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By K. C. McCutcheon, John Chipman

To a very large extent the quality of a mild steel ingot is determined by the manner in which it is poured into the ingot mold and its behavior during the first few minutes after it has been poured. The formation of the solid rim of metal around the periphery of the mold, the effervescent action of the liquid steel within this solidified rim and the upward or dounward movement of the metal level are indications of what is going on beneath the surface of the liquid metal, especially at the interface at which solidification occurs. Observation of this "rimming action" enables an experienced observer to predict the thickness of the sound skin of the ingot and the location and extent of cavities or "blowholes" caused by entrapment of gases. The control of rimming action at the hands of a skillful steel pourer is a vital part of the control of quality in mild steel sheet, and the behavior of the liquid steel during the rimming period is a useful criterion of the melting and refining practices employed in the open hearth. The behavior of rimming steel during solidification depends primarily upon the evolution of gases from the molten metal and it is therefore a problem of considerable interest to determine the nature and amount of the gases evolved. A number of attempts to determine either the amount or the analysis of the evolved gases have been reported. Klinger,' in 1925, analyzed the gases extracted from rimming, sernikilled and killed steel ingots and found that the chief constituent of the rimmining gas was carbon monoxide. The relatively large amounts of nitrogen reported in his first few samples may have been due to incomplete removal of air from the gas-collecting mechanism. McKune² reported similar studies of rimming ingots from which surprisingly large proportions of nitrogen and hydrogen were evolved. Ameen and Willners3 determined both the amount and composition of gases extracted from unkilled ingots with the aid of diminished pressure. Their ingots weighed only 80 kg. (176 lb.) and apparently were solid within two or three minutes, so that their

Jan 1, 1938

By M. J. Williams, C. P. Proctor, J. T. Crawford

The purpose of this paper is to present some data and comparisons regarding three types of Rheolaveur plants washing bituminous coal from the Pittsburgh seam. It deals only with the sections that handle coarse coal. The Rheolaveur system consists of launders or troughs in which coal and its associated impurities are conveyed by water. The impurities. being heavier than the coal, settle toward the bottoms of the launders and are drawn off through specially designed openings called Rheo boxes. Fundamentally, each plant consists of straight-sided, flat-bottomed launders of varying width and length, each launder equipped with one or more Rheo boxes for the removal of high-grauity fractions of the feed that are undesirable in the cleaned coal. Each launder has at least two longitudinal sections, the first with a slope of from 11/2 to 4 in. per foot of length, called the classification section. The single-box launder has a classification section followed by a washing section ahead of the box. A two-box launder is a single-box launder followed by a washing section and a second box. The slope of the washing section between the first and second boxes is determined to some extent by tonnage. At the end of the classification section, which may. vary from 8 to 15 ft. in length, the slope abruptly flattens out to a slope of from 92' to 1 in. per foot of length. This flatter section of the launder, called the washing section, may vary from a few feet, in a single-box launder, to 15 ft., in a two-box launder. Raw coal entering the head end of what we choose to call the "primary" launder or launders is pushed down the classification section by a stream of water entering the head end of the launder with the coal. As it strikes the washing section, of lower pitch, the velocity of flow is retarded and the heavier particles of slate, pyrite, bone, etc., take their places on the bottom and are drawn off as they pass over the Rheo boxes. The clean coal, of lighter gravity, remains on the top of the stream of

