. Wright

FOR many years the cost of making pig iron and steel in the Birmingham district has been about the lowest in the United States. The close proximity of the important raw materials such as coal, iron ore, limestone, and the large available scrap supply made it possible to assemble all of the important ingredients necessary for steel- making with only nominal costs for transportation. Both iron ore and coal were being mined in this district at one time for about $1 per ton from underground operations. At that time mining wages were low everywhere and the labor rate in the South was considerably below that of other mining districts. This situation persisted until the emergence of labor unions as an economic and political force, emigation of southern labor to northern plants, and continued growth of industry in the South in the years following the depression of 1932. Since that time union organizing of miners and steel workers throughout the nation has increased labor costs in mining and steelmaking. This influence has been felt particularly in underground mining operations since the proportion of labor cost to total cost is still high. The previous advantage in basic labor rate in the South has been almost entirely eliminated by the equalization of labor rates in basic industries by national unions. Since 1945 these influences have been especially noticeable in increasing the cost of mining coal and iron ore in the South. The northern steel districts are still being largely supplied with iron ore from the Minnesota open-pit mines and the cost of this ore has not increased nearly as much as the cost of ore obtained from underground mines in Birmingham. A similar situation exists in coal mining; the thinner seams in Alabama are not so amenable to mechanization as the northern mines and, as a result, the output per man-day in southern mines is only about three tons of coal as compared to five or six tons per man-day in the large captive mines of West Vir-

Jan 1, 1950

By F. D. Waltman

Under the hot, baking sun, engineers at the AEC's Nevada Test Site have been busy for several years in the sinking of 48-in. diam shafts to depths varying anywhere from 1800 to 4800 ft below the surface. In so doing these men have evolved several new techniques which should be of interest to the mining industry. Surface Facilities Designed For Speed: "Expediency plus efficiency" is a key phrase at the Site. Because of the relatively short duration of actual mining operations, all equipment has been packaged to decrease time and cost of "set up" and "take down". The headframe, designed specifically for use over 48-in. cased shafts, can be erected or dismantled within 48 hours. The back legs are pinned and hinged to the front legs for ease of installation and, when dismantled, for movement to another site with a minimum of delay.

Jan 6, 1966

By AIME AIME

THE climax of the various programs and entertainments in connection with the holding of the World Engineering Congress* in Tokyo in October was the complimentary dinner given by the visiting members of the Institute to our members in Japan. At the same time President Bradley conferred an honorary membership on Baron Takuma Dan, the vice-president of the World Engineering Congress.

Jan 1, 1930

By G. E. Johnson

LEAD SMELTERS AND REFINERS in 1932 were confronted with the problem of adjusting operations and costs to curtailed production and consumption at reduced prices, a problem which has been partially solved at least by improvements in operating technique and increased efficiency. At the Mount Isa properties in Australia, a third blast furnace and additional Dwight-Lloyd sintering machines were installed during the year, designed to increase the production to 6,000 tons of bullion per month. The large proportion of lead carbonate in the ores to be treated has presented metallurgical problems. Of the total lead contained in the concentrates to be smelted, two-thirds is Dresent as carbonates and one-third as sulfides. In the iiitial operations, the resulting Dwight-Lloyd sinter was soft, contained an excessive amount of fines, and was easily fusible. When charged to the blast furnaces it developed accretions in the upper part of the furnace owing to the easily fusible lead carbonates softening and fusing at the top of the charge column. This was remedied by the addition to the sinter feed of diluents of higher melting point, granulated slag and crushed limestone. The sinter feed consists of concentrates, Cottrell dust and wind-box cleanings, totalling 57 per cent of the charge; return sinter fines 15 per cent; granulated slag 23 per cent; and crushed limestone 5 per cent. The sinter produced contains 34 per cent lead and 0.5 per cent sulfur. Experiments indicated that double sintering under these conditions was of no advantage, so the original plan of single sinter treatment was retained.

Jan 1, 1933

By C. Chamberlain

The Telfer Project, Australia's newest, largest, and most remote gold mine treats 480 kt of ore grading 9.33 g/t derived from open pit mining operations. Coarse gold is recovered by gravity concentration with jigs and further upgraded wing a continuous strake launder table, and by amalgamation. Remaining gold is recovered in a cyanide circuit and incorporates flat bottom air agitators, counter current decantation (CCD) and stellar filters for clarification and precipitate removal. Overall recovery into a bullion averages 98%. The mill incorporates a number of design features that allow for maximum efficiency and security wing a minimum number of operation personnel.

