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By J. P. Dunlop

THE fact is-notable though probably little known that the United States is the only nation obtaining and distributing through its Government bureaus any data pertaining to waste metals and drosses. Some foreign governments do issue reports relating to mine or smelter production of primary metals, but none gives in scope and detail the information published now by the U. S. Bureau of Mines and formerly by the U. S. Geological Survey; and this is despite the fact that the funds annually allotted for those purposes are insignificant in comparison with allotments for the preparation of data relating to other industries of like importance. The earliest data on the production of metals from secondary sources in the United States were contained in a press bulletin issued by the U. S. Geological Survey on Jan. 4, 1909. The information published was that for the year 1907 obtained and compiled by C. E. Siebenthal, who was one of the first to visualize the growing importance of the scrap-metal industry. The National Conservation Commission had emphasized its opinion that the known domestic supply of certain kinds of the more important metals was being rapidly marketed and that while there was no immediate cause for concern it was best to conserve such resources. Not only had there. been a lamentable lack of any data regarding the quantity of scrap metals available or used but also gross carelessness and indifference in the segregation, collection, and effective use of scrap material. Siebenthal realized that even approximately correct statistics of recoveries from the more important base-metal scrap and drosses were nearly as essential to both producers and consumers as the statistics of the output of primary metals. There were not then nor are there now sufficient funds for complete collection of data, nor was it considered the province of the Geological Survey to do more than determine approximately the recovery of secondary metals for use in supplementing those given for the primary metals. Undoubtedly the first bulletins-issued did not give the full output, for it takes time to establish contacts for an inquiry covering so

Jan 1, 1928

By Thomas Egleston

The ores of mercury of North California are composed of metallic mercury and cinnabar. They are found in serpentine, and are very often associated with chalcedony, in masses more or less irregular, often concentrated enough, however, to furnish ores yielding from three to ten per cent., and sometimes richer. This deposit makes its appearance in Vallejo where it has been worked. North of here the mines are more developed. Most of the quicksilver mines, however, are situated in Sonoma and Napa Counties. On its outcrop the serpentine rocks have become decomposed, and have often been washed away to a considerable depth, so that in many cases in their neighborhood, what is apparently nothing but ordinary dirt, will frequently contain from two to three per cent. of metallic mercury, with but a trace of cinnabar, in which case, as at the Sonoma mine, it is made up into adobes and distilled. Such material does not require to be mixed with dirt to be made into adobes. Very often, also, the outcrop of the rock, where it is not decomposed, is filled with metallic mercury, so that by striking a pick into it, as at the Rattlesnake mine, a pound or more of mercury at a time will sometimes spurt out. Such rock as this is found in several localities in every stage of impregnation, and usually makes very rich ore. There is generally, however, very little of it, and it is found only in the first workings; the ore in depth is always cinnabar. At the Rattlesnake mine near Pine Flat, where large quantities of metallic mercury are found, the rock contains so much petroleum that it has been necessary to make special arrangements to burn the carbides of hydrogen, since the distillation of the petroleum causes an extra quantity of poor soot to be formed in the condensation-chambers. At the Geysers the ore is associated with large quantities of sulphur and gypsum, so that in a hand specimen there is often more sulphur than cinnabar, which is a serious impediment to working, especially for the modern style of furnace with iron condensers, and causes so much soot to be formed that it has been known to penetrate as far as the blower, and to so completely clog it as to prevent its revolution. The ore coming from the mine is more or less hand-picked. In one or two cases attempts have been made to treat the poorest, and especially the very fine ores, mechanically as at the California works.

