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By R. S. Knappen, D. V. Carter

In the states east of the Mississippi River, oil field operations were generally restricted during 1927. Active drilling was chiefly confined to the flood district of Bradford, and to the new areas in western Kentucky, Michigan, and southwestern Indiana. In spite of the general depression, production increased in every state, except Illinois. This unexpected increase is. due to several factors. First, in 1926 there was little flush production outside of Illinois, and the decline 'curves in all states are exceedingly flat. Second, the floods in Bradford, Pennsylvania, and Allegany County, New York, proceeded normally and increased production in those states for the fourth consecutive year. Third, new pools in Kentucky, Indiana and Michigan gave important flush production. Fourth, the general unsatisfactory market forced the operators to scrutinize carefully all their operations and improve efficiency and production in all possible ways. Increases amounted to approximately 2,000,000 bbl. Illinois lost, 900,000 bbl., leaving a net gain for the states east of the Mississippi River amounting to 1,100,000 bbl., or a total 40,268,000 barrels. Pennsylvania and New York In northern Pennsylvania and southern New York, the principal activity centered in the districts where flooding is being used to increase the recovery from the old districts. Once started, the flood cannot be shut off. The producer must drill wells and take his oil on schedule, or irrevocably lose it. Accordingly, in face of an adverse market Bradford and Bolivar operations increased 24 per cent. This area furnished more than 40 per cent. of the oil wells completed east of the Mississippi River last year, although the average initial production was less than 2.5 bbl. Unlike all normal fields, this production increases for several months until water appears in the well. For this reason, these wells will produce much more oil than would appear probable from the statement of initial production. During the year, air or gas pressure was applied to several new properties. Surplus gas is rarely available and air has been more commonly used. Two explosions occurred as a result of recycling air-gas

Jan 1, 1928

By H. F. Easter

(San Francisco Meeting, September, 1915) THE lead department of the El Paso Smelting Works at El Paso, Tex., is operated strictly oil a custom basis. The ores treated are drawn from the surrounding territory, comprising New Mexico, Arizona, western Texas, and northern Mexico. Ores received from the last-named section originally amounted to a very large tonnage, but of recent years have dwindled into comparative insignificance so far as this plant is concerned. This has been clue partly to the establishment of a lead-smelting plant at Chihuahua, which is much closer than El Paso to most of the important mines, and partly to the recent revolutionary troubles in Mexico. There are no mines of either lead or copper in the immediate vicinity of El Paso. In general, it may be said that the lead-ore supply of recent years has been uncertain and precarious, with a general tendency toward an excess of silica and a shortage of iron. This latter requirement has been met in large part by the use in El Paso lead furnaces of considerable amounts of roasted heady copper matte from the Chihuahua smeltery and of converter slag from the El Paso converters. These two materials, coupled with complex lead-copper ores from Bisbee, Ariz., have introduced into the lead-smelting operations a most unusual amount of copper, which has had an important bearing upon the smelting practice of the plant. This matter will be discussed later. The ore, loaded in either box cars or gondolas, enters the storage yard on four tracks elevated about 8 ft. above the ground. As all unloading is clone by hand, unloading platforms at the height of the car floor parallel the tracks on each side to afford a runway for wheelbarrows. At frequent intervals these lengthwise platforms are joined together by others running crosswise to facilitate the distribution of the ores evenly over the beds, which are located below and between the tracks. At present much of the bedding space formerly used for lead ores is given over to the copper department, but 20 bins of various sizes are retained for the use of the lead furnaces and the Huntington & Heberlein roasting plant. The largest of these holds about 1,000 tons, while the smallest holds not over