Jan 1, 1938

By George A. Roberts, Robert F. Mehl

When austenite first forms from aggregates of cementite and ferrite, it is not homogeneous.' This inhomogeneity, consisting of both undissolved carbide and carbon concentration gradients, has a profound effect upon the characteristics of the austenite-pearlite reaction. The rate of formation of pearlite is increased by the presence of inhomogeneities2,3 and because of this (when the inhomogeneity is sufficiently pronounced) the hardenability of the steel is reduced.4,5 In addition to this kinetic effect, inhomogeneities will cause the direct formation of spheroidite from austenite at temperatures just below the Ael.6-11 The present report attempts quantitatively to evaluate the effect of inhomogeneity upon the rate of the austenite-pearlite reaction, presents a method of determining the austenitizing cycle necessary to obtain "practical homogenization," and considers the effect of inhomogeneity on hardenability. Effect of Inhomogeneities on Reactions Near Ae1 Few quantitative data are available representing the effect of undissolved carbide or of carbon concentration gradients upon the rate of the austenite-pearlite reaction. In procuring such data it is necessary to separate the effect of undissolved carbide from that of grain size, and this is not an easy task. The solution of carbide is always accompanied by an increase in the grain size, both effects contributing to the retardation of the reaction rate. It has been possible to make this separation and to obtain data that are independent of the grain size by the use of steels that differ only with respect to their tendency toward grain-coarsening. Steels C and D in Table I are such steels. These steels have been studied previously ;l,2,12 they differ only with respect to deoxidation practice; C was deoxidized with silicon while D, teemed from a portion of the same heat, was deoxidized with additional auantities of aluminum in the mold. C therefore is what is normally termed a "coarse-grained steel" and D is a, "fine-grained steel." These steels can be compared at the same grain size by heating c to a low temperature and heating D to an elevated temperature, producing a structure of austenite plus residual carbide in the former while forming homogeneous austenite in the latter; in such

Jan 1, 1943

By R. H. Card

The geophysicist is interested greatly in the resistivities of different formations or parts of the earth's crust; sometimes he is interested in a single figure in the nature of an average, or what may be called the effective resistivity, of all the formations or parts of the crust at a given location to a certain depth. Conversely, the engineer whose work is concerned with the coordination of power and communication lines in such a manner as to avoid electrical interference between these two types of facilities is concerned very much with this effective resistivity; to a lesser extent he is interested in the resistivities of individual formations. In connection with his work the coordination engineer often estimates the effective resistivity of the earth from measurements of the mutual impedances of lines; in other instances he derives from measurements of a different type the resistivities of different layers of the crust and synthesizes these to obtain an estimate of the effective resistivity. In connection with problems concerning the coordination of power and telephone lines, measurements from which earth resistivities can be estimated have been made at many points in the United States by the American Telephone and Telegraph Co. and its associated companies, in cooperation with various power companies and with railroad companies having electrified sections of line. Other such measurements have been made by the Joint Subcommittee on Development and Research of the Edison Electric Institute and the Bell Telephone System. A study has been made of the correlation of these data with the ages and types of materials of the strata of the earth's crust at each of the test locations. The purpose of this study has been primarily to provide information to assist in predicting the order of magnitude of effective resistivities to be used in the preliminary consideration of problems concerned with the coordination of power and communication lines. To make the results of such a study most useful, it is essential that the geological data to be secured when such a prediction is wanted be readily obtainable. Data on the ages of strata and the types of materials composing geological structures can usually be obtained, therefore particu-

Jan 1, 1940

By Frederick F. Sharpless

The term "segregation," as here used, means the separation of certain natural resources into groups, consisting of one or more members, with the idea that when thus segregated, each group may be more easily and effectively administrated. We may, for example, consider surface rights as distinct from underground rights, and stop there; or we may go further, and deal separately with timber, water, and agricultural rights, or, going underground, we might deal separately with such groups as precious and base metals, clay, oil, gas, etc. The present paper contemplates only the separation so far as practicable, for administrative purposes, of surface from mineral rights. " Classification," in this paper, has reference to the groups into which the government has divided, is dividing, or will hereafter divide its natural resources; first, into the broad classes of mineral and agricultural lands; and, second, into coal, oil, phosphate, brine lands, etc., the central idea being the separation into natural groups for the purpose of simplifying administration and for the purpose of encouraging maximum development and minimum waste. The two subjects are in some respects quite distinct, but as my argument develops, I think it will be obvious why they are discussed in the same paper. In the pursuit of our professions as mining engineers, geologists, or operators, we are continually confronted by conditions with which our present mining laws or regulations are incompatible. It may be a conflict, hardship or injustice, a piece of favoritism, or of unnecessary red tape; or we may see lack of development in a promising locality, and wonder what is the reason. Often we can see where a modification, slight or radical, in the laws would have obviated the difficulty without doing harm to any of those immediately concerned. Such alterations as individuals could intelligently suggest would be based on a relatively small number of situations occurring in their experiences. The published replies to the queries formulated by the various committees on mining law appear generally to reflect personal experience. Concerning a few points, there is a marked uniforhity of opinion, while on other points opinions

