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By Theodore Nagel

Fuel-oil, natural gas and coke oven gas, producing the higher temperatures of open-hearth current practice, have been gradually displacing producer gas the lowest cost fuel for open hearth operations. The lower temperatures of combusts on products from producer gas is caused by nitrogen dilution. Practical Application of Combustion Thermochemistry One pound of carbon burned to CO produces 3,960 B.T.U. and one pound of carbon burned to C02 produces 14,140 B.T.U. The second unit of oxygen uniting with gasified carbon (CO) produces (14,140 - 3,960) 10,180 B.T.U. which is (10,180 - 3,960) 6,220 B.T.U. more heat than produced by the first unit of oxygen forming CO by uniting with solid carbon. A review of the relative combustion heating values of commercial gaseous fuels reveals CO requires a minimum of air for combustion and because of minimum nitrogen dilution and the high thermal release from CO higher temperature combustion products are produced from CO than from natural gas or from coke-oven gas under similar combustion conditions. Inert nitrogen diluent lowers the calorific value of fuel gas and its diluting effect is cumulative in lowering the temperature of the products of total combustion. It is not only logical but practical in partial combustion, converting bituminous coal to gas, to generate the gas with reduced nitrogen dilution.

Jan 1, 1936

By Max Boehmer

(Pittsburg Meeting, March, 1910.) AFTER 30 years of development and after an output of $350,000,000 in value of gold, silver, lead, zinc, and copper, there has not been published a satisfactory explanation of the origin of the immense deposits of the Leadville district. The original examination find survey of Leadville by members of the U. S. Geological Survey was a most magnificent piece of work, but their attempt to explain the origin of the ores was based upon the then-accepted theory of lateral secretion, originated by Sandberger, which theory was afterwards disproved in many cases by further development in numerous districts. This theory contended that the ore in the veins had been leached by surface-waters from the eruptive rocks in the immediate vicinity, and it had its origin in the fact that the neighboring eruptive rocks all contained, to an appreciable degree, the several metals found in the ore-deposits. But the practical miner, reasoning in a simple manner from the condition of things as he found them underground, soon discovered the fallacy of this proposition. He reasoned that, in the case of the Leadville deposits, this theory could not be true, because, if the ores were leached from the overlying eruptive rocks by surface-waters, they would as a matter of necessity be controlled by the action of gravity, and the main bodies would collect in- natural depressions of the underlying limestone, and at all points where such depressions existed. But this was not in accord with the channels of ore as he found there ; and hence the theory of lateral secretion in this district was never accepted. Another objection to it consisted in the fact that large areas within the ore-bearing district contained no ores whatever, although their formation was the same, and the same limestones were covered by the same thick sheet of

Feb 1, 1910

By Robert Ammon

The purpose of this paper is to present a brief sketch of the development of this hindered-settling classifier, but primarily to show the actual results obtained in practice with the classifier working on the Butte copper ores at the Boston & Montana Concentrator at Great Falls and the Washoe Concentrator at Anaconda. The writer has endeavored to be as brief as possible, giving only the essential figures showing the efficiency of the classifier and leaving considerable interesting information to be derived by the reader from the statistics given. The paper deals with the practical work of the classifier under the following heads: 1. Desliming 4.0-mm. primary feed, overflow from 0.07 to 0.0 mm. 2. Desliming 1.25-mm. secondary feed, overflow from 0.07 to 0.0 mm. 3. Desliming Huntington Mill discharge, overflow from 0.07 to 0.0 mm. 4. Classifying 2.5-mm. deslimed secondary feed, overflow from 1.00 to 0.07 mm. 5. Classifying 2.5-mm. deslimed primary feed, overflow from 0.75 to 0.07 mm. 6. Classifying 4.0-mm. deslimed primary feed, overflow from 0.75 to 0.07 mm. 7. Classifying middling-tailing product from roughing tables, overflow coarse tailing. 8. Classifying 2.5mm. trommel undersize, not deslimed, overflow from 0.75 to 0.0 mm. 9. Remarks on the inner feed cone. In the following pages all overflows are given in quartz dimensions; i. e., by a 0.75-mm. overflow is meant an overflow whose maximum particle is a 0.75-mm. quartz grain. By the term "slime" is meant all material which will pass through a 200-mesh screen whose average opening is 0.07 mm. The development of the classifier was commenced in the fall of 1910,