Jan 8, 1915

By George Stone

THE method of making oxide of zinc direct from the ore was invented and developed at the works of The New Jersey Zinc Co. at Newark in the middle of the last century. The process was invented by Burrows, who had not the ability, financial or technical, to work out the details necessary to make it of commercial value. This was done by Col. Wetherill, whose name is commonly attached to this process. The, grate bars used are also frequently called Wetherill grates, which is a misnomer because they were in common use for boiler firing at the time and he never claimed their invention. The invention of the process was due to the efforts of The New Jersey Zinc Co. to find a profitable means of working the ores from Franklin and Sterling Hill, N. J. These are a mixture of franklinite, willemite and zincite, containing about 20 per cent. of zinc. The first attempts were to make spelter, which were not successful, owing to the low grade of the ore and the fusibility of the residue. Failing in this, the next attempt was to make oxide in large muffles and reverberatory furnaces. This succeeded, although the cost of operation was high, the recovery low, and the quality of the product uncertain. In 1855, the new process was patented and has been in successful operation ever since. Essentially, the process is to spread a mixture of coal and ore on a body of burning coal on a perforated grate and blow an excess of air through the grate. The zinc is reduced in contact with the coal, volatilizes and burned by the excess of air in the upper part off the furnace and in the flues. It is then carried to the hag rooms by the excess air and products of combustion which are forced through the flues by fans. In its main features, the process is the same today as at the time of its invention, but the details have been so modified that it would hardly be recognized by its originators.

Jan 9, 1917

By W. Laird

For years, the coal industry has been confronted with face ventilation problems, ignitions, dust, and their effect on productivity. To improve face ventilation, minimize face ignitions, and control dust in the face areas, studies have been conducted over the past 30 odd years by coal companies, federal government research programs and others. These studies included brattice curtains, water spray nozzles, water pressures, highly efficient water filtration systems, auxiliary fans, differ fans, various dust collection systems and the recently developed "Spray Fan" ventilation system. This system consists of spray banks strategically placed on continuous miners to ventilate immediate face area.

Jan 1, 1984

President Howe: It is, of course, not easy to discuss off-hand the paper which Mr. Becker has presented with so much lucidity. I will only make one remark, which is outside of the line of his argument, and concerns merely a passing allusion in his paper. Mr. Becker speaks of the fact that glass breaks with a flat or conchoidal fracture, and that steel shows a rough or " cupped " surface of frac-

Jan 1, 1895

By F. S. Sinnatt

This paper is the outcome of an extended investigation carried out in association with Dr. L. Slater. The inquiry had been continued in various directions and a number of results are quoted from an investigation recently completed by S. H. Jenkins. In projecting the work some five years ago, the author had in view a general attack on the problem of the spontaneous combustion of coal from an angle that had received little attention. The basic idea was to obtain a "slow motion study" of the active combustion of coal. This included an examination of the conditions prevailing in a mass of coal at the moment when active combustion ceases. It was thought that, if the factors governing the extinction of combustion in coal could be definitely established, it might offer an explanation of the manner in which the spontaneous combustion of coal originates. The inquiry arose from a detailed study of the properties of fusain that the author began in 1918. Fusain seemed to possess characteristics quite distinct from the coal with which it was associated, for if it were collected into a heap and one portion were heated by a small flame the combustion would traverse the whole mass. This combustion was not accompanied by smoke and passed slowly through the heap of material. Later, it was found that coals, including anthracites, would behave in a similar manner provided they were in the form of powder and that the particles were smaller than a certain size. The limiting size of particles is a definite characteristic of the coals investigated. In view of the fact that fusain exists with coal in a state that enables it to undergo this particular form of combustion, it must be assumed, sometimes, to play a definite part in the spontaneous combustion of coal in the goaf (waste). Tables 1 and 2 contain the analyses of samples of dust collected from a mine and from a dust collector. Some idea of the degree of fineness of the particles of fusain may be obtained from a study of the analyses of the dust from the dust collector; 80 per cent. of the dust would pass through a 200-mesh screen while the fusain was concentrated in the finest dust. The material that passed through a 90-mesh screen contained 54 per cent. of fusain while that between a 30- and a 90-mesh only con-

