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CHARLES KIRCHHOFF, Chairman. ALBERT SAUVEUR, Vice-Chairman. HERBERT M. BOYLSTON, Secretary, Abbot Bldg., Cambridge, Mass. John Birkinbine, J. Esrey Johnson, Jr., Felix A. Vogel, William H. Blauvelt, William Kelly, Leonard Waldo, James Gayley, . Richard Moldenke, William R. Walker, Henry D. Hibbard, Joseph W. Richards, - William R. Webster. Henry 1%1. Howe, E. Gybbon Spilsbury, Frederick W. Wood. Robert W. Hunt, A. A. Stevenson, The Board of Directors of the Institute has authorized the holding of a meeting under the auspices of the Iron and, Steel Committee in New York City, October 16 and 17, 1913. Gratifying responses have been received to the request of the Committee for contributions, the following papers being already assured: 1. H. M. Howe, Equilibrium Temperature for A, in Carbon Steel. 2. H. M. Howe, The Divorcing of the Eutectoid in Meteorites. 3. H. M. Howe and A. G. Levy, Determination Of the Position of Ae3, in Carbon-Iron Alloys. 4. G. .K Burgess, J. J. Crowe and H. S. Rawdon, Thermal and Microscopical Examination of Professor Howe's Standard Commercial Steels. 5. H. Dl. Hove, Discussion of the Existing Data as to the Position of Ae3,. 6. J. H. Hall, Shock Tests of Cast Steel. 7. H. F. Miller, Jr., The Design of Regenerators for Open-Hearth Furnaces. 8. E. Stütz, Paper on the "Scoria Process." 9. Albert Sauveur, Mayari Steel. 10. Felix A. Vogel, Briquetting. 11. J. E. Johnson, Jr., Paper on " Cast Iron."

Jan 6, 1913

By B. Foley

IN THE first report1 disks of steel of known composition and history were exposed, under carefully prescribed conditions, to impacts of explosion products resulting from the explosion of 50-gm. charges of explosives having well-determined rates of detonation, or to impacts of a weight of known mass, falling through measured distances. There were available at the Bureau of Mines Experiment Station five explosives, having rates of detonation of 5716, 4470, 3190, 2296, and 1523 meters per second. It being desired to continue this exposure downward, and no explosives with a lesser rate of detonation being at hand, resort was had to the impact of a falling weight, the differences in the velocity of impact being attained by varying the height from which the weight was allowed to fall. It was expected by this means to demonstrate experimentally that the development of Neumann bands was determined by the suddenness of the deformation of the metal in which they were produced. But while progressive deformations were obtained with the explosive arges, the falling-weight method failed because the tup was ogressively deformed, also the disks were so flattened as to be unfit for metallographic examination. A return, therefore, has been made to the use of explosives as the source of energy, an air-gap being interposed between the charge of explosive and the disk, as the effect diminishes as the function of the distance between the charge and the object on which the products of its explosion, or the shock wave from its detonation, impinge. The details of the arrangement of the tests by the air-gap method were the same as those described by Foley and Howell,2 except that after the system had been set up and the desired apparent specific gravity for the explosive

Jan 2, 1926

By P. Barnes

These furnaces are of the ordinary Siemens type, and present no special peculiarities of construction. The bed of each is 8 feet by 20 feet clear inside of the walls and ports. The producers are placed at a distance of about 200 feet from the furnaces, and the gas is collected in an iron tube and led across the yard overhead. It then drops underground into the gas flue, and is distributed to the furnaces. A considerable weight of floor-plates over the valve-pits is included in account 39, but none of the general stock of floor-plates for the mill were charged to the furnaces. In Table No. 1 is shown the money cost of the furnaces as distributed to the several accounts named. In Table 2 is shown the proportion of each account due to each of the several items or classes of expenditure named.. It is thus rendered possible, almost at a glance, to determine the money value in this particular case of each of the items named. The regular work of three of these furnaces in heating steel blooms for the months of January and February, 1877, was 77 rounds per week of 60 blooms each, or 4620 30-foot rails per week. Each furnace will heat 8 14-inch ingots, for three rails each, at one time.