Jan 1, 1915

By George A. Roberts, Robert F. Mehl

When austenite first forms from aggregates of cementite and ferrite, it is not homogeneous.' This inhomogeneity, consisting of both undissolved carbide and carbon concentration gradients, has a profound effect upon the characteristics of the austenite-pearlite reaction. The rate of formation of pearlite is increased by the presence of inhomogeneities2,3 and because of this (when the inhomogeneity is sufficiently pronounced) the hardenability of the steel is reduced.4,5 In addition to this kinetic effect, inhomogeneities will cause the direct formation of spheroidite from austenite at temperatures just below the Ael.6-11 The present report attempts quantitatively to evaluate the effect of inhomogeneity upon the rate of the austenite-pearlite reaction, presents a method of determining the austenitizing cycle necessary to obtain "practical homogenization," and considers the effect of inhomogeneity on hardenability. Effect of Inhomogeneities on Reactions Near Ae1 Few quantitative data are available representing the effect of undissolved carbide or of carbon concentration gradients upon the rate of the austenite-pearlite reaction. In procuring such data it is necessary to separate the effect of undissolved carbide from that of grain size, and this is not an easy task. The solution of carbide is always accompanied by an increase in the grain size, both effects contributing to the retardation of the reaction rate. It has been possible to make this separation and to obtain data that are independent of the grain size by the use of steels that differ only with respect to their tendency toward grain-coarsening. Steels C and D in Table I are such steels. These steels have been studied previously ;l,2,12 they differ only with respect to deoxidation practice; C was deoxidized with silicon while D, teemed from a portion of the same heat, was deoxidized with additional auantities of aluminum in the mold. C therefore is what is normally termed a "coarse-grained steel" and D is a, "fine-grained steel." These steels can be compared at the same grain size by heating c to a low temperature and heating D to an elevated temperature, producing a structure of austenite plus residual carbide in the former while forming homogeneous austenite in the latter; in such

Jan 1, 1943

By Charles White Merrill

Money is one of the most .pervasive elements in human life. The compensation for a workman's daily efforts is expressed as a wage and is measured in money. What an individual may consume depends largely on his income which also is expressed in terms of money. If he would start an enterprise its size would be determined in large part by the amount of money available for capitalization and its success would be measured in net income expressed in money. In short, the most widely used common denominator for comparing merchandise, real property, jobs, enterprises, gross national product, or personal success is money. Despite this use of money by almost everyone past infancy to express his appraisal of the in- numerable values he sees around himself, the complexity of the device called money makes its nature and workings a mystery to most users. Some of the difficulty in understanding money results from the fact that it has three distinct but interrelated functions: (1) a medium of exchange, (2) a unit of account, and (3) a store of value. In many statements about money the discussion moves from one function of money to another without the speaker or the listener recognizing the changes. For example, the housewife says "We took the money we had saved up to make the down payment and after twelve monthly payments the television will be ours." When this housewife spoke of "saving up the down payment" she referred to money in its function as a store of value; when she spoke of "the down payment" she was using money as a medium of exchange; and when she referred to the "monthly payments" she spoke of money as a unit of account. Another cause of confusion in understanding money is its paradoxical nature in that it represents both the power to produce and the power to consume. For example, when the rich uncle dies one nephew may regard his inheritance as an opportunity to buy a farm and leave the ranks of the wage earners to become an independent producer, whereas the other nephew may regard his portion as the means of living in complete leisure as a pure consumer.