Jan 1, 1914

By C. W. Washburne

The waters of many oil fields have been regarded as buried sea water which has been retained in the sediments since the time of their deposition. The preservation of connate water through geological time has seemed improbable to only a few geologists, but there is room for doubt that buried sea water could remain in the strata during their periods of deformation and during the many subsequent epochs of the circulation of meteoric ground-water. Some have even suggested that the calcium chloride water in the deep mines of the Lake Superior region is ancient sea water buried in the Algonkian lavas, but it is hard to understand how such water could be derived from the highly sodic and sulphatic water of the sea. It would seem more plausible to connect the calcium chloride with the highly calcic magmas of the greenstones in which it is found. Chemical analyses of waters associated with oil differ widely from the composition of sea water, requiring extensive alteration of the latter, if the former is truly its derivative. The first notable difference is the general absence of sulphates from oil-field waters, but this has been explained satisfactorily through reduction by hydrocarbons and organic matter. Oil reduces sulphates with the production of hydrogen sulphide (or sulphur), water, and carbonates (or carbon dioxide). The second striking difference is in the high ratio of chlorine to sodium. An examination of the analyses of chloride waters from oil fields shows that they contain a large relative excess of chlorine over that in sea .water. -Moreover, there is difficulty in finding chemical reactions that are probable in nature, by which sea water could be converted into anything like the chloride waters of oil fields. In the latter a large part of the chlorine occurs as calcium and magnesium chloride. This condition might be produced by the removal of sodium carbonate, which, however, cannot be precipitated in the presence of much calcium or magnesium.

Jan 1, 1915

By Calvin C. Brown, John Bigando

Pit slopes at Cananea commonly vary from 50-55°, and some have been standing for over 25 years. Their maximum vertical extent is 700 ft. Investigation of these slopes and the rocks of which they are composed has led to the decision to experiment with final pit slope angles of up to 70". Precision blasting to obtain a smooth final pit wall with minimum raveling is an integral part of this field experiment. Presplitting, one of the precision blasting techniques, requires the drilling of a single row of holes along the limit of a pre- designed excavation. The hole spacings and charge concentrations must be experimentally determined in the field, using published data as a base (Table 1). The holes are fired prior to the main round and carry no burden and therefore produce no broken rock. Thus, it is an operational cost with no direct return on investment.