Jan 1, 1879

By W. F. Durfee

The apparatus described in this paper was designed by the writer, in the year 1869, for use in the laboratory of the " American Silver Steel Works," at Bridgeport, Conn., where only the vacuum-pump was erected ; but on two subsequent occasions I have had the combined vacuum-pump and table-blowpipe constructed as represented in the drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a general elevation of the apparatus, the air-chamber being sectioned vertically; Fig. 2, a plan of the air-chamber; Fig. 3, a vertical sectiotnal elevation of the vacuum-pump, the section being on line C L), of Fig. 4, which is a horizontal section on line A B, of Fig. 3. The vacuum-pump is constructed of copper, and consists of a vacuum-chamber, E, supported upon the upper expanded end of a vertical pipe, Q. The vacuum-chamber is provided with four nozzles, C, F, I, D (Fig. 4), two of which are shown in section at A, B (Fig. 3). Passing vertically through the centre of the vacuum-chamber E, is seen the water-supply pipe P, whose lower extremity incloses an internal pipe p, which is supported, and placed in communication with the vacuum-chamber E, by means of the two elliptical nozzles n, n. The upper part of the pipe p is closed by a conical cap, and its lower end is in the same plane with the extremity of the watersupply pipe P, within which it is placed. The relative sizes of the pipes P and p are such that an annular adjutage, one-sixteenth of an inch in thickness, is formed between their lower extremities, through which the water from the supplypipe P passes into the pipe &, drawing any air that may be in the

Jan 1, 1885

By John W. Cabot

In the manufacture by the Bessemer process of soft steel suitable for rolling into fine sheets, tubes and 60 forth, a difficulty is sometimes met with, in the tendency of this kind of metal to rise violently and boil in the moulds while being cast; this results in hollow-topped ingots, and consequently in an undue amount of scrap in the subsequent rolling. It has been noticed that this peculiarity does not pertain to all pig-irons, some grades producing a blown metal which pours quietly, while others, in whatever way the blow may have been conducted, give a metal which rises in the moulds, accompanied by the evolution of large quantities of hydrogen and carbonic oxide gases, and requiring a long time to solidify. This difference in behavior has been some-

Jan 1, 1891

By AIME AIME

T HE Mid-Continent Section of the Petroleum Division met on Mar. 11 in the engineer's room of the Tulsa Building, Tulsa, Okla., for the purpose of reviewing the papers presented at the annual meeting in New York. L. G. E. Pignell, chairman and delegate to New York for the Mid-Continent Section, read a brief report giving the outstanding features of the various papers that were presented. He expressed regret that more members of the Division could not be present in New York to hear the interesting papers and discussions. It was his opinion that the various remedies presented for overproduction seemed rather theoretical and impractical and he recommended that the engineers come to the aid of some of the economists in giving more practical consideration to the overproduction problem.

Jan 1, 1929

By J. E. Crawshaw, Francis B. Foley

In the first report1 disks of steel of known composition and history were exposed, under carefully prescribed conditions, to impacts of explosion products resulting from the explosion of 50-gm. charges of explosives having well-determined rates of detonation, or to impacts of a weight of known mass, falling through measured distances. There were available at the Bureau of Mines Experiment Station five explosives, having rates of detonation of 5716, 4470, 3190, 2296, and 1523 meters per second. It being desired to continue this exposure downward, and no explosives with a lesser rate of detonation being at hand, resort was had to the impact of a falling weight, the differences in the velocity of impact being attained by varying the height from which the weight was allowed to fall. It was expected by this means to demonstrate experimentally that the development of Neumann bands was determined by the suddenness of the deformation of the metal in which they were produced. But while progressive deformations were obtained with the explosive charges, the falling-weight method failed because the tup was progressively deformed, also the disks were so flattened as to be unfit for metallographic examination. A return, therefore, has been made to the use of explosives as the source of energy, an air-gap being interposed between the charge of explosive and the disk, as the effect diminishes as the function of the distance between the charge and the object on which the products of its explosion, or the shock wave from its detonation, impinge. The details of the arrangement of the tests by the air-gap method were the same as those described by Foley and Howell,2 except that after the system had been set up and the desired apparent specific gravity for the explosive attained by tamping it, the small lead block, with the steel disk adhering