"Only the coal of the Sunnyside district in Carbon County is coked. Two companies, the Utah Fuel Company and the Columbia Steel Corporation, operating adjoining mines at Sunnyside and Columbia, produce coke.The Utah Fuel Company has 819 beehive coke ovens at Sunnyside. Only 350 ovens are being operated at the present time, largely because the smelters which had been using Sunnyside coke changed their equipment from blast furnaces to reverberatory furnaces.The Columbia Steel Corporation operates a plant of 33 Koppers type by-product coke ovens at Ironton, near Provo. About 800 tons of coal are used per day to produce coke for the company's iron blast furnace plant pie ovens produce about 400 tons of coke, 12,000,000 cubic feet of gas, 9,000 gallons of coal tar, 3,000 gallons of benzol and several tons of ammonia sulphate per day.The total coke production for the State from the earliest output of record in 1880 until June 30, 1924, is 5,947,714 tons."

Jan 1, 1925

The following is an incomplete list of members and guests who called at Institute headquarters during the period Oct. 10, 1918 to Nov. 10, 1918. J. Carson Adkerson, Virginia. George H. Parsons, Hayden, Ariz. Andrew B. Armstrong, Connecticut. W. E. Pomeroy, New York. Courtenay DeKalb, San Francisco. Ezra C. Rider, Bisbee, Ariz. Clifford G. Dennis, San Francisco. H. W. Seaman, Chicago, Ill. Rudolph Emmel, Boston, Mass. William Allen Smith, Northampton. Emil Gathmann, Baltimore Md. R. K. Stockwell, Salt Lake City, Utah. Ernest S. Geary, Denver, Colo. W. G. Swart, Duluth, Minn. W. E. Hopper, Washington, D. C. Kirby Thomas, New York. W. Spencer Hutchinson, Boston, Mass. - Warren D. Thompson, Harvard Club. E. W. Kohl, Jr., Philadelphia, Pa. H. Vincent Wallace, Los Angeles, Cal. E. C. Nighman, Butte, Mont. Paul T. Benson, formerly with the Tacoma smelter, has resigned his position there to accept one with the Great Metals Mining and Milling Co. at Nespelem, Wash. Prof. Edward E. Bugbee, of the Mining Department of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has been granted a leave of absence to accept the position of Assistant Director of Education for the S.A.T.C. of five southern states with headquarters at Raleigh, N. C.

Jan 12, 1918

By L. H. Marshall

MALLEABLE-IRON castings frequently are made brittle by hot-dip galvanizing. The castings may be and usually are perfectly normal before the hot-dip treatment, in that they will stand a remarkable amount of distortion and punishment before fracturing, yet, after galvanizing, a single blow with a hammer will often cause a break. One such casting broke when accidentally dropped on a concrete floor. Such weakness causes galvanizers to view malleable cast iron with misgivings, and, in turn, is a source of worry to the manufacturer of the castings. It is felt, therefore, that a practical method of overcoming this embrittlement, a method that has already been used on several thousand tons of castings, will be of general interest. The purpose of this paper is to describe this immunizing process. DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROBLEM In the early days the trade was not much concerned with the finish of the castings and in most cases the only protection given to the parts placed in service was a coat of paint. It was soon found that this form of protection was inadequate and the user demanded a better type of rustproofing. In compliance with this demand, the use of zinc for coating gradually spread until it became general practice. More than half of all the zinc produced today is used for coating iron and steel, and, in spite of the recent use of cadmium and chromium, zinc coatings are still recognized as among the best general rust inhibitors for atmospheric exposure.

Jan 2, 1926

By W. J. Parton

THE efficient recovery and preparation of small sizes of anthracite called No. 4 Buckwheat (3/3 2 by 1/3 2 in.) and No. 5 Buckwheat (1/3 2 in. by 0), present a difficult problem to the anthracite operators. In many instances preparation of these sizes, particularly No. 5 anthracite, is extremely inefficient. In many of the older preparation plants, inadequate facilities, and often none at all, were provided as an integral part of the plant for cleaning this fine anthracite. Consequently, much of the material smaller than s, 32 in. was discarded. As the demand for these sizes increased, facilities for preparing the fine sizes were often crowded into existing structures with consequent sacrifices of capacities and efficiency. In addition to this condition, the methods of preparing the finest sizes are being developed in an attempt to improve their efficiencies. Because the demand for small sizes of anthracite still is increasing, many operators would benefit by investigating and improving the cleaning equipment employed on these sizes.