Jan 9, 1972

By C. T. Wei, A. Kelly

USING a recently developed X-ray method, reported by Schulz,2 it is possible to make a rapid survey of the perfection of a single crystal at a particular surface. This technique has the advantage of allowing a large surface of a specimen to be examined by taking a single photograph and it compares well with other X-ray methods in regard to sensitivity of detection of small angle boundaries. During the course of a survey of the perfection of large crystals of aluminum produced by a number of methods, an examination has been made of a number of single crystals produced from the melt using a soft mold (levigated alumina)." Crystals grown by this method are known, from an X-ray study carried out by Noggle and Koehler,3 to contain regions where they are highly perfect. In the present work, it has been possible to obtain photographs showing directly the distribution of low angle boundaries at a particular surface of these crystals. single crystals were grown from the melt using the modified Bridgman method with a speed of furnace travel of -1 mm per min. These were about 1/10 in. thick, 1 in. wide, and several inches long. The metal was 99.99 pct pure aluminum supplied by the Aluminum co. of America. The crystals were examined by placing them at an angle of about 25° to the X-ray beam issuing from a fine focus X-ray tube of the type described by Ehrenberg and Spear4 and constructed by A. Kelly at the University of Illinois. A photographic film was placed SO as to record the X-ray reflection from the lattice planes most nearly parallel to the crystal surface. The size of the focal spot on the X-ray tube was between 25 and 40 u, and the distance from the X-ray tube focus to the specimen (approximately equal to the specimen to film distance) was -15 cm. White X-radiation was used from a tungsten target with not more than 35 kv in order to reduce the penetration of the X-rays into the specimen. Exposure times were approximately 1 hr with tube currents between 150 and 250 microamp. The type of photograph obtained from these crystals is illustrated in Fig. 1, which shows a number of overlapping reflections from the same crystal. The large uniform central reflection is traversed by sets of horizontal white and dark lines. These two sets run mainly parallel to one another. Lines of one color are wavy in nature and often branch and run together. Large areas of the crystal surface show no evidence of these lines whatsoever. The lines are interpreted as being due to low angle boundaries in the crystal, separating regions which are tilted with respect to one another. A white line is formed when the relative tilt forms a ridge at the interface and a black line is found when a valley is formed. In a number of cases, the lines stop and start within the area of the reflection and often run into the reflection from the edge, corresponding to a low angle boundary starting from the edge of the crystal. The prominent lines run roughly parallel to the direction of growth of the crystal although narrow bands can run in a direction perpendicular to this; see Fig. 2. Although they may change their appearance slightly, the lines tend to occur in the slightly,Same place in the X-ray image and to maintain their rough parallelism when the crystals are reduced in thickness by etching. Thus the low angle boundaries can occur at any depth within the crystal. The appearance of the lines is unaffected by subjecting the crystal to rapid temperature changes, such as plunging into liquid nitrogen or rapid quenching from 620°C. From the width of the lines on the x-ray reflection, values can be found for the angular misorienta-tion of the two parts of the crystal on either side of a boundary. The values found run from 1' to 10' of arc, but values of UP to 20' have sometimes been found, e.g., the widest lines on Fig. 2. These mis-orientations are much less than those commonly found in crystals possessing a lineage structure. When a number of a and white lines occur, running in a roughly parallel direction across the image of a Crystal, the total misorientation corresponding to lines of one color is approximately equal to that corresponding to lines of the other color. The interpretation of the lines as due to low angle boundaries has been checked in a number of ways. Photographs taken with different specimen-to-film distances distinguish lines due to low angle boundaries from effects due to surface relief of the specimen. Normal Laue back-reflection photographs, taken with the beam irradiating an area of the surface showing a number of the lines, show white lines running through each Laue spot. Black lines are set to see by this method. X-ray photographs were also taken, using the set-up described by Lam-one et al.5 when the beam straddles regions giving rise to lines in the Schulz pattern, split reflections are observed within the Bragg spot. The misorienta-tions calculated from the separation of these reflections and that found from the widths of the lines on the schulz technique patterns show good agreement. An exposure was made with Lambot technique of an area of the crystal showing no evidence of low angle

Jan 1, 1956

By M. MacFarland, E. McAuliffe

Our North American railway system, including the lines serving the United States, Canada and Mexico, with a total operating mileage of 303,040, employing 71,818 locomotives, represents not only the greatest industrial user of fuel coal, but in the variety of coals used, ranging from anthracite down through the several gradations of bitumirlous coals, as well as lignites, covers about all there is in American-mined coals. Necessarily the wide range of fuel coal embraces not only extremes of calorific value but also every possible gradation shown in size and preparation, from run of mine to washed nut and slack. Approximately 8 per cent. of the fuel used by the railroads is consumed in shop power plants, shop buildings, pumping stations, station buildings, etc. The principal class of coal (as designated) used by the railroads is bituminous, such, however, including a substantial tonnage of subbituminous and lignite coal; all United States railroads using in 1923 for locomotive, shop, station buildings and miscellaneous uses, a total of 4,578,000 tons of anthracite, 155,795,000 tons of bituminous, subbituminous and lignite coal and 58,005,000 bbl. (42 gal.) of fuel oil. The Class 1 railroads of the United States (those whose gross annual earnings equal or exceed $1,000,000) used in 1926: Bituminous, subbituminous and lignite coal, net tons..... 140,083,885 Anthracite, net tons................................ 3,667,505 Fuel oil, gal........................................ 3,058,915,511 Railroad fuel-purchasing agents rarely attempt to classify coal for locomotive use on the basis of chemical analysis; although this is very generally used as a guide in the initial selection of a fuel supply. The extraordinarily high rate of combustion developed in the modern locomotive, generating as high as 2500 b.hp., with limited facilities for cleaning fires en route, suggests the importance of a fuel supply containing a reasonably low percentage of ash-making material, and while the percentage of locomotive coal handled through automatic stokers is growing, the principal tonnage is yet fired by hand.