Jan 1, 1959

By R. H. Card

THE geophysicist is interested greatly in the resistivities of different formations or parts of the earth's crust; sometimes he is interested in a single figure in the nature of an average, or what may be called the effec-tive resistivity, of all the formations or parts of the crust at a given location to a certain depth. Conversely, the engineer whose work is concerned with the coordination of power and communication lines in such a manner as to avoid electrical interference between these two types of facilities is concerned very much with this effective resistivity; to a lesser extent he is interested in the resistivities of individual forma-tions. In connection with his work the coordination engineer often estimates the effective resistivity; of the earth from measurements of the mutual impedances of lines; in other instances he derives front measure-ments of a different type the resistivities of different layers of the crust and synthesizes these to obtain an estimate of the effective resistivity. In connection with problems concerning the coordination of power and telephone lines, measurements from which earth resistivities can be estimated have been made at many points in the United States by the American Telephone and Telegraph Co. and its associated companies, in cooperation with various power companies and with railroad companies having electrified sections of line. Other such measurements have been made by the Joint Subcommittee on Development and Research of the Edison Electric Institute and the Bell Telephone System. A study has been made of the correlation of these data with the ages and types of materials of the strata of the earth's crust at each of the test locations. The purpose of this study has been primarily to provide information to assist in predicting the order of magnitude of effective resistivities to be used in the preliminary consideration of problems con-cerned with the coordination of power and communication lines. To make the results of such a study, most useful, it is essential that the geo-logical data to be secured when such a prediction is wanted be readily obtainable. Data on the ages of strata and the types of materials com-posing geological structures can usually be obtained, therefore particu-

Jan 1, 1937

By W. B. Phillips

The earliest mention of the sulphur deposits in what is now Culberson County, Texas, seems to be contained in " Explorations and Surveys for a Railroad Route from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, United States War Department, 1853-54." Captain John Pope (he was not commissioned Captain until 1856) had charge of one of the divisions of the Survey. In his report on the geology of the route, William P. Blake noted the analysis of a greenish earthy powder from the bed of Delaware Creek, at the springs, which contained 18.28 per cent. of free sulphur. The report states: "From the chemical examination of the waters of the spring, by Dr. Booth, it appears that chloride of sodium is the principal solid ingredient, but considerable quantities of sulphide of sodium are present. ***** The waters from the springs examined by Dr. Booth were alkaline, but it is possible that some of the springs are acid; and in this case the precipitation of sulphur would ensue on the mixture of the acid waters with those charged with alkaline sulphurets and the origin of the deposits of sulphur would be thus explained." This is the first reference to the existence of sulphur in that region, the first mention of the character of the water found there and the first suggestion as to the origin of the deposits. The possibility of the existence of acid waters was confirmed by E. M. Skeats, nearly 50 years later.' In this publication, Skeats says that the water from the sulphur deposits in Section 11, Block 114, Township 6, contains 79.08 grains of free sillphuric acid per gallon. This locality is about 13 miles (21 km.) south . of Delaware Creek and about 35 miles (56 km.) east of the Delaware Springs. The next published reference to the existence of sulphur in Trans-Pecos. Texas is in the Pirst Annual Report of the Geological Survey of Texas, 1889, page 226, where W. H. von Streeruwitz mentions that sulphur is found in that region, but gives no further information. In the

Jan 1, 1918

By Charles White Merrill

Money is one of the most pervasive elements in human life. The compensation for a workman's daily efforts is expressed as a wage and is measured in money. What an individual may consume depends largely on his income which also is expressed in terms of money. If he would start an enterprise its size would be determined in large part by the amount of money available for capitalization and its success would be measured in net income expressed in money. In short, the most widely used common de- nominator for comparing merchandise, real property, jobs, enterprises, gross national product, or personal success is money. Despite this use of money by almost everyone past infancy to express his appraisal of the innumerable values he sees around himself, the complexity of the device called money makes its nature and workings a mystery to most users. Some of the difficulty in understanding money results from the fact that it has three distinct but interrelated functions: (1) a medium of exchange, (2) a unit of account, and (3) a store of value. In many statements about money the discussion moves from one function of money to another without the speaker or the listener recognizing the changes. For example, the housewife says "We took the money we had saved up to make the down payment and after twelve monthly payments the television will be ours." When this housewife spoke of "saving up the down payment" she referred to money in its function as a store of value; when she spoke of "the down payment" she was using money as a medium of exchange; and when she referred to the "monthly payments" she spoke of money as a unit of account. Another cause of confusion in understanding money is its paradoxical nature in that it represents both the power to produce and the power to consume. For example, when the rich uncle dies one nephew may regard his inheritance as an opportunity to buy a farm and leave the ranks of the wage earners to become an independent producer, whereas the other nephew may regard his portion as the means of living in complete leisure as a pure consumer.