Jan 1, 1949

By Elwin L. Fisk

The Cordero mine is located in the Nevada portion of the Opalite Mining district that straddles the Oregon-Nevada state boundary. The mercury deposits of the district occur along the margins of the broad east-west graben valley of McDermitt Creek. The only other major producers, the Opalite and Bretz mines, on the northern margin of the graben have thus far exploited only shallow deposits within 100 feet of the surface. Through December 1965, Cordero has produced 94,680 flasks of mercury, the most of which came from the large underground cinnabar deposit. Nearly all of the mercury ore deposits in this district have been found in Miocene rhyolitic intrusives, flows, tuffs, and lake beds. These rhyolites have been argillically altered at depth and extensively silicified at or near the surface. These silicified areas or "opalite" masses were the original cinnabar-bearing outcrops.

Jan 1, 1968

By AIME AIME

A REGULAR meeting of the Executive Board 'of American Engineering Council was held in the Onondaga Hotel, Syracuse, N.. Y., Feb. 14, 1921, with the president, Herbert Hoover, presiding. Reports of committees were presented and acted upon as follows: ENGINEER ON INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION The second meeting of the Committee was. called because it was represented to the Committee' on Pro¬cedure that the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Association of Engineers, and the Ameri¬can Institute of Consulting Engineers were anxious to have President-elect Harding appoint an engineer to fill one of the vacancies on the Interstate Commerce Commission. The representative of The American Society of Civil Engineers agreed to endorse the recom¬mendations- of American Engineering Council, and the Committee on Procedure prepared and sent a letter to the President-elect, a - copy of this letter being sent to each member of the Board. No names were suggested. . The appointment of an engineer on the Interstate Commerce Commission was approved and the Board, after approving the action of the Committee 'on Procedure in writing the President-elect, voted that, if requested, the Committee on Procedure submit a list of not less than six names for the appointment of an engineer on the Interstate. Commerce Commission.

Jan 1, 1921

By R. R. Sayers

TWO serious hazards from coal dust confront the bituminous-coal miner- -a physical or safety hazard and a physiological or health hazard. The first threatens the miner with loss of life from coal-dint explosions, and the second with loss of health and earning capacity from inhaling large quantities of the dust. Studies by the Bureau of Mines have shown that coal dust, except some grades of anthracite dust, is capable of initiating an explosion when no explosive gas is present and that its property of extending or propagating an explosion has been responsible for nearly all the widespread explosions that have occurred in bituminous mines in the United States in the present century. For years many mining people believed that low-volatile coal dust was not explosive but not only is it explosive but if the source of ignition is intense, it is as explosive as the dust of many high-volatile coals because the war is creating increased pressure for greater coal production and because of the trend toward greater mechanization in mines, explosion and health hazards from coal dust are likely !n increase considerably.

Jan 1, 1943

By John Dilworth

THE word "development," as used in connection with .mining, is a rather general term and in most instances must be qualified or explained before the exact thought in the mind of the user is made clear. For instance, by the development of a mining district is often meant its entire facilities of mineral production, such as railroads, towns, mine plants, etc. In speaking of the development of a property its prospecting by test pits or diamond drill borings may be referred to; or it may be the mines, strip pits or quarries from which the coal, ore or rock is won. But, as a rule, when the development of an individual mine is spoken of the idea in mind is the system of underground workings by means of which the mineral is recovered and transported to the surface. It is this character f development that is considered in this paper. The discussion will be confined to the ordinary room-and-pillar, system of mining. practically horizontal coal seams that is used in most bituminous coal mines in this country, and to only two phases of this subject; viz., what is properly included under the head of "Development"' as it appears on the books of a coal company or the inventories of an examining engineer, and how its "value" should be determined -by the accountant or engineer. No absolute rule or definite agreement covers these points, yet these questions are far more than academic. Development is often an important part of a mining company's assets, affecting the amount of its invested capital (and hence its rate of taxation under present Federal income tax laws) as well as the value of its total assets and the amounts chargeable to cost of coal and to depreciation.