Jan 1, 1930

By R. E. Gilmore

This paper is a revision of a former paper published in mimeograph form by both the Canadian and American coal classification committees, and is now presented for the purpose of acquainting those interested with the present status of coal classification in Canada. The classification employed for "Customs purposes" is detailed, and the classification schemes from which the customs classification was derived are reviewed and discussed. The activities of the Canadian coal classification committee, namely, the Associate Committee of Coal Classification and Analysis of the National Research Council, is also reviewed. Reserves, Production and Uses of Canadian Coals The total coal resources of North America are estimated to be 69 per cent. of those of the world, and of this portion, the distribution is 52 per cent. for the United States and 17 per cent. for Canada. Accordingly, Canadian coal resources amount to approximately one-third of those of the United States, and one-sixth of those of the world. As for the geographical distribution, the bulk of the known coal deposits are in the extreme eastern and western portions of the country. Employing the usual, more or less loosely defined, designations for the different classes and subclasses of coal, the distribution of the Canadian coal resources, according to provinces, is as follows: Maritime Provinces: Nova Scotia and New Brunswick Bituminous and semibitu- minous coals. Ontario (northern part).............................Lignite. Saskatchewan, (and Manitoba)....................... Lignite. Alberta and British Columbia........................ Lignites, subbituminous, all kinds of bituminous, semibituminous and semianthracite coals. Of the total reserves, roughly 92.5 per cent. is credited to the noncok-ing lower rank subbituninous and lignite groups, the bulk of which are

Jan 1, 1930

By Frank J. Windolph

Grinding Practice-These tests were run in the 9 ft diam by 8 ft long grate discharge ball mills at Climax. Each mill functions in closed circuit with a 78 in. Akins duplex high-weir classifier, and a circulating load of 300 pct is maintained. The size of the mill feed is 6 pct on 3/8ths, which is ground to pass 28 mesh. Testing Methods-Each grinding section is equipped with a conveyor scale on the ball mill feeder belt, a watt-hour meter on the ball mill motor, and an automatic sampler for the ground product. These instruments are exceptionally valuable to the mill testing program.

Aug 1, 1956

By H. Landsberg

THE curriculum presented here is an outgrowth of discussions by the Committee on Geophysics Courses of the A.I.M.E. in previous years. It had to be a compromise between the desires voiced by employers of geophysicists, professional geophysicists and the possibilities at an average college. There one has to face the questions of the available teaching staff, the inertia of administrators and teachers set in their ways, and the red tape involved in modernizing antiquated curricula. It is, of course, not ideal to have colleges and universities lag 10 years behind the times. Rather, instead of being prodded by industry, -they should be ahead of industrial needs. There should also be a certain amount of leeway for the student in any college curriculum. All these points had to be considered in drawing up a curriculum, which, instead of being narrowly termed "geology" or "geophysics" was rather called "earth science." It gives the student a chance to specialize in one of the various branches represented by teachers on the faculty of The Pennsylvania State College, giving as options Geology (with subdivisions of Mineralogy and Paleontology), Geophysics, Geography, and Meteorology. Table IA. represents the option of geophysics in the curriculum that envisages that a student may want to make his career in any of the fields encompassed by the American Geophysical Union or in geoexploration. This is, of course, only the start of an education that in most cases will have to be followed by graduate work for complete professional training. The outlined curriculum is definitely of an engineering type and is identical for all of the four options mentioned for the first two years. Specialization will start in the junior year but even thereafter the branches are kept as closely allied as feasible in order to permit a student to change from one to the other (e.g., because of a different aspect in the employment situation) with a minimum of additional work. Table IB shows the geophysics option according to subject matter, indicating the considerable amount of work in the fundamentals of mathematics, physics and chemistry with a liberal number of geology courses, and some engineering. The courses in the field of geophysics are limited-just two lecture courses as a general introduction and one field course, to permit the student a visualization of the correlation between mathematically analyzed physical data and the geological realities. Thesis work is considered essential to teach the student, while he is still in college, some things S. F. Kelly has mentioned as desirable: (I) following of instructions for somewhat independent work; (2) organizing of material, and (3) producing a readable report. This, together with the personal contact with the advising faculty member, will help in forming a student's personality. The seminar course attempts to get the student into the habit of reading current literature, so that he can keep abreast of the times.