Jan 1, 1964

By Paul M. Tyler

FULLY a decade ago, demand for ground mica began to exceed supplies of scrap mica from manufacturing operations and of waste block from feldspar and sheet mica mining in the United States, with the result that in recent years the market has absorbed larger and larger quantities of mica recovered as a by-product from clay washing,1 as a joint product with kyanite12 and by grinding schists. So far, only schists that contain a large percentage of mica have been utilized for making ground mica, but already there has been a good deal of wishful thinking with regard to recovering mica as an aid to the prospective working of low-grade gold ores and ores of certain base metals. With wet-ground mica selling at $60 to $100 a ton and even dry-ground mica worth over $20 a ton, many ores that could not be considered as otherwise workable under present conditions will show commercial possibilities if they can be made to yield even a relatively small percentage of salable mica. An interesting paper might be written on the coming role of industrial minerals as joint products of metal mines. It is largely a matter of markets. Many years ago I watched the mess left behind the gold dredges in the mountains of Colorado and thought of the Denver sand and gravel operators who prided themselves upon their canniness in providing devices for catching gold merely as an incident to their regular business of selling what we miners classed as "tailings." Nowadays almost every milling or mining operation near settled communities finds use for at least part of its waste for road material or concrete aggregate and several eastern iron mines have gone into the crushed-stone business. Promoters now mention fertilizer "filler" as potentially salable at all the way from $1 to $10 a ton, or whatever is needed to cover costs of mining and treating the "ore" and leave the metal values as "clear profit." In emulating the pork packers in their efforts to utilize "everything but the squeal,"

Jan 1, 1938

By L. D. Frink

THOSE actively interested in mining are fully aware of the ever-increasing difficulty of making conditions such that efficient work can be clone in underground openings, especially as higher rock temperatures are encountered in depth. This is also true where an effort is being made to cut down the burden of overhead expense by working headings 24 hr. in a day if blasting is done as often as is possible in that time. That the conditions resulting from both these causes have driven the native-born Americans from the mines and that their places have been taken by less efficient foreigners is a fact that we must all admit. The great war now being fought in Europe and the educational qualification clause written into our immigration law by the last Congress will probably limit very materially the supply of labor, such as we are now using in our mines, and will force upon mine operators the necessity of making this work appeal again to Americans. Metal tubing, with blower or exhaust fans, has long been used in supplying air to dead ends where natural ventilation is impossible, or in driving the smoke from such places, or in doing both, as the need might be. Here in Butte we have now come to use canvas tubing very extensively and find that it has many advantages not possessed by the metal. The use of flexible tubing is not new, but it has not been generally used in mining operations. Recent improvements, however, in the canvas itself and in the jointing of sections and manner of suspension have so increased its usefulness that it promises to add much to the efficiency of mining. There is now on the market a product that is impervious to air, is fireproof, and has a system of jointing which, permits it to be put up or taken clown in a few seconds. In this article an effort will be made to explain the manner in which canvas tubing is being used in the North Butte company's operations at Butte, Mont. The accompanying photographs will, I hope, help make clear what may be done with this material.

Jan 1, 1918

By Charles W. Wright

At most mines where large tonnages are handled, "bulldozing" or secondary blasting is an important and costly operation. To reduce the large blocks from primary blasting operations or stoping so that they will be small enough to pass through the chutes into the cars at the haulage level, and not too large for the crushing plant, requires blasting. Often this is done by placing a few sticks of dynamite on top of a block with or without a capping of mud, but to consume less dynamite and to promote safety, most secondary blasting is now done by blockholing, or the drilling of holes 6 to 12 in. long in the blocks, using only a part of a stick of dynamite per hole. Regardless of the method of blasting, however, the term "bulldozing chamber" is applied to the room where this work is done. Bulldozing chambers permit secondary blasting at all times in a safe place without disturbance to the other mining operations. The chambers are usually high above the haulage level and well below the stope level or open-pit floor. In most instances the material is passed through a grizzly in the bulldozing chamber, but sometimes no grizzlies are used. One to four raises extend from the chamber to the stope floor and one or two from the haulage level to the chamber floor. Occasionally large slabs of ore or rock choke the raises above the bulldozing chamber, and these have to be blasted by attaching a bundle of dynamite sticks on the end of a long pole and placing them up in the raise between the pieces causing the choke. This is called "chute-blasting." To give a picture of the progressive developments in the use of the bulldozing chamber, a few typical mines that show the application of this method to both metal and limestone mines have been selected for description here. Limestone mines have been included because many metal miners do not realize to what extent the nonmetallic, or rock, miners' are now applying metal-mining methods successfully in their operations. The bulldozing chamber is the "neck of the bottle" for some mines.