Jan 7, 1921

By AIME AIME

TEXAS not only produces millions of barrels of petroleum daily, but supplies the oil industry with an asset infinitely more valuable than liquld gold. That asset is leadership. The oil industry was built from its humble beginning a few decades ago into a potent force in world economy by human hands and human brains. One of these great leaders in the busy world of oil is Wallace Pratt, of the Humble company, who has been called to a position as director and member of the executive committee of the Standard Oil of New Jersey. So reads the Houston Post of June 3, 1937.

Jan 1, 1944

By Frank R. Milliken

This paper is a running commentary on metallurgical problems and developments, stressing ilmenite flotation, since the start of operations five years ago, at the mill of National Lead Company, Titanium Division, MacIntyre Development, Tahawus, New York. In early 1941, when world conditions threatened to cut off the supply of ilmenite (obtained largely from India) to this country, the National Lead Company started to develop and bring into production their MacIntyre Development. This operation supplied the bulk of the ilmenite used during the war period for the manufacture of the much needed titanium pigments. MacIntyre Development is at Tahawus, New York, on the headwaters of the Hud- son River in the center of the scenic Adirondack Mountains. A general description of the operation was given in the Adirondack Issue of Mining and Metallurgy for November 1943. Operating tonnages and production have increased since 1943, however. Nearly 10,000 tons of.ore and waste is broken and loaded daily in the open-pit mine. About half of this tonnage is ore, from which is produced nearly 800 tons of ilmenite concentrate and 1600 tons of magnetite concentrate daily. Ore—types From an ore-dressing standpoint, there are five rather distinct ore types and two waste-rock types in the mine. The ore types are shown in Table I. The anorthosite waste is a coarse-grained white rock, largely labradorite feldspar. The gabbro waste is generally finer grained, and contains, in addition to feldspar, 35 to 75 pct iron silicates such as hornblende, in garnet and biotite. A minor mineral mineralogically, but important metallurgically, is apatite. A few calcite