Jan 1, 1941

By W. S. Holt, E. T. Tkac, R. A. Grange

QUANTITATIVE knowledge of the time element involved in austenite transformation in a particular steel provides a sound basis for understanding and planning heat-treatment. Such knowledge is conveniently obtained by measurement of austenite transformation as it occurs at each of a series of temperature levels. The results of these measurements usually are summarized in the form of the now familiar isothermal transformation diagram (I-T diagram, TTT diagram, or S-curve). Although a considerable number of such diagrams already have appeared in the literature, there remain many compositions of commercial importance for which no I-T diagram is available. The diagram for many such steels may be predicted from published data with sufficient accuracy for most practical purposes, but for others no satisfactory prediction can be made because the effect on austenite transformation of one or more of the important alloying elements present is not well enough known. Such a steel is Nitralloy, Type 135-Modified, which, containing about 1.25 per cent aluminum, differs from any whose I-T diagram has been published. This paper presents results of a study of the isothermal transformation behavior of a sample from a commercial heat of this aluminum-chromium-molybdenum steel, together with pertinent supplementary data including the equilibrium transformation temperatures (Ae3 and Ae1), the temperature range of martensite formation, and the end-quench hardenability. These data are directly applicable to the heat-treatment of this type of steel and are of interest in revealing some of the fundamental effects of aluminum as an alloying element in steel. MATERIAL All specimens were prepared from a 13-in. diam bar forged from a 5 by 5-in. billet from a commercial heat made in an electric arc furnace. The composition of the bar was; C, 0.41 per cent: Mn, 0.57: P, 0.016: S, 0.005: Si, 0.24: Ni, 0.17: Cr, i.57: MO, 0.36: Al, 1.26. The forged bar was normalized from 1750°F (955°C) and then tempered for one hour at 1200°F (650°C), this tempering treatment having been given to facilitate the machining of specimens. EQUILIBRIUM TRANSFORMATION TEMPERATURES In hypoeutectoid steel the minimum temperature at which austenite is completely stable, Ae3, and the maximum temperature at which austenite is completely unstable, Ae1, are of great significance in heat-treatment. Since these temperatures are dependent upon com-

Jan 1, 1946

By M. J. Langley

Zinc ores were first discovered in Tennessee in 1856 at Jefferson City where a deposit became the Mossy Creek mine. From that time until 1913, small- scale attempts at prospecting and mining were made in various parts of the district. The actual systematic development of the zinc deposit dates from 1913 when the American Zinc Co. started operations at Mascot. Mining in the Mascot-Jefferson City area today is devoted exclusively to the zinc sulfide, sphalerite. Various grades of zinc mineralization have been found intermittently through a 600-ft vertical thickness. However, the commercial ore is confined to a total thickness of about 250 ft, from which it usually is mined irregularly from four or five separate levels known locally as "ore runs." In a few places vertical thicknesses up to 150 ft have been mined where commercial material extended from one run to another.