Jan 1, 1925

By Constantine Michalopoulos, Roger C. Van Tassel

Commercial demand for gold in the United States is important. It has a large impact on the total world commercial and overall non-monetary demand. Given the present free market price and our need to import gold, it has a substantial adverse effect upon our international payments position. But, according to most recent estimates, the United States demand is perhaps no more than 20% of the world as a whole. In 1971, United States consumption was estimated at 215.6 tons out of a total of 1,412.1 tons 1. This figure is very close to the 16% figure developed by Consolidated Gold Fields as the average for the years 1968-1970.2 Surveys of both production and use of gold on a world-wide basis are not new. With the bulk of gold production in only a few countries, it has been possible to develop fairly reliable series on gold output. Estimates have been developed on the known reserves of gold and probable output at various prices.3 On the demand side, figures have been somewhat less complete and reliable. The Bank for International Settlements and the Director of the United States Mint have regularly published estimates of commercial use in major industrial countries. The IMF has issued an increasingly comprehensive survey in its Annual Reports. The IMF has attempted to cover all nations-not restricting its efforts to major industrial nations-and has tried to estimate both gold taken for commercial uses (Estimated Industrial and Artistic Use) and for private hoarding. Their method is to begin with data on free world output plus any net sales by the Soviet Union, subtract any additions to world monetary stocks (or add to available supply for any net reductions in world monetary stocks), subtract estimates for commercial demand and have left as a residual an estimate for private hoarding. The method is straightforward and simple but the quality of the data is suspect. Industry sources tend to believe the figures as biased on the low side because of a persistent tendency to underreport gold movements.4

Jan 3, 1974

By R. B. Tippin, J. S. Browning

The feasibility of multistage heavy liquid cyclone beneficiation of spodumene was successfully demonstrated in this investigation. The indicated recovery for the multistage circuits was mathematically estimated as continuous test runs would be necessary to determine the true influence of a middlings recycle. In the three-stage circuit, both the concentrate analysis and spodumene recovery exceeded 90%. The two-stage circuits were unable to simultaneously yield an acceptable produce with a satisfactory recovery. With the Nation's growing industrial mineral requirements, the U.S. Bureau of Mines has undertaken the task of investigating new mineral dressing techniques and improving the existing concentrating methods of ore beneficiation. One such project is the gravity concentration of minerals using heavy liquid separation (HLS).1-3 Heavy liquid separation is based on the simple principle that a material, whose specific gravity is less than the density of a solution, will float on top of the liquid and a material with a greater specific gravity will sink. Heavy liquid separation techniques were developed in the laboratory over half a century ago but the process has yet to be commercially adopted. In the past, commercial operations have failed because of numerous problems.4 Industrial interest has recently been reactivated because of engineering advances. The number and quality of the heavy liquids suitable for mineral processing has increased while the cost has sharply dropped. New and improved liquid recovery systems5,6 are under consideration with present emphasis on 1) solvent extraction, 2) thermo-evaporation, and 3) water washing. The toxicity of the heavy liquids7 presents a problem, but throughout the chemical and mining industries, many similar hazardous materials are safely handled. A distinct advantage of using heavy liquids is its ability to provide a near perfect separation of fine-sized mineral particles even when the specific gravities are close. Effective separations have been made on minerals down to 200 mesh and with a density

Jan 1, 1968

Tars Committee is the result of a desire of the authorities in charge of the publications of the four national engineering societies to co-operate in this matter. The members of the Committee are the following: Charles WarreN Hunt, Secretary of the American Society of Civil Engineers. D. S. Jacobus, Vice-President of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Joseph Struthers, Assistant Editor of the American Institute of Mining Engineers. CaRy T. Hutchinson, Chairman of The Editing Committee of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. This Committee has held several meetings; it seemed advisable, at the outset, to limit its discussions closely to the general subject of abbreviations. Further, it seemed best to formulate a few general rules to be followed in making abbreviations, rather than to compile a list of forms to be recommended. The Committee decided to limit the subject more narrowly by considering only abbreviations to be used in the text, or general reading-matter, arid not those to be used in special matter,