Jan 1, 1949

Abadilla, Quirico A., Geol.. Lago Pet. Corp Box 172 Maracaiho, Venezuela. IIAbbw. Robert Graham. The W. W. Sly Mfg. Co.Train Ave.. Cleveland. Ohio. Abbotf A. N., Mines Supt., Maznpil Copper Co.. Ltd..Conception del Oro, Zac., Mexico. Abbotf Clarence E, Mgr.. Mines & Quarries, Tenn. Coal. Iron & R. R. Co., 1242 Brown Marx Bldg., Birmingham, Ala. Abbott. Louis Benjamin. Chief Engr.. Consolidation Coal Co. ... .Elkhorn Div., Jenkins, Ky. Abeel, George 8.. Jr., Cons. Min. Engr...4612 West 17th St., Los Angeles, Cal. Abel. Albert E.. Asst. to Pres.. Valley Mould & Iron Corp..Hubbard, Ohio. Abel. Raymond L Asst. Prof., Dept. of Pet. Refin.. Univ. of Pittsburgh. .. .Pittsburgh. Pa. Abernathy. George Elmer. Prof. of Geol. & Min.. Kansas State Teachers College. Pittahurg. Kans. Abernethy, D. Carl, Jr. Min. Engr., Hudson Coal Co. .Scranton, Pa. Abw, Hirouhi. Min. & Met. Engr., Min. & Met. Dept., The Higher Technical School, Osaka, Japan. Aborn. Robert H.. Research Assoc.. Mass. Inst. of Tech..Cambridge, Mass. Abouchar. Bylvain Sley. Min. Engr. & Geol., c/o S. H. Sekaly, 13 Rue El Nimr, Cairo, Egypt. tAbozeid. Mahmood. Pet. Min. Engr., Marland Oil Co. of California, Subway Terminal Bldg., Los Angeles, Cal. Abraham. Arthur W.A. pt. 40, Barcelona. Anzoatmui, Venezuela. Abrahams. Alexander I.. Gen'l Mgr., Racon Electrical Co.. ..... .Slough, London, England. tAbrahamuon, C. W., Min. Engr.. The Mond Nickel Co., Ltd.. ..... .Levack. Ont., Canada. Abstein, Henry T.. Engr. & Mgr.. Profile-Tamarack Mines Co.. ...... .Yellow Pine, Idaho. tAcker, E. WC.. Met.. ........ .I28 East Washington Lane. Germantuwn. Philadelphia, Pa. IlAckerman, D. E.. Research Engr.. Research Lab., International Nickel Co., Bayonne, N. J. tAckerman. Ernest R., Pres., Lawrence Portland Cement Co.. . .Plainfield, Union Co., N. J. Adachi. Jinzoo.A..d dress Wanted Adachi, Yuichi, Chief Engr.. Anzan Steel Works, South Manchuria RY. Co., Anzan, South Manchuria. China. (Via Dairen). Adair, Arthur C, Valuation Engr., Internal Revenue. Treasury Dept.. . .Washington, D. C. Adami. Arthur E., Prof. of Min. Engrg., Montana State School of Mines. Butte, Mont. Adami. Charles J.. Min. Engr., Gen'l Mnr., St. Jos~ph Lead Co.. ....... .Bonne Terre, Mo. Adama, C. W., Pres. Adams Pacific Corp .I66 Montgomery St., San Francisco. Cal. Adams. Cuyler .Dee rwood, Minn. Adams, David T, 514 Wrigley Bldg.. Chicago, Ill. ADAMS, FRANK DAWSON, Logan Prof. of Geology and Dean, Faculty of Applied Science. McGiU Univ., Montreal. Que.. Canada. Adams. Gale L, Research Engr.. General Pet. Corp...Los Angeles. Cal. Adams. George I.. Prof. of Geol. & Mineralogy. Univ. of Alabama. .Tuscalmsa, Ala. Adams. H. H.. Cons. Gml..Room 415, W. T. Waggoner Bldg., Fort Worth. Tex. Adams, Henry, Cons. Min. Engr. . 934 Park Ave., Plainfield, N. J. Adame, Henry H. 285 Madison Ave., New York. N. Y. Adams. Henry Farnum. Engr.. Charge Experimental Work, Inspiration Concentrator. Inspiration Cons. Copper Co.. Box 364, Inspiration. Ariz. Adams, Huntington, Min. Engr, 149 Broadway, New York, N. Y. Adams. Leland D, V.P.. Leslie-California Salt Co., 166 Montgomery St.. San Francisco. Cal. Adams. Louie W.. Illinois Steel Co Gary, Ind. Adama, XL L. Min. Engr.. Old Ben Coal Corp., Mine 12.. Christopher. IU. Adams, Robert M. Robert M. Adam Co. .I201 Fidelity Bldg., Duluth, Minn. Adams. Sidney F.. Geol., Empire Zinc Co .Gilman, Colo. tAdams, Waldo Peck..P ittsfield, Pike Co.. Ill. Addams. Charles 1. Min. Engr.. Bo x 663. Phoenix, Ariz. Addicka, Lawrence. Cons. Enar..... .61 Maiden Lane. New York. N. Y. Addison, Herbert, V.P.. Big Horn Collieries Co ,412 Colorado Bldg., Denver, Colo. Adkemn. J. Carson. Min. Engr.. HY Grade Manganese Co., Inc..Woodstock, Va. Ady. Joseph Wesley. Jr.. Min. Enar., 314 Mining Exchange Blda., Colorado Springs, Colo. Affelder. William Lewis. Asst. to Pres., Hillman Coal & Coke Co. & Allied Companies. 2006 First National Bank Bldg.. Pittshurgh, Pa. Ameck, B. F.. Pres.. Universal Portland Cement Co. .. .210 South La Salle St., Chicago. Ill. Agabeg, Edgar C.. Cons. Min. Engr.. ..... .Evelyn Lodae. Asansol, E. I. R. Bengal, India. tAsar. William M.. Aest. Prof. of Geol.. Kirtland Hall, Yale Univ.. ... .New Haven, Conn. Agaeniz. Rodolphe L, Pres.. Calumet & Hecla Consolidated Copper Co. ...... .Boston, Mass. tAgens, William Holmes. District Mgr.. Traylor Engrg. & Mfg. Co., 362 I. W. Hellman Blda.. Los Aneeles. Cal.