Jan 1, 1926

By Francis Foley

IN THE first report1 disks of steel of- known composition and history were exposed, under carefully prescribed conditions, to impacts of explosion products resulting from the explosion of 50-gm. charges of explosives having well-determined rates of detonation, or to, impacts of a weight of known mass, falling through measured distances. There were available at the Bureau of Mines Experiment Station five explosives, having rates of detonation of 5716, 4470, 3190, 2296, and 1523 meters per second. It being desired to continue this exposure downward, and no explosives with a lesser rate of detonation being at hand, resort was had to the impact of a falling weight, the differences in the velocity of impact being attained by varying the height from which the weight was allowed to fall. It was expected by this means to demonstrate experimentally that the development of Neumann bands was determined by the suddenness of the deformation of the metal in which they were produced. But while progressive deformations were obtained with the explosive charges, the falling-weight method failed because the tup was progressively deformed, also the disks were so flattened as to be unfit for metallographic examination. A return, therefore, has been made to the use of explosives as the source of energy, an air-gap being interposed between the charge of explosive and the disk, as the effect diminishes as the function of the distance between the charge and the object on which the products of its explosion, or the shock wave from its detonation, impinge. The details of the arrangement of the tests by the air-gap method were the same as those described by Foley and Howell,2 except that after the system had been set up and the desired apparent specific gravity for the explosive

Jan 2, 1926

By W. P. Sykes

ThiS investigation was undertaken primarily to establish the relations existing between temperature and mechanical properties in molybdenum, nickel, and an aluminum-copper alloy. Mlolybdenutn (m.p. 2500" C.) was chosen because it is partly similar to tungsten and partly similar to the common ductile metals. Also it is known to furnish, by proper treatment, a desirable material to use in studying relation of grain size and physical properties. The molybdenum used was of the quality that is drawn into wire 0.003 in. in diameter for use as filament supports in incandescent lamps; Chemical analysis shows less than 0.1 per cent. of impurities. Nickel belongs to the same class as iron. Its melting point is 1450" C. and an allotropic change at about 370" C. results in a loss of magnetism above that temperature. This feature made nickel doubly valuable for the purposes of these tests. The nickel used was obtained from the Driver-Harris Co. as 0.090 in. (2.3-mm.) wire, annealed; analysis showed 99.8 per cent. nickel and 0.150 per ccnt. iron. Aluminum is one of the low melting-point metals. Some tensile tests at clevated temperatures have been reported by Bengough but the possibility of learning more with the low temperature and sensitive apparatus available rccommendcd this metal. The samples marked A1 arc an aluminum-copper alloy that contains 3 per cent. copper, 0.42 per cent. iron, and 0.21 per cent. silicon. The presence of the copper somewhat coniplicates the analysis of the results; but the action of copper in aluminum has been studied so that its influence might have been foretold, in part at least. The material and analyses were furnished by the Aluminum Castings Co. The nickel wire, which was deformed at 400" C., was drawn under a bath of molten lead and through a die, which also was immersed in the bath. A thermocouple was suspended in the molten metal to indicate the temperature. Hot oil was uscd as the heating bath for drawing the

Jan 1, 1921

CLARENCE M. HAIGHT, Franklin, N., J. (communication to the Secretary*).-In that hart of Mr. Wilson's paper describing the Gilman cut-and-fill system, a few features do not appear to be fully explained. In what way is the waste used for filling obtained? The text mentions that, if waste is encountered when driving the filling raises, these raises are stopped until the fill is needed; that seems to suggest mining the capping for fill, which might make the backs of the stopes had as the stopes approach the top of the ore. If, on the other hand, the fill is brought to the raises in cars, are the crosscuts that are necessary in ore or waste? Is the cost of this fill included in the stoping costs given?