Jan 1, 1905

By G. R. Fitterer

Trends in slag composition in acid open hearth practice, particularly the variation in iron and manganese oxides during refining, are reviewed. A procedure which is currently being used to control the refining reactions is described and partially explained through slag phase diagram considerations. In addition, the ionic nature of these slags is considered and it is proposed that silica combines with the oxide ion and forms a series of complex silicate ions. The effect of basic oxides such as FeO, MnO, and CaO is apparently additive in furnishing the oxide ion for this purpose. IT is now possible to control192 the refining of steel in an acid open hearth furnace to a surprising degree. This control has been brought about through the knowledge and use of several facts and tests. These are: 1—A planned charge analysis based on a knowledge of the type of fuel, the bath depth, etc. 2—Knowledge and control of rate of fuel input as well as its method of atomization, if any. 3—Determination of the slag fluidity. 4—Bath temperatures (use of the Pt-Pt-Rh thermocouple). 5—Periodic determination of carbon content (use of the Carb-analyzer or Carbometer). Through the use of these control methods, a heat may be made to "melt-in" with or without residual manganese and silicon. The rate of refining or carbon elimination may be controlled accurately, and the desired tapping (or "go-ahead") carbon may be approached at a rapid or slow rate according to preference and type of steel being made. Thus operating time may be predetermined and greatly reduced. Further, all of the refining can be done without any ore or other oxidizing additions, and the heat may be brought to the desired tapping temperature simultaneously with the attainment of the desired carbon analysis. This control procedure is being used in most acid plants in the United States today and has been de- scribed.', ' Although the slag metal relations are sufficiently well known to control the heat as stated, yet it is possible to account for only about two-thirds' of the 0, which must have been used for the elimination of the carbon and other metalloids. Phase diagram studies' of the slags, slag weights, the metal particle theory,' ore additions, limestone additions, etc., may all be taken into consideration; yet, the mechanism of oxidation and source of all the oxygen remain to be explained. This paper reviews some of the principles upon which the control methods were based and proposes other possibilities regarding the unexplained phenomena. Old and New Acid Open Hearth Practice Some of the recent statements in the literature regarding acid open hearth operation are based on old heat data which are not typical of modern American practice. These old heat logs have been responsible for many misconceptions regarding the acid hearth practice and represent heats which do not coincide with modern methods. In recent years, American practice has been altered materially and these changes will be briefly described. Modern American Practice: A typical log of a modern American acid open hearth heat' is shown in Fig. 1 which indicates that the refining time was only two hours, during which the carbon was eliminated rapidly and the bath temperature increased at a fast rate. The manganese and silicon contents of the metal were essentially eliminated and their oxides had become constituent parts of the slag at the "melt-down" period. During the course of the heat, the MnO content of the slag remained practi-

Jan 1, 1954

By F. S. Young

Previous laboratory and field experimentation has demonstrated the effect of several variables on drilling rate.1-5 These results have been incorporated into optimization theories6-" for the purpose of reducing drilling cost. Minimum-cost drilling theories rely on a combination of historical data and empirical prediction techniques for selecting optimum bit weight and rotary speed. Past solutions have required extensive use of computing equipment because of both the complexity of the mathematical formulations and the large number of parameters involved. Field attempts to apply these computed results have frequently failed because of the uncertainty of input data requirements. Humble has developed an on-site computer system to control bit weight and rotary speed and thereby implement the concepts of minimum-cost drilling. This system can (1) perform short interval drilling rate tests for formation evaluation, (2) use the results of these tests as input information to solve minimum-cost drilling formulas, and (3) control bit weight and rotary speed in accordance with these computed solutions. The purpose of this paper is to describe the computer control system and present results of initial field testing. Theoretical Considerations Minimum-cost drilling (MCD) requires a quantitative evaluation of the variables involved. Several forms of a basic mathematical model have been sug-gested.'?,' "he relationships reported here form the basis for the solution programmed in this work. Four equations are used, expressing drilling rate, bit bearing wear, bit tooth wear, and cost. A solution for minimum-cost drilling assuming constant bit weight and rotary speed over the entire bit life has been programmed for use in computing MCD schedules. This solution is subject to certain limiting assumptions such as those discussed by Graham et a1.I2: 1. Drilling cost is the summation of bit cost, rotating cost, connection cost and hoisting cost. 2. Diamond bits are excluded. 3. Bit life is limited by either bearing failure or tooth wear, or by a combination of operational factors that make it cheaper to pull an incompletely consumed bit. 4. Circulating hydraulics are adequate and do not limit drilling rate. 5. Bit weight considerations exclude hole deviation. 6. Drilling rate is a function of only bit weight, rotary speed, and degree of tooth dullness; that is, the effects of pressure, lithology, fluid properties hydraulics and drill string dynamics are ignored. In equation form, the four MCD expressions are as follows:

Jan 1, 1970

Paralleling recent experiments in the U. S., the Mines Branch of the Department of Mines and Technical Surveys in Ottawa has developed a laboratory process for recovering cell-grade alumina from aluminiferous shale. Mines Branch Research Report R45 (1959) entitled The Alum-Amine Process For The Recovery of Alumina From Shale by G. Thomas and T. R. Ingraham states " . . . With the recent resurgence in Canada, and in the United States, of attempts to recover cell-grade alumina from clays and shales, the Mines Branch undertook to review certain processes that had been tried with marginal success . . . In particular, it seemed quite possible that some recent developments in organic chemistry, relating to uranium technology, might be utilized for the removal of the last traces of iron from intermediate products to permit the attainment of a satisfactory grade of alumina." This introductory paragraph explains the authors' approach toward development of an alumina recovery process from shale. The following is an abstract of their successful laboratory experiments.

Jan 3, 1960

By A. Q. Tool

THE necessity of accurate temperature measurements in the glass-making industries is today being much more widely appreciated than in the past. The introduction of the modern simplified and perfected pyrometric methods in connection with exact regulation of furnace temperatures has caused a marked improvement in the glass product with a quickened rate of production. An example of the processes in which much improvement has been and still can be made is that of annealing or heat-treating the glass. This is one of the most delicate processes in glass manufacture and one that requires a most careful furnace control. The heat treatment is undertaken to decrease the possibility of breakage and, in glass for fine optical instruments, to prevent serious warping of accurately ground and polished surfaces and to make the glass more uniform throughout to the passage of light waves. These objects are accomplished by removing all the harmful stresses that exist in a piece of glass when it has been cooled too quickly or unevenly. Such stresses exist, for example, after it has been pressed, cast, or otherwise worked. Thus the process of annealing consists of heating the glass evenly to the temperature at which it softens just enough to relieve these stresses in a reasonable time and then cooling slowly and uniformly until the glass hardens again. Accordingly, the things that must be investigated and determined in order to anneal glass without loss of time are, the annealing temperature, the time that the glass should be held at this temperature while the stresses relax, and the quickest cooling procedure that will give satisfactory results. After these characteristics of the glass are known the problem is one of pyrometry and temperature control entirely. In cases when it is known that a glass article will be required to withstand some definite type of heat or mechanical shock it is often possible, by a proper heat treatment, to produce such a distribution of the stresses in the glass that it will be enabled to resist these shocks more effectively.

