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By P. E. Fitzgerald

SOME readjustments in the research programs of most of the oil companics and petroleum engineering schools have been made necessary by the war. The most obvious change has been the conversion from production engineering to problems more closely related to the nation's was effort. Many laboratories now devote much of their time to studies on products to be derived from petroleum. such as synthetic rubber, toluene, and substitutes for critical materials. Others are working to improve motor fuels including high-octane gasoline and the special lubricants required by the wide geographical range of the present conflict. Of great importance is the experience of the geophysicists, who are now devoting a great percentage of their time on instrument research and production or special apparatus required by the armed forces.

Jan 1, 1943

John Birkinbine, Philadelphia, Pa.: We have in the Institute two Dudleys—Dr. Charles B. Dudley, who has so thoroughly studied the chemical composition and physical behavior of rail-steel, and Dr. P. H. Dudley, whose investigations and

Jan 1, 1900

By Brian R. Castle, James J. Scott

INTRODUCTION Referring to a ground support system as a 'band-aid' borders on getting cute, but the application of cable slings in U.S. mining is somewhat analogous. Where problems in the roof or rib require additional support, the versatile cable sling is the answer in a variety of conditions. To fully understand how and why cable slings are used today we must briefly review their development history. Much of the thrust over the last five to seven years in ground support fixtures has been the development of hybrid systems. Taking the best of two or more existing roof bolt fixtures and marrying them into a new fixture which exhibits the good characteristics without the bad of the parent systems. Resin point anchored mechanical bolts, continuous threaded rebar bolts, and others have all be- come important fixtures in rock mass stabilization. HYBRID GROUND SUPPORT SYSTEM The cable sling system is also a hybrid, both in its parentage and in its ground support characteristics. See figure 1. Cable slings combine the techniques of cement. grouting high-strength cables, Friction Rock Stabilizers, and truss-like suspension into a versatile and high- strength ground support system. 1/2" high-strength cable is cement grouted in place in a manner similar to pre-

Jan 1, 1983

Jan 1, 1922

Jan 1, 1922

By M. G. Corson

THE iron-silicon alloy series has always been one of the most puzzling among the binary alloys. Examining the well known mechanical properties of the iron-rich alloys only we meet the following situation: The ultimate strength and yield point of alloys worked and annealed under the usual conditions represent nearly a straight line function of the silicon content up to 4.5 per cent. silicon (Fig. 1). Starting at the ultimate strength of 35,000 lb. and at a yield-point of 16,000 lb. for pure electrolytic iron, one reaches a -maximum strength of 93,000 lb. and a maximum yield point of 74,000 lb. at 4.5 per cent. silicon. This corresponds to an increase in ultimate strength by 13,000 lb. per each per cent. of silicon added and nearly the same rate applies to the yield point. The data mentioned are taken from the investigation by T. D. Yensen,1 and while they do not exactly corroborate the results obtained by earlier investigators, they seem to be the most correct. Plastic properties of the alloys are controlled by a much more complicated relationship. Up to 2.5 per cent. Si, the elongation stays close to 50 per cent. (in 2 in.) and the area reduction amounts to 85 per cent., a situation that forms the usual feature of all alloys representing strictly solid solutions. The plasticity of the latter is always nearly equal to that of their base metal. Beyond 2.5 per cent. silicon, the situation becomes much more complicated Yensen observed an enormous drop in elongation and area reduction at about 2.65 per. cent. silicon, where the first hardly reaches 10 per cent. and the second is still lower; he found, however, a considerable recovery in plasticity at about 2.8 per cent. Si and up to. 4.5 per cent. Si it is represented by 20 per cent. for the elongation and 30 per cent. for area reduction.

Jan 1, 1928

By H. B. Pulsifier

The following report on the structure of copper is the result of work done in the laboratory of the Rome Wire Co. early in 1925. Previous work had indicated to the author that excellent results might be expected if a suitable technique in surfacing and etching could be developed. The resources of the Rome Wire Co. enabled this metal to be studied more intensively than previously, although none of the materials were investigated exhaustively. The material presented is hardly more than a preliminary summary of the most obvious character of the metal; a much longer research would have been necessary to solve many of the pressing problems connected with the casting and working of copper. The Rome Wire Co. has generously released the paper; to Dr. E. H. Darby, technical supervisor of the company, are due particular thanks for his appreciation of the importance of metallographic study of copper and for his effective support in the prosecution of the work and in making its publication possible. Dendrites, Cells and Granules The microscope reveals at least three orders of structural units in copper, as in other metals. The largest structural units are the dendrites —spine-shaped crystals building up the masses of metal when it solidifies from a melt or is crystallized from solutions by chemicals or electricity. The nucleus cells, commonly called "grains," are the largest and most conspicuous units of recrystallized solid metal; the limitations of their growth usually confine their sizes to microscopic proportions, although in "single crystals" they may become as large as the piece of metal itself. The granules are the microscopic fine-structural blocks or laminations that build up the nucleus cells; they are revealed when metal is etched with suitable chemicals. The granules are commonly visible at 500 diameters magnification and are plainly visible at 1000 diameters; magnification of the granular surfaces up to 6000 to 9000 diameters shows no finer units, not because of lack of optical resolution but because the chemical attack has left an unfeatured smooth surface.