Jan 5, 1917

By Harold Price

ONE year ago, that is in January, 1923, there had not been constructed a single oil-storage tank of 55,000-bbl. or more capacity with a completely electric welded roof and bottom. Today, there are at least fifty 80,000-bbl. storage tanks completed, or nearing completion, on which both the roofs and the bottoms are electric welded. It is the purpose of this paper to describe, in a general way, the construction of these FIG. 1.-ELECTRIC-WELDED SEAMS AND RIVETS OF BOTTOM IN 55,000-BBL. TANK AT EL DORADO, KANS., SHOWING ALSO PATCH PLATE WELDED TO BOTTOM. welded roofs and bottoms, and to give their advantages over riveted construction. All of the following data and conclusions were obtained from observations made during the welding of tanks by the Welding Engineering Co. at Texas City, Tex., and Tonkawa and Burbank, Okla. As far as can be determined, the first electric welding on large tankage was completed in May, 1922. At that time the Empire Companies of Bartlesville, Okla., discovered a badly leaking bottom in a 55,000-bbl. tank at El Dorado, Kans. They had considered concreting this bottom, but because of the much smaller cost, decided to try electric welding; so a- contract was given the Welding Engineering Co. of Bartlesville, Okla. In this instance, no new sheets were added, the bottom being repaired by electric welding of all seams and rivets, Fig. 1. In some places where the original rivets were missing, the holes were filled by welding; patch plates were also added at certain badly worn spots. This tank has since been in service over a year and half, but no other

Jan 6, 1924

By G. W. Jones

THIS paper describes experiments in which eight test samples of gelatin dynamite were fired in three different types of apparatus and the quantity and composition of the gaseous products of detonation determined. The special dynamites were so prepared that the oxygen balance of the samples varied from -35.0 to +6.0 g. per 100 g. of explosive, including the wrapper. By means of this graded series of explosives, the relation between oxygen balance and gaseous products of detonation could be studied explicitly. The effect of varying oxygen balance on explosive strength has been discussed in another paper.1 The apparatus employed in the work described in the present paper included (1) the Bichel gage, a steel bomb of 15-1. volume; (2) the Crawshaw-Jones confined detonation apparatus, a steel cannon from which the explosive is fired into a pipe of 90-1. volume; and (3) the Hercules tank, an apparatus in which the explosive is confined in a quartz block which is placed in a steel tank of about 4500-1. volume. A full description of the apparatus is given later. VARIABLES AFFECTING COMPOSITION OF DETONATION PRODUCTS The character of the detonation products of commercial explosives is governed in part by the same factors that affect the combustion products from explosive mixtures of air with gases or vapors. In either case, combustible materials-namely, carbon, hydrogen, and sometimes sulfur-are present and combined variously. In an exploding gas mixture the combustibles are oxidized by oxygen in the admixed air, whereas with explosives the necessary oxygen is provided by oxygen-carrying materials in the explosive ingredients.

Jan 1, 1928

By G. W. Jones

THIS paper describes experiments in which eight test samples of gelatin dynamite were fired in three different types of apparatus and the quantity and composition of the gaseous products of detonation determined. The special dynamites were so prepared that the oxygen balance of the samples varied from -35.0 to +6.0 g. per 100 g. of explosive, including the wrapper. By means of this graded series of explosives, the relation between oxygen balance and gaseous products of detonation could be studied explicitly. The effect of varying oxygen balance on explosive strength has-been discussed in another paper.1 The apparatus employed in the work described in the present paper included (1) the Bichel gage, a steel bomb of 15-1 volume; (2) the Crawshaw-Jones confined detonation apparatus, a steel cannon from which the explosive is fired into a pipe of 904 volume; and (3) the Hercules tank, an apparatus in which the explosive is confined in a quartz block which is placed in a steel tank of about 4500-1. volume. A full description of the apparatus is given later. VARIABLES AFFECTING COMPOSITION OF DETONATION PRODUCTS The character of the detonation products of commercial explosives is governed in part by the same factors that affect the combustion products from explosive mixtures of air with gases or vapors. In either case, combustible materials-namely, carbon, hydrogen, and sometimes sulfur-are present and combined variously. In an exploding gas mixture the combustibles are oxidized by oxygen in the admixed air, whereas with explosives the necessary oxygen is provided by oxygen-carrying materials in the explosive ingredients.