Jan 9, 1919

F. AT. FARMER*, New York (written discussion?)- The paper presents many phases of the welding art concerning which there are very divergent views. In many cases, the wide differences of opinion are based on the results of mechanical tests, but an examination of the mechanical test data discloses a wide variation in character of the tests made and in the details of procedure, so that it is frequently not only difficult to analyze and check the basis of the conclusions but impossible to correlate various groups of test results. It would seem, therefore, that the technique of testing welds is one of the phases of the welding art that should be studied and standardized in order that the results of mechanical tests made by different people may be strictly comparable and have the same significance to all. The vital difference between testing a specimen of steel that includes a welded joint and testing an ordinary specimen is the non-homogeneity of the weld specimen. The weld specimen has at its center a section composed of material that usually has physical, chemical, and metallurgical characteristics distinctly different from the adjoining metal. Furthermore, the section of added metal is more or less irregular and the ratio of added metal to original metal in the section is quite variable. Consequently the details of procedure and of recording data should be more minutely prescribed than in the testing of ordinary specimens. A conspicuous example f a mechanical test that requires standardization is the cold bending test, a standard test for mild steel. With the usual method, the specimen is bent around. a pin of prescribed diameter and, as all specifications usually require bending to 180° without fracture, the manner of applying the load is immaterial because the specimen is ultimately completely wrapped around the pin. But a specimen containing a welded joint at the center will usually not withstand bending to 180° because of the much lower ductility of the deposited metal in the weld. It is therefore obvious that the farther apart the points of support are the greater will be the angle attained before cracking occurs, simply because most of the bending will take place in the original metal. It is therefore highly desirable that there be prescribed a standard test that fixes exactly the distance between the supports, the curvature of the surface of supports, and the relation between this curvature, that of the loading surface, and the thickness of the specimen.

Jan 5, 1919

Mounting pressures to increase efficiency and yield, conserve energy, or minimize pollution have all taken their toll on the minerals industry. As management and technical personnel take a harder look at their operations for ways to shave cents off operating costs or to squeeze a bit more productivity out of existing equipment, instrumentation often comes up as the most effective answer. When Amax Lead installed an automatic grind control system in its Buick mill, ore throughput increased by 3 to 5%. Mill operators calculate that the initial investment is returned to them several times annually.

Jan 2, 1978

By S. G. Cupschalk, J. J. Wert, R. A. Buchanan

The uniaxial deformation of thermally ordered and disordered polycrystalline Cu3Pt was studied by means of the X-ray line - broadening analysis according to Warren and Averbach and the extension of this analysis to ordered fcc materials by Mikkola and Cohen. Because of the heat treatment history, extinction had a pronounced effect on the X-ray spectra of ordered and disordered C%Pt at small plastic strains. After an appropriate correction for extinction, the long-range order in thermally ordered ChPt was found to decrease at a slow constant rate with plastic strain. Furthermore, the antiphase domain probability increased at a constant rate to 17.5 pct strain. The effective particle size behavior indicated that the stacking fault energy is lower in ordered than in disordered Cu3Pt. Analysis of the stress-strain curves shouled that ordered Cuzt has a slightly lower yield Point but a much higher work-hardening rate than disordered Cu3Pt. THE presence of long-range order in a solid-solution alloy has a marked effect on its mechanical properties. While this effect has been known qualitatively for many years, it was not until recently that detailed investigations have been performed to determine the exact role long-range order plays in this strengthening mechanism. The development of an advanced, quantitative. X-ray diffraction analysis by Warren and Averbachl and the extension of this analysis to the L1, type super lattice by Mikkola and cohen2 have greatly accelerated research in this field. The research reported in this paper consisted of two primary phases. The first phase was to determine the effect of long-range order on the tensile properties of polycrystalline Cu3Pt. This objective was accomplished by comparing the stress-strain behavior of thermally ordered CusPt to that of thermally disordered CusPt. The second phase of the research was to determine the difference between the atomic arrangements in thermally ordered and thermally disordered Cu3Pt as a function of uniaxial deformation and thereby gain a deeper insight into the mechanism by which long-range order affects the tensile properties. This second objective was accomplished by applying the Warren-Averbach method of peak profile analysis to the X-ray diffraction patterns obtained from ordered and disordered Cu3Pt after given amounts of uniaxial deformation. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE The Cu3Pt was prepared by vacuum melting and casting. After a homogenization anneal, the ingot was cold-rolled to sheet form. Two tensile specimens with gage sections of 2.50 by 0.500 by 0.115 in. were carefully machined from the sheet. The specimens were polished with a final step of 600-grit paper to insure smooth diffracting surfaces. Finally, one specimen was heat-treated to yield an average grain diameter of 0.016 mm and an initial degree of long-range order, S, of 0.825. The other specimen was water-quenched from above the critical temperature, 645"C, to yield an average grain diameter of 0.017 mm and zero long-range order. The heat treatment history of each specimen is shown in Table I. The tensile tests were performed utilizing a Research Incorporated Model 900.95 Materials Testing System. This unit employs a closed-loop feedback system which maintains a constant strain rate through an extensometer clipped to the gage section of the tensile specimen. A strain rate of 1.32 i0.02 x 10"4 sec-' was employed in testing both specimens. In the X-ray diffraction analysis, a General Electric XRD-5 diffractometer equipped with a pulse-height analyzer set for 90 pct efficiency was employed. The goniometer speed selected was 0.2 deg, 20, per min. Filtered Cu radiation was used for all peaks and all peaks were chart-recorded. Because of nonuni-form grain size. it was necessary to spin the specimens during X-ray analysis in order to obtain reproducible integrated intensities. The spinning rate was 2000 i100 rpm. The application of the Warren-Averbach method of peak broadening analysis to a diffraction pattern is very time consuming if done manually. In this research, the calculations involved were performed with the aid of a computer program by wagner.3 As reported by Wagner, the program is written in Fortran TV computer language. It was modified to Fortran I1 so as to be handled by the IBM 7072 computer at Van-derbilt University. In the X-ray diffraction analysis of uniaxially deformed Cu3Pt, the 100, 200. 400. 111, and 222 reflections were recorded from the initially ordered sample after 'plastic strains of 3.0, 6.0, 9.0, 12.0,