Jan 10, 1962

By John A. Putnam, Morrough P. O’Brien

DATA on the physical and thermodynamic properties of hydrocarbons have been made available in recent years but the formal method of applying these data to flow in porous media appears not to have been fully developed. By making usual thermodynamic assumptions and employing existing data on permeability to two-phase flow, Darcy's law may be applied to obtain the flow characteristics for representative combinations of flowing medium and geometry. The numerical examples presented herein are based on hydrocarbons for which complete physical and thermodynamic data are available under equilibrium conditions. INTRODUCTION Thermodynamic data are obtained in the laboratory under equilibrium conditions and their application requires the assumption that equilibrium also exists during flow. This assumption is at least usual in engineering analyses, though not easily justified in many instances, and will be followed here. In regard to hydrocarbons, laboratory experience in determining the pressure-volume-temperature relationships indicates that gas-liquid mixtures must often be stirred vigorously for periods of 15 to 20 min. before reaching equilibrium. On the other hand, boiling and condensation are known to occur on solid surfaces and the large surface exposed to the flowing substance by a porous medium may bring about rapid approach to equilibrium. For the purpose of providing at least a guide to experimentation and a standard for later comparison with experimental results, it will be assumed that the phases present in cross sections perpendicular to the direction of flow are in thermodynamic equilibrium. Another assumption usually made in the solution of problems of flow in porous media is that the fluid remains at a constant temperature; i.e., isothermal flow. This assumption is arrived at by considering the porous medium and surroundings to be an infinite heat source and the rate of heat flow to be infinite at a boiling front. Its validity depends in large measure upon the character of flow, the number of components, and the physical and thermodynamic properties of the fluid. However, the assumption of isothermal flow represents a limiting case. The other limit can be represented by the assumption that the fluid is thermally isolated; i.e., irreversible adiabatic. The thermodynamic process characterizing the actual flow of a given fluid system probably lies somewhere between these two limiting cases and might be thought of as a flow system in which the confining walls are maintained at a constant temperature. For isothermal flow the solid material of the porous media is considered as the infinite heat source capable, without loss in temperature, of giving up heat to the fluid as the latter tends to cool by expansion. For the thermally isolated system, the solid material is considered to give up no heat to the fluid. In the intermediate case the impervious walls confining the porous media are at constant temperature from which heat is transferred along various paths, solid and fluid, throughout the porous media. It would appear that an actual petroleum-

Jan 1, 1941

By B. L. Sackett

LEAD smelting has been an important industry in Utah for many years. The first lead smelting was done, over 60 years ago, at the Rollins mine in Beaver County, by burning heaps consisting of alternate layers of wood and high-grade carbonate ore. The lead thus obtained was. molded into bullets. With the development of. the mines, the problem of cheaper handling of the ore became important. The only outlet for this ore was Swansea or the Atlantic Coast but to ship to either cost $150 per ton or more for treatment and handling. From 1864 to 1871, experimenting was done with blast, Scotch hearth, and reverberatory furnaces, with the blast furnace surviving as, the standard plant. The first crude furnaces were circular or hexagonal in shape, and were made of adobe and stone, which quickly burned out. They were small, about 2 1/2 ft. in diameter, and smelted from 3 to 10 tons. in 24 hr. The metal had to be tapped from the bottom of the crucible, necessitating a shut down of the furnace during this process. This pro¬cedure caused salamanders to form around the tap hole when the furnace was started again, which frequently resulted in freezing. The campaign lasted until a tap of bullion was made. The first successful plant of the crude stone type was operated in 1870. From 1870 to 1872, there was a smelter building craze in the state. During that period, about 20 furnaces were built, chiefly near the mines, and their operation was limited and sporadic. The work was then placed in the hands of trained metallurgists, who standardized on the rectangular form of furnace. In 1871, Daggett, at the Winnamuck mine in Bingham, installed water-jackets around the smelting zone of the furnaces. These furnaces were circular; the diameter at the tuyere line was 3 ft. 6 in. and at the charge floor 5 ft. 3 in. The height from tuyere line to charge floor was 14 ft., height of tuyere line above top of crucible was 3 ft. 8 in. Fur-

Jan 8, 1925

By George Haworth

ELECTRICAL illumination of shafts, stations, and haulageways has been successfully practiced for many years, but its use in drifts and stopes where mining operations are carried on has- been limited. The large underground drifts of the Tri-State field present a lighting problem that is not satisfactorily solved by the use of the carbide lamp. It has, for some time, been the policy of the Anna Beaver mine to provide ample lighting throughout the underground haulage drifts and working faces. This has, in the