Jan 1, 1926

By Anthony William Deller

MAJOR battles in the present war have been fought in American research laboratories. Without the outstanding contributions made by our scientists, engineers, and technologists in mining and metallurgy, many of our achievements in the present war would have been impossible. All recognize the fact that modern research has found the answer to problems which seemed insuperable. For the duration, many of these inventions must be maintained as war secrets. But aside from these, the record of accomplishment in peace and war, especially in the past few decades, known to all, demonstrates what scientific and industrial research can accomplish. It may be regarded as axiomatic that the development of modern industry is based principally upon research devoted to making inventions and discoveries. We have come a long way from the sixteenth century, when Agricola published his classical "De Re Metallica:" With our vastly increased knowledge we are now commercially producing dozens of metals entirely unknown at that time. Further, with our modern methods of research and development, a large number of invaluable alloy compositions have been produced. These include numerous age-hardenable alloys, cupronickels, "Everbrite", "Everdur", "Duralumin", "Elinvar", "Hastelloy", "Inconel", "Invar", "Monel", "Ni-chrome", "Ni-Hard", "Ni-Resist", "Permaloy", "Silcrome", stainless steels and irons and other alloy steels, "Stellite", and zinc die-casting alloys.

Jan 1, 1945

By H. Stigzelius

FINLAND'S recent mining history is both dramatic and pitiful in its shifting fortunes, dominated as it has been, by the country's proximity to the border zone of opposing dictatorships and social traditions; Fascism to the south, Communism to the east, and Democracy to the west. After 108 years under Russia's more or less harsh rule, Finland gained its democratic independence during the 1917 revolutionary strife in Russia with the official help of Germany and spontaneous help of other neighbors. The young nation was attacked by Russia in 1939 and again in 1941. It is common knowledge how the Finns fought with everything they had and everything they could get against their overwhelming adversary, and how by force of circumstances they landed in the Axis camp in 1941. Finland has never been known as a mining country in the same way as near-by Sweden, whose abundant iron and copper smelters during long periods so greatly contributed to the nation's welfare. Its largely barren, Archaean-granite geology long seemed forbidding. Some mining was done, to be sure; copper and tin at Pitkaranta near the Russian border, and lead and copper at Orijarvi. But towards the end of the last century the absence of a single producing mine cast a pessimistic shadow of truth over the Finnish poet Runeberg's words, that

Jan 1, 1946

By Charles Hardy, George D. Cremer

POWDER metallurgy has been established for some time as a novel method for manufacturing a great variety of articles generally specialties that could not be made conveniently by any other method. In this category are such parts as porous hearings cutting tools of sintered carbides, and electrical contacts in which the metallic constituents do not tend to alloy in the proportions employed. The industry, however, is now at a stage where it has begun to manufacture articles that can and have been made by other methods. Thus, powder metallurgy is now preferred technique for the production of numerous machine parts characterized by high strength, accuracy of configuration, and substantial lack of porosity. Manufacture of such machine parts from metal powders has no doubt been stimulated by the war, although the trend in this direction has been apparent for several years. In any case, quantity production of high-density precision pieces by ponder metallurgy is now in full suing in the United States, and such production can and should continue to expand during and after the war.

Jan 1, 1942

By Benj. Lazer

Multiple seam mining has been studied and writ- ten about extensively in the past and in the latest review of the subject in 1956 David Stemple covered it exhaustively. The present discussion has to do with only one phase of the problem-"The effects on upper seams when the lower seams have been mined first." The study presented here is based on observations made in mining operations in southern West Virginia and adjoining areas of Virginia and Kentucky during the past 43 years. These observations are largely confined to the Pocahontas coalfields of southern West Virginia which have, since 1883, produced well over one billion tons of coal from an area of about 300 sq miles and where multiple seam mining has been active, or is now active, at more than 40 operations. The observations and conclusions as to the effects on upper seams when lower seams have previously been mined are therefore related only to the local coalfields in the area of the three states named but I believe that they can be applied generally to other coalfields.