Jan 1, 1983

A cooperative service for engineers and their employers under the direction, of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers; American Society of Civil Engineers; American Society of Mechanical Engineers; and American Institute of Electrical Engineers, and with the cooperation in Chicago of the Western Society of Engineers, and in San Francisco of the California Section of the American Chemical Society and the Engineers Club of San Francisco. For information as to men available or positions open, address the nearest office. New York Walter V. Brown Manager, 31 West 39th St., Telephone Penn. 9220 Chicago A. Krauser, Manager, Room 1736, 53 West Jackson Boulevard, Telephone Harrison 1238 San Francisco Newton D. Cook, Manager, Room 715, 57 Post . St., Telephone Sutter 1684 UNITED ENGINEERING SOCIETY This is a corporation organized by the American Institute of Mining Engineers, American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the American Institute of Electrical Engineers to hold the title and administer the property at 29 West 39th St. In 1916 the American Society of Civil Engineers was admitted, and each society now holds an equal one-fourth interest in the ownership, occupancy, and administration of the building. The value of this property is estimated at two million dollars. A. I. M. E. representatives are : Arthur S. Dwight, J. Vipond Davies and J. V. N. Dorr. ALFRED D. FLINN, Secretary, 29 West 39th St., New York City. ENGINEERING FOUNDATION This is a fund established by the United Engineering Society in 1915 with a gift of $200,000 from Ambrose Swasey. Subsequent gifts had increased the fund to $600,000 on Jan. 1, 1927. The income, of the fund is used to further research in science and engineering and to advance the profession of engineering and the good of mankind. A. T. M. E. representatives are: H, M. Boylston, J. Vipond Davies, Galen H, Clevenger. ALFRED D. FLINN, Secretary, 29 West 39th St,, New York City.

Jan 1, 1928

By B. M. Larsen

A discussion based on three commercial furnace tests and electrical analogue calculations is presented. It shows that while regenerator efficiency is mainly dependent on loading or relative amount of heat exchange surface plus the heat transfer coefficients as effected by flow velocity, the actual air preheat temperature can be high or low, largely independent of regenerator efficiency, mainly due to the diluting or unbalancing effects of cold air leakage into various parts of the furnace system. THERE are many signs of a renewal of interest in the heat regeneration aspect of the open hearth process, among them being the recent paper by Marsh,' the introduction of auxiliary checkers in the stacks of the Isley furnace design, and a number of recent installations of two-pass checkers in new and old furnaces. However, there are also signs of yielding to the usual temptation of oversimplifying a problem. Faced with the job of obtaining better draft on a furnace, for example, a good designer always recognizes that focusing attention on some one factor, such as height of the stack or capacity of the exhaust fan, does not make his problem any easier; rather he must look at the whole system, including such items as valve resistances, bends in the flues, and flow resistance in the waste heat boiler; then he must make his design in relation to the available draft so as to avoid any serious bottleneck in the system. Yet this example is really much simpler than the problem of air preheating, and again, the latter problem is not really made easier by concentrating on air temperature in uptakes and on the more obvious methods for making this air as hot as possible. Also to be considered are such things as the total amount of air needed theoretically for complete combustion at any selected fuel rate, together with that needed for oxygen absorbed into the bath and for burning the combustible gases given out from the bath, plus some excess air. Furthermore, how does this total air requirement relate to the regenerator efficiency at various loadings? How much of the total air equivalent in stack gases will come from preheated air passed through the whole length of the incoming regenerator and how much from air leakage into various zones of the whole furnace system? Does the effect of leakage air differ depending on whether it leaks into the ingoing regenerator, the furnace above floor level, the outgoing regenerator, or the stack zone? Over a number of years we have in this Laboratory experimented with methods for measuring hot gas temperatures; we have measured, approximately, the efficiency of a few regenerators on commercial furnaces and we have developed an electrical analogue' for calculations of regenerator efficiency. The whole problem is too complex to cover in one paper even with a more complete background of data than we possess, but we can attempt here to clarify certain aspects in a general way, hoping to assist specific plant studies on individual furnaces. Some of our earlier experience has been incorporated into chaps. 4, 19, 20, and 21 in the book "Basic Open Hearth Steelmaking,"" and on the assumption that this text is available to most readers, this discussion has been shortened by references to that book. The most recent design of a flowing-gas thermocouple which we are now using for measurement

Jan 1, 1955

By HUBERT O. De

IN December, 1936, several drilling tests were made at the Hubert O. De Beck feldspar mine at Green Mountain, N. C., to determine the most efficient type of hammier-drill bit and drilling method for use at this particular property. This mine is well recognized as having the hardest rock in the Burnsville - Spruce Pine feldspar district and drilling costs always have been high. Local structural deformation has greatly distorted and warped the normal crystalline structure of the feldspar so the rock is much tougher than usual. In studying drilling methods and bit types, available literature was re¬viewed but little specific data could be found on the direct comparison of four-point and six-point drill bits so the following results may be of some interest.