Jan 1, 1928

By A. S. Richardson

The recent installation of a high-pressure propeller type fan at the Moose shaft of the Anaconda Copper Mining Co. at Butte, Mont,., is of interest on account of novelty of design and also because an appreciable saving was made over the cost of a reversible centrifugal fan such as is ordinarily used where a high pressure is required. The lower cost is due solely to the fact that by means of controls on the power supplied to the three-phase, alternating-current, induction motor, directly connected to the propeller it is possible to reverse the direction of rotation of the propeller and thus reverse the direction of air flow. The extra air ducts and reversing doors required for this purpose with centrifugal fans are not necessary, and their elimination greatly reduces these construction charges, which form a great part of the total expense. The Badger State mine for which the Moose shaft is used as the main outlet air course is now being developed to the 4100-ft. level. The old centrifugal fan, formerly used at the collar of the shaft, was installed 15 years ago at a time when most of the stoping was being done above the 2400-ft. level, and when the temperature of the rock was much lower than it is now on the bottom levels recently opened. The old fan, therefore, became inadequate to maintain desirable ventilation conditions, on account of the increase in resistance to air flow incident to the greater depth of the mine workings and because a much larger volume of air is required to offset the higher rock temperatures. Propeller, or disk, fans commonly used in the ventilation of mines are not suited to high-pressure work, but economies in the cost of their installation have long been recognized. In South Africa use has been made of a number of propellers placed in series along a common shaft, the number of propellers used being varied with requirements for meeting different conditions of mine resistance, but the mechanical efficiency is described as being low. In Butte, experimental work was done by the writer along similar lines under somewhat different conditions, but with poor results as to both pressure capacity and mechanical efficiency. Tests were also made of two different types of propeller fans of moderate size, which were said by the manufacturers to be suited to high-pressure mine ventilation.

Jan 1, 1932

By A. S. Richardson

THE recent installation of a high-pressure propeller type fan at the Moose shaft of the Anaconda Copper Mining Co. at Butte, Mont., is of interest on account of novelty of design and also because an appreciable saving was made over the cost of a reversible centrifugal fan such as is ordinarily used where a high pressure is required. The lower cost is due solely to the fact that by means of controls on the power supplied to the three-phase, alternating-current, induction motor, directly connected to the propeller it is possible to reverse the direction of rotation of the propeller and thus reverse the direction of air flow. The extra air ducts and reversing doors required for this purpose with centrifugal fans are not necessary, and their elimination greatly reduces these construction charges, which form a great part of the total expense. The Badger State mine for which the Moose shaft is used as the main outlet air course is now being developed to the 4100-ft. level. The old centrifugal fan, formerly used at the collar of the shaft, was installed 15 years ago at a time when most of the stoping was being done above the 2400-ft. level, and when the temperature of the rock was much lower than it is now on the bottom levels recently opened. The old fan, therefore, became inadequate to maintain desirable ventilation conditions, on account of the increase in resistance to air flow incident to the greater depth of the mine workings and because a much larger volume of air is required to offset the higher rock temperatures. Propeller, or disk, fans commonly used in the ventilation of mines are not suited to high-pressure work, but economies in the cost of their installation have long been recognized. In South Africa use has been made of a number of propellers placed in series along a common shaft, the number of propellers used being varied with requirements for meeting different conditions of mine resistance, but the mechanical efficiency is described as being low. In Butte, experimental work was done by the writer along similar lines under somewhat different conditions, but with poor results as to both pressure capacity and mechanical efficiency. Tests were also made of two different types of propeller fans of moderate size, which were said by the manufacturers to be suited to high-pressure mine ventilation.