Jan 1, 1928

THE Institute of Metals Division of the A. I. M. E. has joined with the American Society for Steel Treating and the American Welding Society in support of National Metal Week in Philadelphia, Oct. 8 to 12. Individual and joint technical sessions, plant inspection trips, and a general exposition to be held in Commercial Museum have all been arranged. With the coming of the Institute of Metals Division into the circle, the scope of the exposition has been broadened to cover non-ferrous metals, and exhibits of much interest are promised. Headquarters for the Institute of Metals and the American Society for Steel Treating will be at the Benjamin Franklin Hotel, and for the American Welding Society at the Bellevue-Stratford. The American Society for Steel Treating and the Welding Society will hold technical sessions each forenoon at their hotel headquarters. The Institute of Metals Division will hold sessions Tuesday morning and Wednesday and Thursday afternoons; that for Wednesday being a joint session with the American Society for Steel Treating. The latter society will hold independent afternoon sessions on Thursday and Friday. Registration and information desks will be open at the hotels throughout the week, and an attractive program of entertainments has been arranged.

Jan 1, 1928

By John B. Miles

THE present period of depression in the iron industry, with the resultant close approximation of the cost of production to the selling-price of pig-iron, should make the discussion of this subject at this time not only interesting but, profitable. It is possible that it may result, in the collection of data, which when added to those set forth in this paper will clearly indicate the influence of the rate. of driving a blast-furnace upon its fuel-economy. The question is not whether an excessive rate of driving (meaning a rate definitely in excess of the average rate in the United States) results in, an increase in the fuel-consumption, but rather whether a rate considerably less than the average does not result in a marked decrease in the fuel-consumption. The commercial and metallurgical sides of. this problem must be kept separate. With a large margin between the cost of production and the selling-price of pig-iron, and a plant already in operation, it is frequently profitable to sacrifice a couple of hundred pounds of fuel per ton of pig-iron in order to secure the greater gross profits resulting from a larger tonnage. When this margin decreases with a plant in operation, or when the determination of the size of a new furnace intended for a certain production . confronts the management, a clear understanding of the effect of the rate of driving upon fuel-economy becomes necessary. If it be granted that slow driving leads to low fuel-consumption, it should he borne in mind in the design of a new plant for the production of a certain tonnage that the adoption of an economical rate of driving increases only the size of the furnace proper, whereas, due to the decrease in quantity of blast required on account of the decrease in fuel burned, the stoves, the blowing-engines, the boilers and the piping may be de-