Jan 1, 1970

By Carl Keuffel

THE manufacture of optical glass is a new industry in this country. In 1914, after the war started, the supply of optical glass from Europe was cut off, but as there was a fairly large stock of glass on hand, it was not until the end of 1915 that the optical instrument makers made serious efforts to produce their own glass. These early attempts were generally made by practical glass men and, due primarily to the fact that very little scientific help was used, the first attempts were unsuccessful. It was not until the whole problem was attacked by technically trained men who used advanced methods of research that good results were obtained. These researches proved that the accurate control of the temperature was a most important factor in the manufacture of optical glass. The early glass maker judged temperatures with his eyes; later, Seger cones were introduced into the furnace at various stages of the melt. Then radiation, indicating and recording pyrometers with rare-metal thermocouples were introduced. Now, in addition to these, an optical pyrometer every hour or so is sighted right into the pot and on the molten glass. Figs. 1 and 2 show how pyrometers are used to control the melt. InFig. 2, Y is the clay pot in which the batch is melted to glass within the furnace X. The rare-metal thermocouple S, protected by a clay tube, extends through the wall and about 4 in. into the furnace. This couple is connected to an indicator T and a recorder U so that a complete record of the furnace temperatures is obtained. The section of the curve ABCD, Fig. 1, shows how gradually and carefully the clay pot must be heated to get rid of moisture AB and during the calcining at CD. The stem of an expansion pyrometer R is extended through a hole in the door Z of the furnace and into the pot in order to more closely follow the temperatures of the clay pot itself during the burning process, that is from A to D. After the pot is calcined, the temperature can be rapidly raised to E (about 1430° C.); from E to F this temperature is much higher

Jan 9, 1919

By A. N. Mitinsky

Discussion of the paper of A. N. MITINSKY, presented at the San Francisco meeting, September, 1915, and at the New York meeting, February, 1916, and printed in Bulletin No. 104, August, 1915, pp. 1697 to 1705. ALBERT SAUVEUR, Cambridge, Mass.-The author expresses the belief that steel will not fail under fatigue when subjected to ultimate stresses unless the stresses exceed the elastic limit or the limit of proportionality. I think this statement is contrary to the evidence. It is conceivable, however, that a stress ever so small does produce a permanent set, although so slight that we cannot detect it with the instruments at our disposal. Nevertheless the repetition of this small stress a great many times will finally break the piece and the nearer, we approach what we call the elastic limit, the quicker will the piece break under fatigue. J. W. RICHARDS, So. Bethlehem, Pa.-I would like to ask Professor Sauveur whether there is a similar indefiniteness about the limit of .proportionality as there is about the elastic limit. ALBERT SAUVEUR.-Yes; I believe it also depends upon the delicacy of our instruments. J. W. RICHARDS.-If that is so then we are as badly off by adopting the limit of proportionality as a criterion as we are by adopting the elastic limit.