Jan 9, 1965

By Thomas B. Douglas

INSTRUMENTATION in the process industries can no longer be regarded as a convenience, but rather an absolute necessity. Although many chemical processes must already be conducted with instruments, every properly designed application of automatic process control will improve operation: 1) the product will be more uniform and of higher quality; 2) the manual labor saved will reduce cost; 3) uniformity of flow and uniform control of process will increase production; and 4) surges will be eliminated, making it possible to operate equipment near ultimate capacity at all times. Industrial instruments fall into two general classifications—those that measure and those that measure and control. The cement industry has been using instruments for a number of years, particularly in the burning process, primarily for indicatlng and recording. Automatic process control makes additional use of these instruments, and others, to control variables. Assisted by the instrument manufacturers, engineers at Ideal Cement Co. achieved considerable progress in determining how well the usual recording instruments could be made to control various phases of cement-making. The results of these experiments were used to make the new plant at Houston as wholly automatic as possible. The original Houston plant, built in 1937 by Gulf Portland Cement Co., consisted of only one 8 x 220-ft kiln and the necessary grinding mills and accessory equipment and had a capacity of 900 bbl per day (300,000 bbl annually). Ideal Cement Co. purchased this plant in 1940 and almost immediately started plans to increase its production. In 1941 a 9 x 220-ft kiln was installed and grinding and storage capacity were increased. The growing demand for cement in the Houston area necessitated a third kiln (9 ft 6 in. x 250 ft) in 1947. This brought the plant up to its present capacity of about 1.3 million bbl per year. Calcium silicates in cement are produced in a burning operation at high temperatures from raw mix of argillaceous and calcareous materials that have been crushed, mixed, and ground to a fine powder. The composition of this mixture must be kept consistent within narrow limits. Raw mixing and grinding may be done either wet or dry, but in both instances the materials must be correctly proportioned, finely ground, and thoroughly intermixed before entering the kiln. As the raw mix passes through a long horizontal rotary

Jan 1, 1959

By WILFRED SYKES

THE story of the rolling of strip steel is not limited to any one plant or individual or group of individuals. It is a story with many ramifications. First of all, it should be understood that the strip mills we are considering are continuous mills, in that the steel passes directly from one mill to the other in a more or less straight line. Continuous mills are not new; in fact, they have been used for many years in the rolling of a few simple shapes. They were, however, driven by one motor through jackshafts, and as a result the speed of each roll stand had a fixed relation to that of every other stand in the series. This in turn fixed the reduction that could be made in each stand. The mill could produce simple things, but was not satisfactory for the production of the variety of strip now required. It was, therefore, necessary to get away from the restrictions of that kind of drive. To accomplish this, the designer could either separate

Jan 1, 1936

By William B. Plank

A NEW record-a quarter million students in the engineering schools of the United States and Canada-has resulted from the great demand for engineers following World War II. The figures released by the American Society for Engineering Education and which appeared in detail in the Journal of Engineering Education for January 1948, show that, on Nov. 1, 1947, 252,250 students were studying engineering in 149 engineering schools of both countries. There are 244,390 in the 143 schools canvassed in the United States, and 7860 in six schools in Canada. These figures include both undergraduate and graduate students and are therefore comparable with the figures in previous presentations on this subject. This unprecedented engineering student body

Jan 1, 1948

By AIME AIME

IN ORDER to carry on its work most effectively, the Committee on Industrial Organization (now known as the Committee on Industrial Relations) consists, of .a number of sub-committees, each composed of a chairman and members who are especially fitted to carry out the work designated by its title. With only one or two exceptions, all of these committees made reports at the New York meeting of the Institute, in February of this year, abstracts of which follow.

Jan 1, 1920

By Willard C. Lacy

Survival of the mining industry as a viable economic entity in the United States is being seriously threatened by declining grades of ore reserves, rising operational and capital costs, and increased governmental taxes, restrictions, and subsidizing of third world competition. Discovery of major high-grade deposits is becoming increasingly unlikely. International competitiveness of the U.S. deposits will depend upon 'Yankee Ingenuity, ' innovations in mining methods, metallurgical treatment, and financial arrangements, and a viable national strategy. This will require not only effective management for control of operations, but management that encourages breakthroughs in technology, financing, labor relations, and in public and governmental understanding. The mine geologist and the exploration geologist both have important roles to play in all aspects of this fight for survival of the industry.