Sep 1, 1908

By C. J. Ramsburg

The construction and operation of by product coke-oven plants in America are essential to strong national defense and of the greatest importance to many widely diversified undertakings as well as to safety and health. Carbonization Process Coal used under a boiler or in a locomotive is consumed by combustion. Coal used in a by-product oven is distilled or carbonized, meaning that heat is applied to the coal, out of contact with air, causing a distillation that removes the volatile matter in the coal in the form of gas and vapor, leaving coke as a final product. From the gas and vapor distilled from the coal, many valuable substances can be secured, known as by-products. Hence the name "by-product oven." The simplest example of this principle can be shown by means of an ordinary clay pipe. If powdered coal is placed in the bowl of the pipe, the opening of the bowl is plugged with clay, and the bowl placed in a flame, the bowl will become hot, transferring the heat through the wall of the bowl to the coal within. When this coal attains a temperature of about 750°F., gas will begin to pour out of the pipe stem, and this gas may be lighted. A black liquid also will exude from the stem of the pipe, This is tar mixed with certain other products. What remains in the bowl after distillation is coke. A coke oven corresponds to the bowl of the pipe. A modern oven of the latest type is a refractory brick chamber approximately 42 ft. long and 14 ft. high, averaging 18 in. in width. The oven is filled with coal through closable charging holes in the oven top. Each end of the oven consists entirely of a self-sealing door, the removal of which permits the finished coke to be discharged by means of a power-operated pusher machine. The ovens are built in batteries, and the heating is effected by gas burned in vertical flues in the oven walls, each set of flues heating the walls of two adjacent ovens. Such ovens carbonize a charge of approximately 18 tons of coal in 18 hr., or have a daily throughput of 24 tons per oven, producing about 17 tons of coke. In times of need, the output may be increased by raising the temperature of flues, thus shortening the coking time. There is one great essential difference in principle between distillation in a clay pipe and in a coke oven. In the 18-in. oven, the distillation proceeds from two parallel walls held at a high temperature (over zooo°F.) and instead of all the coal being heated at once, the distillation is a progressive one creeping inward. The average travel of this heating is 35 in. per hour from each vertical wall, and as the volatile products are formed progressively they must push away from the interior toward the wall through the previously formed hot coke, then up the walls and Over the top of the coal charge, finally escaping through the outlet pipe. This results in a cracking of the components into many different and valuable substances not formed when the carbonizing temperature is low.

Jan 1, 1942

By C. J. Ramsburg

The construction and operation of by product coke-oven plants in America are essential to strong national defense and of the greatest importance to many widely diversified undertakings as well as to safety and health. Carbonization Process Coal used under a boiler or in a locomotive is consumed by combustion. Coal used in a by-product oven is distilled or carbonized, meaning that heat is applied to the coal, out of contact with air, causing a distillation that removes the volatile matter in the coal in the form of gas and vapor, leaving coke as a final product. From the gas and vapor distilled from the coal, many valuable substances can be secured, known as by-products. Hence the name "by-product oven." The simplest example of this principle can be shown by means of an ordinary clay pipe. If powdered coal is placed in the bowl of the pipe, the opening of the bowl is plugged with clay, and the bowl placed in a flame, the bowl will become hot, transferring the heat through the wall of the bowl to the coal within. When this coal attains a temperature of about 750°F., gas will begin to pour out of the pipe stem, and this gas may be lighted. A black liquid also will exude from the stem of the pipe, This is tar mixed with certain other products. What remains in the bowl after distillation is coke. A coke oven corresponds to the bowl of the pipe. A modern oven of the latest type is a refractory brick chamber approximately 42 ft. long and 14 ft. high, averaging 18 in. in width. The oven is filled with coal through closable charging holes in the oven top. Each end of the oven consists entirely of a self-sealing door, the removal of which permits the finished coke to be discharged by means of a power-operated pusher machine. The ovens are built in batteries, and the heating is effected by gas burned in vertical flues in the oven walls, each set of flues heating the walls of two adjacent ovens. Such ovens carbonize a charge of approximately 18 tons of coal in 18 hr., or have a daily throughput of 24 tons per oven, producing about 17 tons of coke. In times of need, the output may be increased by raising the temperature of flues, thus shortening the coking time. There is one great essential difference in principle between distillation in a clay pipe and in a coke oven. In the 18-in. oven, the distillation proceeds from two parallel walls held at a high temperature (over zooo°F.) and instead of all the coal being heated at once, the distillation is a progressive one creeping inward. The average travel of this heating is 35 in. per hour from each vertical wall, and as the volatile products are formed progressively they must push away from the interior toward the wall through the previously formed hot coke, then up the walls and Over the top of the coal charge, finally escaping through the outlet pipe. This results in a cracking of the components into many different and valuable substances not formed when the carbonizing temperature is low.