Jan 5, 1916

By J. Moore Samuel

INTRODUCTORY BEFORE the year 1909, no measurements of dust losses and flue gases had been made at the Copper Queen Reduction Works, at Douglas, Ariz. At that time the "unaccounted" loss of the smelter had reached a figure, that drew attention to the possibility of large stack losses. The measurement of dust losses had not been studied much at that time, and estimates of dust losses, with a few exceptions, were the results of tests by what has been termed "chemical methods," that is, the aspiration and filtration through cotton, wool or some similar medium of a few liters of gas, the dust being weighed on a chemical balance, and the volume of gas computed from the volume of aspirator water. The possible error of this method is enormous, and the probable error much too large for reliable results. Since the object of these tests was to discover not only the extent of the dust losses, but also the possibility of profitably reducing the same, it was decided that the method adopted must have the following characteristics: 1. The sample of gas taken for filtration must be representative of the whole volume of gas, that is to say, it must have the same dust content. This condition will be fulfilled in all cases if the gas sample is drawn off without change of rate of flow. Then it will contain the same proportion of entrained or suspended particles of dust as the original gas. In the case of flue gases which contain only fume, at a temperature above or near the sublimation point, this condition need not be adhered to since the fume will not behave as entrained particles, but more nearly as a true gas. Consequently the gas sample in this case only may be drawn off at any rate of flow. 2. The gas sample taken must be large enough (a) to yield sufficient dust to permit of accurate chemical and physical examination; (b) so that the ratio of the total volume of gas passing through the flue to the volume of gas sample taken shall not be too large.

Jan 6, 1916

By A. T. Beckwith

The Lehigh Navigation Coal Company Inc. operates steep-pitch, relatively deep mines in the Panther Creek Valley, at the eastern end of the southern anthracite coal field. Commercially minable coal beds are the Mammoth,† Primrose, Orchard, and Buck Mountain;‡ their respective thicknesses average 50, 15, 10 and 12 ft. Sand slates immediately overlie and underlie these beds, though in some locations sandstone or conglomerate beds occur. Underground operations extend to a depth of 1200 ft. below the surface, and comprise a bulk of virgin work on the lower levels, and a small amount of remining on the upper levels. With increase in depth, ventilation has become a more important factor. Development In early days slopes or drifts were driven in the outcropping coal on the hillsides. Subsequent development was by water-level tunnels, with portals above high water in Panther Creek. These tunnels have been maintained because they intercept and drain much water that enters the mined-out portion of the bed and otherwise would follow down to the deep workings+ Below these tunnels, the coal was customarily developed by slopes. Muleways, which are zigzag chutes easy to travel, were also driven to connect lower openings with the water levels. When it became necessary to go still deeper, the slopes were abandoned, and vertical multicompartment shafts were sunk from the surface. Levels have been at vertical intervals of from 175 to 250 ft. Recent practice has been toward the latter spacing, splitting the total lift, however, by starting to mine from chutes extending halfway up to the level above. Chutes customarily are spaced at 50, 60 or 70-ft. centers along the gangways. At some mines, additional shafts have been sunk from the surface to the level containing the main pumping station, and these carry the discharge lines from the pumps. As the mines are ventilated by the exhausting system, both the hoisting and so-called water shafts serve as intakes. The main fan is always on the surface, and is connected with the return airways from the various levels by an air hole or a vertical shaft. For economy, when the present deepest levels were developed, and return-air shafts or air holes were not extended to the new level, but connections were made from the new level to that above by two or more holes. It is doubtful that this method will be continued, as complications in the system, increased resistance to flow, and other difficulties undoubtedly will counterbalance any economies this provision may afford. During the early years of mining, when operations were at no great depth, all development headings were driven in the coal bed. As mining progressed downward, increased ground pressures slowed develop

Jan 1, 1942