Jan 1, 1985

By MALCOLM FRASER

I was delighted to be invited to be patron of this Joint Conference, but the challenging task you have set yourselves, and your speakers' depth of expertise, deny anyone, even the patron, the opportunity to be patronizing. Australia's history has been inextricably linked with the fortunes of our great mining industry. That link will remain. Just as the gold rushes of the last century, and the discoveries at Kalgoorlie and Broken Hill changed the lives of generations, so the more recent development activity in iron ore, bauxite, nickel, coal, and uranium are having a significant impact on the lives of Australians today. The minerals industry has contributed to Australia's jobs and prosperity. Mining is not free of problems, but so long as safeguards are strong and appropriate the net benefits the mining industry brings Australia will continue to be enormous. We rely on our mining industry to find, prove, develop and sell our minerals profitably, and my Government is committed to maintaining a healthy mining industry. In the past year there have been positive signs of a resurgence in exploration and development. The North-West Shelf ventures are spending $50 million on a feasibility study to work out the extent of future investment in that project; exploration expenditure for minerals other than petroleum increased by 34 per cent in 1976-77 to $134 million; petroleum exploration increased dramatically last year almost doubling to $94 million-this year it is projected to reach $125 million.

Jan 1, 1978

By Ovid W. Eshbach

ENGINEERING education has been powerfully affected by the impact of war, just how powerfully can be better understood after considering the postwar problems regarding students, staff, and plant. In time of war no one will question the necessity of expediency of military training. With the cessation of hostilities, expediency gives way to the evolutionary process of strengthening engineering education as need is exemplified by experience. During the war, except for the Navy V-12 program, engineering education was at its lowest ebb of the century. Freshman enrollments were largely limited to those graduating from high school at the age of seventeen; and the upperclass, to those disqualified for active service. In most schools the experienced staff was either in service or government and industrial research. Many may never return to their former occupations. The most immediate problem is that of maintaining and building a staff to meet the enrollment of returning veterans. It is estimated that out of the eleven

Jan 1, 1945

By D. C. Sisti

A technical evaluation of actual performance of the preparation facilities at Beaver Consolidated Coal Co.'s Stinson plant is presented, with special emphasis on sulfur reduction in 1-1/2 x 3/8 in., 3/8 in. x 28 mesh, and 28 mesh x 0 size fractions. Evaluation of the heavy medium section of the plant and the treatment of the 28 mesh x 0 coal is included. Design criteria considered for sizing and selection of equipment required to process 1-3/4 million tpy of raw coal on coals of divergent washability characteristics are summarized.

Jan 1, 1976

By A. B. Kinzel

SILICON, unfortunately, is not in the same category as some other metals with respect to the absolute value of the highest purity material prepared. Tucker, in England, and Becket, in this country have devel-oped procedures for the purification of silicon, and Becket's process has made industrially available silicon of a purity of 99.8 per cent or better. However, even the term "silicon metal" may be a paradox to some people, although not more so than the term "amorphous" as applied to silicon. These terms come from commerce, and "metal" is used to distinguish industrially high-purity silicon from ferrosilicon, silicon-aluminum, and other high-silicon alloys. Alloys of iron and silicon with 95 per cent Si or less are known as ferrosilicon, with a designation of silicon content where necessary, and the terns "silicon metal" is invariably applied to the grades containing 96 per cent Si and higher. The Becket method of purification was referred to in a monograph on the Alloys of Iron and Silicon, and the Tucker procedure was described in some detail in that publication.1 In order to get silicon of still higher purity, a sample, prepared by the Becket method, analyzing 99.84 per cent Si, 0.020 Fe, 0.016 Al, 0.005 Ca, 0.025 C, 0.033 per cent 02, 0.006 H2, 0.006 N2, and 0.001 per cent Mn, was crushed to pass a 100-mesh sieve said further purified by a modification of Tucker's procedure. This modification differs from Tucker's method in that after treatment the 100-mesh alloy was centrifuged to remove the last traces of acid. Our directly determined analysis of this purified sample shows: Si, 99.952 per cent; Fe, 0.009; Al, 0.012; Ca, 0.003; C, 0.006; or 99.982 per cent. Silicon by difference equals 99.97 per cent. The variation between silicon by difference and silicon as directly determined is important. Although Tucker mentions the amount of insoluble matter in commercial silicon both before and after his treat-ment, he does not mention the existence of carbon in the alloy; neverthe-less, lie reports silicon by difference. Any final figure as to purity obviously results from agreement between direct determination and

Jan 1, 1939