Jan 1, 1937

By P. Somasundaran

Almost a decade has elapsed since the problem of fine particles processing was first discussed at the National Science Foundation workshop in Arden House (Somasundaran and Fuerstenau, 1976). Problems involved in processing fines are as enormous now as they were then. We still lose 20 to 50% of mineral values during the processing of many ores. While the problem's magnitude has remained at as high a level as ever, our perspective on the causes for the difficulties, I believe, has changed. While we do not yet see any grand unified solution to all the problems in this area, I do feel that we are beginning to get an understanding of the basic reasons for the behavior of fines. I would like to share my views on the fundamental reasons for the problems we face. They are based essentially on results obtained during the last few years. A decade ago, I presented the reasons shown in the [Fig. 1] as the causes for the difficulties in separating fines. We have seen the same type of information discussed by others during the years since then. I now believe that these are not the only primary causes. Indeed, they do contribute, but there are other major reasons we ought to recognize. Mass certainly would have its effect, but since microorganisms and even ions can be separated from each other using flotation, provided correct conditions are used. I do not believe that fines 10,000 times bigger suffer fundamentally from their smallness or lightness. Similarly, the surface energy increase cannot be as important a fundamental factor since, theoretically, we should not see significant changes in surface energy until we get down to particles a hundred times finer than we are concerned with. Increase in surface areas, again, cannot be a primary problem except for an increase in reagent consumption. What possibly could be the reasons? I have added these three items to the list in [Fig. 1]: morphology, mineralogy, and surface chemical composition. Differences that I believe are partly responsible for the behavior of mineral fines are those due to alterations in morphology or mineralogy and surface chemical composition with decrease in size.

Jan 1, 1985

By P. R. Bradley

The property of the Alaska Juneau Gold Mining Co., covering the Juneau gold belt for over a mile in length, consists of 136 claims and 24 mill sites; these are near Juneau, Alaska, in what is known as the Harris mining district. Gold was discovered in the district in 1880, by Richard T. Harris and Joseph Juneau, who had been prompted to explore the section by rumors they had heard among the Indians. Gold was first found on the beach at the mouth of Gold Creek and further search revealed the lode deposits in the Silver Bow basin, about two miles inland. The lode locations made immediately thereafter constitute the principal area of the Alaska Juneau group of claims. Gradually news of the strike spread and, during the late eighties, Silver Bow basin became a substantial producer of gold, both from placer work and from quartz milling. Numerous small mills of various types were erected to crush high-grade float and stringers gouged to shallow depths. Placer mining gradually ceased and the pioneer milling operations gave way to larger and better mills, which in time were the predecessors of the two large mills built by the Alaska Gastineau Co. and the Alaska Juneau Co. on the shores of Gastineau Channel. This evolution from arrastres to small mechanical mills, thence to the two large-capacity mills on Gastineau Channel, although a natural sequence of events, had a most important bearing on the development of the district. Knowledge of the character, extent, and value of the ore deposits gained by these early operations could not have been acquired otherwise. Spencer shows1 that the early mills were: Arrastres in 1881-82-83-84-85-86-88; a 5-stamp mill in 1882; a "newly devised grinding mill" in 1884; two Huntington mills in 1886; a 10-stamp mill in 1889; a revolving Dodge mill in 1890; a 5-stamp mill in 1891; and a 20-stamp mill in 1893. He also estimates the gold production to the end of 1893 as $1,000,000 from lode mining and $1,250,000 from placer mining. No estimate can