Jan 1, 1937

By D. M. Metcalf

MOST PEOPLE think of peat as an inferior substitute for coal as a fuel, and will be surprised to learn that it is extensively mined in this country for use as fertilizer rather than as a fuel. Some years ago the Florida Humus Co. began producing it at Zellwood, Orange County, Fla., in a small way for local use. When, however, the company secured an Institute member, M. H. Cuise, to apply his wide experience in mining to the problems here it was found possible to decrease production costs 70 per cent and increase output tenfold. The obvious way in which to decrease costs was to replace shovel-and- horse methods with machinery, much of which, in order to keep down-invested capital, was improvised by remodeling second-hand equipment, changing the design where necessary to meet the special conditions involved.

Jan 1, 1932

The following paper, submitted by the Russian petroleum authorities, was secured through the courtesy of G. V. Ackerman, Vice President of Amtorg Trading Corporation, and N. V. Vannikoff, Representative in the U.S.A. of the United Oil and Gas Industries of the U.S.S.R. It gives an excellent view of the Russian petroleum industry as seen through Russian eyes. Noteworthy is the tremendous area over which the Russians are searching for petroleum, for this paper refers to such far-flung areas as the Arctic Tamir Peninsula, Kamchatka and Sakhalin on the Pacific, Lake Baikal in Central Siberia, the great new discovery at Neftadag in the plains of West Turkestan, and the oil of the Ferghana oasis, where the derricks look out over to the mosques of Kokand. Of interest also is the new pipe line to supply the industrial centers of Ukraine grouped around the great hydroelectric plant built at Dneprotroy on the falls of the Dnieper. The technical achievements have been noteworthy and we must pause to consider the scope of the undertakings being carried forward. Russia is at the worst a good second to the United States in petroleum reserves and for a long time to come will be a most important factor in the petroleum markets of the world. Her story should be of interest to everyone in the industry. The First Five Year Plan The first Five Year Plan, covering the period 1928-29 to 1932, accomplished the task of transforming the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics from an agricultural, backward land into a powerful independent industrial country, with an advanced technological foundation of its own for finally achieving the social reconstruction of the entire national economy. Along with the gigantic forward 'strides in industry and transportation, radical changes took place in agriculture. The creation of more than 5000 great state farms and of more than 200,000 collective farms serviced by a widespread network of machine-tractor stations has brought the U.S.S.R. to the fore as the largest agricultural country in the world. Imports of tractors and other agricultural machinery in the initial years of the Five Year Plan and the intensive output of this equipment by the great plants of the U.S.S.R. in the latter years of the plan have brought about the mechanization of agriculture in the Soviet Union. This year 250,000 tractors and 30,000 combines will operate in the fields

Jan 1, 1934

By J. A. Fellows, Earnshaw Cook, Howard S. Avery

HEAT-RESISTANT alloys of the higher nickel and chromium ranges have been empirically developed through the practical experience of the past two decades to a position of significant industrial importance. Few quantitative metallurgical data have been published, however, that could be related directly to engineering specifications and design. Inadequate information led to the inauguration, in 1934, of a research directed toward a better understanding of the properties and performance of these steels at temperatures between 1400° and 2000°F. Investigation was concentrated upon the 26 per cent Cr:12 per cent Ni type, which owes its extensive application to an excellent combination of economy, strength and surface stability at elevated temperatures. The requirements of the oil-refining industry have been prominent in influencing the scope and evolution of the program. Creep strength at the maximum allowable deformation ranges has been employed to evaluate the merits of these alloys. Permissible elongation rates vary from 1.0 per cent in one million hours for turbine blades to 1.o per cent in ten thousand hours for tube supports and heating-furnace equipment. Throughout this paper, the limiting creep stress (L.C.S.) for a given temperature has been defined as the stress that will produce a uniform elongation rate (stage II) of one per cent in ten thousand hours as extrapolated from rates per hour or tests of less than two thousand hours duration. Certain current specifications require a minimum L.C.S. of 1600 lb. per sq. in. at 1800°F., of 3600 lb. per sq. in. at 1400°F., and include a tensile acceptance test at room temperature, after aging for 24 hr. at 1400°F., as a measure of embrittlement in service. An elongation of 4 per cent is considered satisfactory for general use, while a minimum of 9 per cent is prescribed on occasion. Many differences of opinion concerning the properties and performance of these alloys appear to result from their sensitivity to unappreciated variations of chemical analyses which, for example, may change their L.C.S. from 3500 to 350 lb. per sq. in. at 1800°F. Within broad chemical limits, it is possible to balance the six or more important elements present to attain desirable properties with a number of different combinations. One method for adjusting the composition has been described under the sponsorship of the Alloy Casting Institute,1 in which, by maintaining a substantially austenitic* alloy, optimum creep strength and minimum tendency to embrittle after aging are expected. Unless, however, the limits are undesirably dose, it has not been possible to ensure a moderate range of strength and of ductility by any chemical specification alone. There is a definite need

Jan 1, 1942