Jan 1, 1942

By Gerhard Derge

METALLURGISTS have used borax as a fluxing agent traditionally, but until recently elemental boron has played an insignificant role as an alloying element. Neither the metal nor its compounds have been regarded as important metallurgical materials and there is a surprising lack of knowledge concerning their metallurgical behavior. The new applications to steelmaking of both boron and borates, which arose in part from wartime incentives and restrictions, have been seriously handicapped by this lack of data. For example, rasorite, a naturally occurring sodium borate, has been shown to be an effective substitute for aluminum as a ladle deoxidizer in rimming steels.1 Likewise, the effectiveness of boron as an alloying agent has been demonstrated, 2,3 giving deep hardening when used in restricted amounts. The exploitation of both of these uses has been retarded by the difficulty of attaining suitable metallurgical control. Recognizing that the most important information required was a knowledge of the equilibrium between boron and oxygen dissolved in liquid iron, Gurry4 calculated this relation from the best thermal data available. However, estimates of the entropy of melting of boron, the activity coefficient of boron in liquid iron and the activity coefficient of B203 in slag were involved, and experimental work on this problem was obviously desirable. The experiments to be described were planned to establish the boron-oxygen relations in liquid iron and to demonstrate at the same time the ferroborate slag compositions in equilibrium with various amounts of oxygen in liquid iron. Accordingly, slags containing varying proportions of iron and boron oxides were held in contact with molten iron, and samples of both slag and metal were analyzed. The limitations upon the accuracy of the data will be considered, but in a practical sense the oxygen levels that can be attained in iron by iron borate slags, and the amounts of boron in iron at these oxygen levels were established. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE No entirely suitable refractory was found for the mixtures of iron oxide and boron oxide used as slags. Crucibles of silica, magnesia, Ramix, beryllia, and zirconia were all tried unsuccessfully. The most satisfactory method discovered for handling them was the rotating-crucible technique, which creates a parabolic crucible of liquid iron 5,6 Even this was not entirely successful, for at steelmaking temperatures (1600°C.) the slags had such a low surface tension that they crept up to the refractory and slowly dissolved it. These difficulties made it impossible to maintain a constant slag composition for an unlimited period of time. However, by using the rotating

Jan 1, 1946

By I. D. Hagar

WHEN the history of American business during these momentous war years is written, an absorbing chapter will be devoted to the Maclntyre Development, in northern New York. It will tell of a timely mining project, deep in the wilds of the Adirondacks, blasted into being by Axis torpedoes. It will recount the labors of 1500 engineers and workmen, miles from a highway, rail line, or power source, who built a huge enterprise in a few short months' time. And it will list these major contributions to the war effort: more than a quarter million tons per year of ilmenite, source of titanium dioxide-man's most opaque white pigment-to be used in paints for warships, tanks, guns, planes and the plants that build them; as a co-product, over 500,000 tons each year of magnetite-an important type of iron ore- to help feed the cavernous maw of America's wartime steel industry.

Jan 1, 1942

[ALBERTA, UNIV. OF AZIZ, Khalid FLOCK, Gerald L HART, Richard T NAOER, Walter SCHEIDEGGER, Adrian E SHIELS, David Alexander ALUMINUM CO. OF AMER. GAYLE, Douglas Z MINTER, John L MOORE, Thomas C NEUSTAEDTER, J A REISS, Royal W SPEYRER, Henry R AMARILLO OIL CO. BEST, John B Jr COX, Arthur F GRAY, Stanley F Jr KEENS, Roy J MORRIS, Edward S TIPTON, J A WHITIS, Thurman S]

Jan 1, 1961