Jan 1, 1925

By Robert W. Hunt

The memorable features of American history have been making fast during the last century, and notably so since 1860; and they are by no means confined to political or to any one branch of scientific development. Of all the industrial arts, none show a greater change or 'a mightier progress than the Bessemer manufacture. And this year, while we are celebrating the first centennial of our national life, we can also celebrate the first decennial of American Bessemer practice. While not forgetting or undervaluing what has been done in other countries, I have thought that a brief history of the introduction and development of the Pneumatic or Bessemer process in America would be of interest. In 1863 the Kelly Pneumatic Process Company was formed and an arrangement entered into with William Kelly, who had taken out letters-patent of the United States, Nos. 16,444; 17,628, reissued as 505; 18,910, dated January loth, 1857; June 23d, 1857; November 36, 1857; and December 22d, 1867, respectively. This association mas composed of the Cambria Iron Company, E. B. Ward, Park Brothers & Co., Lyon, Shorb & Co., Z. S. Durfee, and, later, Chouteau, Harrison & Valle joined the combination. Not satisfied with possessing the control of the Kelly patent, they sent Mr. 2. S. Durfee to England, to secure for this country Mushet's patent on recarburization, No. 17,389, dated May 26th, 1857, the same having been taken out in England on September 22d, 1856. In this Mr. Durfee was successful. Previous to the application of William Kelly for a patent, Henry Bessemer, of England, had taken out patents dated February 12th, 1856, and August 25th, 1856, in this country. Kelly claimed priority in the discovery of the principles of the process, and the Patent-office allowed his claim by granting him his patents. In the autumn of 1862 Mr. Alexander L. Holley, while in England, was impressed with the importance of Mr. Bessemer's invention, and so fully foresaw its future, that, upon his return to the United States, he induced Messrs. John A. Griswold and John F. Winslow, of Troy, New York, to join him in endeavoring to possess Bessemer's American patents. Mr. Holley returned to England in

By Walter B. M. Davidson

Phosphorus is one of the elements having the widest distribu tion, and phosphoric acid plays an important part in the composition of the crust of the earth. It is allied in various chemical combina- tions with many bases, of which lime, alumina and iron are the most common. It is difficult to state in what chemical combination phosphoric acid predominates in the crust of the earth, for while phosphate of lime, as the mineral which is sought for and found in deposits of economic value is the most familiar, it is probable that the phosphates of alumina and iron are the most usual forms in which phosphoric acid exists in all soils not essentially calcareous. It has been shown by thousands of analyses that all fertile soils contain from a trace to 0.5 per cent. of phosphoric acid. All limestones, dolomites and chalks contain it in proportions which, though usually small, are large enough to make careful analysis necessary in the selection of limestone as flux for iron-smelting. It is generally Trenton limestones that are found best for this purpose, the more recent strata being more phosphatic. In some places phosphoric acid replaces carbonic acid, and the limestone or chalk becomes phos phatic to a large degree, or sometimes pure phosphate of lime. The waters of the ocean, from very early periods, have contained phosphoric acid. Different analyses show varying contents; it is asserted that some portions of the Gulf Stream are more phos phatic than the surrounding waters of the Atlantic. Many springs, usually from limestone regions, contain soluble phosphates in vary ing quantities. I think it safe to assert that phosphorus is nearly the most widely and evenly distributed element on the surface of the earth, and probably the most subdivided. This can be readily understood when the important part which phosphoric acid plays and has played in the vital cosmos is taken into consideration. Phosphorus was on the earth in gaseous, liquid or solid form before the dawn of life, and since then all animal and vegetable creation have combined with the

Jan 1, 1893

By Cyril Stanley Smith

Although not of the same importance as electrical conductivity, the capacity for conducting heat is nevertheless a very important property of metals and alloys. A knowledge of thermal conductivity is of value in selecting alloys for many purposes and in the calculation of the efficiency of apparatus which is being designed. Unfortunately, the determination of thermal conductivity is extremely slow and tedious, consequently few data have been obtained. A further reason for the lack of information is that there has long been an impression that the thermal conductivity of an alloy is directly proportional to the electrical cónductivity and that it can therefore be calculated from the latter. The Wiedmann-Franz-Lorenz law of constant ratio of the two conductivities holds with a considerable degree of precision for all the pure metals, but appreciable deviations occur in certain alloys—particularly those containing nickel—and it seems difficult to predict exactly what the ratio will be. Therefore direct determinations of thermal conductivity should be made whenever the results are needed with any accuracy. This research is intended eventually to cover all the alloys of copper that are of commercial importance, including the binary alloys of copper with zinc, tin, aluminum, nickel, silicon, manganese, cadmium and phosphorus, and the ternary alloys copper-nickel-zinc, copper-nickel-silicon, copper-manganese-silicon, copper-zinc-tin, etc. Most of these alloys are customarily used in the wrought condition and therefore were tested in the form of annealed rods. A limited number of sand castings were also obtained and examined. This paper contains a complete review of all the previous work that has been done on copper alloys, and includes a detailed description of the apparatus and method of procedure used in the present research, together with the new results obtained on the copper-zinc series, which is the only one completed at the present time. Subsequent papers describing the other alloys will contain the experimental results and discussion only. Previous Work Copper The conductivity of copper has been studied by many observers since the pioneer work of Wiedemann in 1859. The majority of these measure-