Jan 1, 1932

By A. B. Cox, L. W. Wark

In an earlier paper1 measurements of contact angles due to the effect of xanthates on mineral surfaces were reported. The solutions in which these measurements were made differed widely from those of modern flotation circuits. It is intended, however, by introducing, one at a time, the other principal reagents of flotation, to approach gradually the solution composition of flotation liquors. The work now described is an attempt to determine the effect of one of the most important of these reagents—namely, sodium cyanide—on the establishment of air-mineral contact. The work has been carried out for the following companies: Broken Hill South, North Broken Hill, Zinc Corporation, Electrolytic Zinc of Australasia, Mount Lyell Mining and Railway, and Burma Corporation. Since the effect of cyanide is inseparably connected with the alkalinity, the results cited below deal with the mutual effects of alkalis and cyanide. Alkalis alone exert a significant effect on the air-mineral contact but comparatively large amounts are required. Since the addition of a small amount of cyanide greatly decreases the degree of alkalinity necessary for the suppression of contact at surfaces of any of the minerals experimented with (except galena) and since alkalis are rarely used alone in practice, little attention has been paid to cyanide-free solutions. It was shown in the previous paper that, excluding the dixanthogen effect, whenever contact was practicable at all in an ethyl xanthate solution the angle of contact was 60". There is, therefore, less necessity to measure equilibrium contact angles; in fact, the experiments herein described have generally been conducted with a view to determining whether contact is possible and not to measuring the actual value of the contact angle. The separations which have generally to be effected in dealing with complex sulfide ores are: (1) galena from sphalerite, pyrite, etc.; (2) sphalerite from pyrite and/or gangue minerals; (3) copper minerals from pyrite and gangue minerals; (4) pyrite from gangue minerals; (5) chal-

Jan 1, 1935

By N. G. W., Cook

When an excavation is made underground the original rock stresses are removed from the surfaces of the excavation. These surfaces converge to partially close the excavation and the superincumbent rock mass moves down towards the excavation. If the convergence of the surfaces of the excavation were controlled, energy generated by their motion against the controlling forces could be extracted. Since the total forces in the rock mass are not significantly affected by the excavation, stress concentrations arise around the excavation, which compensate exactly for those stresses no longer transmitted through the excavation. These phenomena give rise to two general principles which provide the basis for analyzing the effects of making any underground excavation. The first of these is that the total force resulting from the stresses across any plane in the rock, including any plane through the excavation, must be the same before and after the excavation is made. The second of these is that energy must necessarily be released as a result of making an underground excavation.

Jan 1, 1969

By A. S. Richardson

THE recent installation of a high-pressure propeller type fan at the Moose shaft of the Anaconda Copper Mining Co. at Butte, Mont., is of interest on account of novelty of design and also because an appreciable saving was made over the cost of a reversible centrifugal fan such as is ordinarily used where a high pressure is required. The lower cost is due solely to the fact that by means of controls 'on the power supplied to the three-phase, alternating-current, induction. motor, directly connected to the propeller it is possible to reverse the direction of rotation of the propeller and thus reverse the direction of air flow. The extra air ducts and reversing doors required for this purpose with centrifugal fans are not necessary, and their elimination greatly reduces these construction charges, which form a great part of the total expense. The Badger State mine for which the Moose shaft is used as the main outlet air course is now being-developed to the 4100-ft. level. The old centrifugal fan, formerly used at the collar of the shaft, was installed 15 years ago at a time when most of the stoping was being done above the 2400-ft. level, and when the temperature of the rock was much lower than it is now on the bottom levels recently opened. The old fan, therefore, became inadequate to maintain desirable ventilation conditions, on account of the increase in resistance to air flow incident to the greater depth of the mine workings and because a much larger volume of air is required to offset the higher rock temperatures. Propeller, or disk, fans commonly used in the ventilation of mines are not suited to high-pressure work, but economies in the cost of their installation have long been recognized. In South Africa use has been made of a number of propellers placed in series along a common shaft, the number of propellers used being varied with requirements for meeting different conditions of mine resistance, but the mechanical efficiency is described as being low. In Butte, experimental work was done by the writer along similar lines under somewhat different conditions, but with poor results as to both pressure capacity and mechanical efficiency. Tests were also made of two different types of propeller fans of moderate size, which were said by the manufacturers to be suited to high-pressure mine ventilation.