Jan 1, 1930

By F. H. Willcox

In Bessemer-steel practice, air is blown through a bath of iron, or projected strongly upon its surface to burn out silicon, manganese, and cafbon. Toward the end of the blow, when the iron is not protected from oxidation by these elements and the excess of air becomes great, there is oxidation of the iron. In open-hearth practice, the same difficulty is experienced with dissolved gas and oxides in the product, though not to as great or severe a degree as in the Bessemer process because the oxidizing conditions grow less severe as the end of the heat is approached, and if the bath is allowed to boil for a time it undoubtedly frees itself from a large part of the gas and oxides which have been absorbed in the earlier part of the process. Basic open-hearth steel is usually assumed to contain a larger proportion of oxides than acid open-hearth steel, but it may be said that all steel, Besserner and open-hearth, contains more or less oxide of iron dissolved in the fluid metal at the end of the "blow" or "heat." That certain metals are solvents for their respective oxides has been shown, in the case of copper, by Heyn, and, in the case of iron, by Law. It is indicated that the solubility of iron oxide in iron increases with the purity and temperature of the metal. This confirms what is observed and known by operating men, and these observations may be summarized as follows: 1. Cast iron. is rarely subject to oxidation, as is logical from its composition. 2. Normal steel, unless deoxidizers are added, contains blow holes. 3. Steel known to be oxidized is full of blow holes. 4. The addition of deoxidizers prevents, to a greater or less degree, the formation of blow holes in normal steel. With these observations in mind, it is logical to deduce that the cause of blow holes lies in part in the presence of dissolved oxide of iron in the molten steel and its consequent reaction with the carbon of recarburizers, when these are added, to form gases. (Another factor in the origin of blow holes is, of course, the solubility of gases themselves in the steel and

Jan 1, 1917

By M. J. Williams, C. P. Proctor, J. T. Crawford

The purpose of this paper is to present some data and comparisons regarding three types of Rheolaveur plants washing bituminous coal from the Pittsburgh seam. It deals only with the sections that handle coarse coal. The Rheolaveur system consists of launders or troughs in which coal and its associated impurities are conveyed by water. The impurities. being heavier than the coal, settle toward the bottoms of the launders and are drawn off through specially designed openings called Rheo boxes. Fundamentally, each plant consists of straight-sided, flat-bottomed launders of varying width and length, each launder equipped with one or more Rheo boxes for the removal of high-grauity fractions of the feed that are undesirable in the cleaned coal. Each launder has at least two longitudinal sections, the first with a slope of from 11/2 to 4 in. per foot of length, called the classification section. The single-box launder has a classification section followed by a washing section ahead of the box. A two-box launder is a single-box launder followed by a washing section and a second box. The slope of the washing section between the first and second boxes is determined to some extent by tonnage. At the end of the classification section, which may. vary from 8 to 15 ft. in length, the slope abruptly flattens out to a slope of from 92' to 1 in. per foot of length. This flatter section of the launder, called the washing section, may vary from a few feet, in a single-box launder, to 15 ft., in a two-box launder. Raw coal entering the head end of what we choose to call the "primary" launder or launders is pushed down the classification section by a stream of water entering the head end of the launder with the coal. As it strikes the washing section, of lower pitch, the velocity of flow is retarded and the heavier particles of slate, pyrite, bone, etc., take their places on the bottom and are drawn off as they pass over the Rheo boxes. The clean coal, of lighter gravity, remains on the top of the stream of

Jan 1, 1938