Jan 1, 1932

By Leo F. Reinartz

Part III of a four-part series on the history of steelmaking in the US, describes furnace developments, improvements during the last few decades, and the contribution of the AIME. THE invention of the dolomite machine was a great boon to the open-hearth furnaceman. By speeding up bottom making, it helped to increase tons per hour and decrease cost. The first homemade unit was built and operated before 1925 at the South Side works of Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp., Pittsburgh The first commercial machine, similar to those known today, was built for the Donner Steel Co., Buffalo, N. Y., in 1925. Heavy slab buckstays, 6 in. by 15 in., supplanted lighter I-beam buckstays as furnace framework in the middle 1920's. They greatly improved the rigidity of the furnace binding. Although the first sloping back wall had been in- stalled prior to 1920 on a small basic open-hearth foundry furnace at Columbus, Ohio, the impetus to install such back walls universally in ingots shops came after S. Naismith installed the first one on an open-hearth furnace at Illinois Steel Company's South works in June 1924. Before that event, back- wall life had already been improved somewhat by the use of chrome rock or metal-encased basic brick. Here again, these changes heralded major for- ward steps in furnace design, decreased costs, in- creased production, and improved safety and working conditions on the back standing of the furnace. Fuels Up to 1930, a number of different kinds of fuel were used to melt and refine steel in American open hearth furnaces. During World War I, powdered coal was used in a few plants as an open-hearth fuel, but because of the high sulfur and ash content in the coals, many operational difficulties arose. There were also dust, explosion, and accident hazards, so that after the War its use was discontinued. In some steel-manufacturing centers, natural gas was available as a fuel and gave good performance. In most steel-manufacturing centers, operators had to rely on producer gas made from bituminous coals in producer gas houses. Low-sulfur low-ash, high-fusion coals required for the manufacture of such gas were not readily available. The quality of producer gas was uncertain. The gas had to be pre-heated. Maintenance problems connected with the use of this fuel were serious. Tons per hour per month was unsatisfactory. Although petroleum had been first discovered by Edwin L. Drake at Titusville, Pa., in 1859, it was not until the early 1930's that heavy fuel oil residues for open-hearth use began to appear on the market. They were cheap; the calorific value was high, and it was not necessary to pass this fuel through the checkers to preheat it. Various plants began to use such oil as an open-hearth fuel. Others used it in combinations with tar, coke-oven, and/or blast-furnace gases. Because of its low calorific value, blast-furnace gas had to be preheated in the checkers. These fuels were cleaner and more dependable than producer gas. The dirty gas house adjacent to the open-hearth shop was no longer needed, and

Jan 1, 1961

By E. Posnjak

IT is rather the general belief that acidified solutions of ferrous salts are readily oxidized when in contact with air, and often elaborate pre-cautions are taken to prevent it. This, however, is not the case and several statements may be found in the literature expressing surprise at the extreme slowness with which oxidation takes place when air or oxygen is bubbled through such a solution. Thus C. Baskerville and R. Stevenson1 "observed with surprise" that no. oxidation apparently took place, as shown by titration with 0.5 N KMnO4, when a stream of air was passed for 3 hr. through an acidified solution of ferrous ammonium sulfate or ferrous sulfate. The same authors state that even the presence of salts such as cobalt, chromium, copper, manganese, etc., which usually act as oxygen carriers, had "no effect upon the oxidation as was observed by, passing air for 3 hr. through solutions of Mohr's salt acidified with sulfuric acid." While this statement will be proved further on to be at least partly incorrect the slowness of the oxidation of ferrous salts alone has been previously established by McBain.2. His investigation also showed that the rate of oxidation increases markedly with an increase in the concentration of ferrous sulfate as well as that of oxygen; the concentration of free acid had a comparatively small influence, which in the case of sulfuric acid was to retard slightly the rate of reaction. More recently R. Thomas and E. T. Williams3 investigated the catalytic effect of nitric oxide on the oxidation of ferrous salts, which had been earlier patented by McCulloch.4 They found that the probable mechanism of the catalytic action was the oscillation of the catalyst between two stages of oxidation and its interaction alternately with the oxygen and the ferrous iron.

Jan 1, 1927