Jan 6, 1928

By M. R. Campbell

You have just heard several papers on the classification of coal as this subject appears to the chemist; I shall approach it from the point of view of the geologist who, perforce, has to deal with coal as it occurs in the ground and with the miner of coal who knows certain phases of the physical characteristics of coal better than the scientist can possibly know them. The chemist is familiar with coal as it reaches him in the laboratory, but he seldom has an opportunity to see it in its native condition and to study its physical characteristics and its behavior under varying conditions of weather, transportation and use. He naturally regards the chemical composition of coal as the all-important feature upon which to base a system of classification and he is sometimes inclined to ignore as unscientific any scheme of classification that is based on characteristics other than chemical. The geologist, on the other hand, although he is glad to use the data furnished by the chemist, must depend largely upon the differences that he can see and feel. Classification Understandable to the Layman In the very comprehensive program of examination of the coal fields of the West which the U. S. Geological Survey undertook in 1906, it fell to my lot, as the responsible head of the work, to classify the coals in advance of much knowledge of their chemical composition and in regions where mining had not begun. In this work I was forced to devise some sort of classification that would work practically and that would be understandable to the layman in the field. Much of the classification was based on the work of those who had gone before me, but in the low rank coals of the West the field was unoccupied and I was forced to devise a scheme embracing both chemical and physical characteristics. This scheme has stood the test of actual practical application for several years but it needs revision and the sharpening of the limits between the different ranks. I feel that my experience warrants my saying that physical characteristics must be considered and I have faith to believe that some scheme embodying both can be devised.

Jan 1, 1930

By A. English, M. J. Greaves

This paper is a discussion of pelletizing systems developed over the last 15 to 20 years for the agglomeration of fine iron ore concentrates. Five different pelletizing systems are now in commercial use in the U.S., and for the purposes of comparison, estimated operating costs and capital costs for the construction of four of them are included. Capacities of existing commercial plants are examined, together with the anticipated capabilities of plants presently being built or projected. In just 21 years, the art of pelletizing iron ore concentrates has reached maturity with mastery of the separation of finely divided concentrates from low-grade iron ores and their agglomeration into pellets containing about 65% iron. This accomplishment has firmly established an improved feed for the blast furnace, with resulting benefits in faster reduction of burdens and greater economy of operation. The present production capacity of pelletizing facilities in the U.S. is about 20 million tons annually, and it is expected to double by 1970. The rapid expansion of pelletizing in the U. S. has been closely observed in European countries, notably in Sweden and Germany, where pioneer agglomerating techniques were developed early in this century. PELLETIZING PLANTS AND PROCESSES Twelve commercial pelletizing plants are presently in operation in the U. S. and Canada. An equal number are in various stages of engineering and construction, and many others are being considered. The pelletizing systems currently employed include shaft furnaces, horizontal grates using three different airflow arrangements, and grate kilns. The capacity of pelletizing operations in North America is shown in Table I. All of these plants are integrated with the mine, the ore-crushing facilities and the concentrating plant and are equipped with storage and loading-out facilities for the product. Normally, a pelletizing plant is composed of a shuttle conveyor above the receiving bins; balling equipment; a heat-hardening system including the necessary auxiliaries such as furnaces, burners and controls, ducts, fans, meters and instrumentation; fines recovery equipment; and product handling equipment. Also included are the necessary auxiliaries and utilities such as boilers or power plant; oil unloading and storage facilities; coal unloading storage, grinding and distribution facilities; and bentonite or other additive storage and distribution equipment. Shaft Furnaces: Vertical shaft furnaces used in this country are limited to the treatment of natural magnetite concentrates containing minor quantities of residual fluxing elements. Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of the shaft furnace with balling, feeding and pellet-handling equipment. An elevation of a shaft furnace is shown in Fig. 2. A commercial shaft furnace unit is about 45 ft in height with a 6 x 14-ft rectangular cross section and has a nominal production rate of approximately 50 gross tons of pellets per hour. The upper portion of the furnace shaft is constructed of fire brick as protection from the high process temperatures involved. The lower portion of the shaft is lined with abrasion-resistant brick to withstand erosion from the fired pellets. Rectangular-shaped, refractory-lined and insulated combustion chambers are situated on each side of the shaft furnace. Oil or gas is burned to produce high temperature gases which are forced into the furnace through ports located near the top of the combustion chambers. The shaft furnaces operate at a pressure of approximately 6 psi. Pellets are fed into the top of the furnace by a pantographic feeder designed to produce the desired pellet stockline. The furnace is kept filled at all times and pellets are fed and discharged from the furnace at the same rate. In early development, 10 to 12 lb of solid fuel was incorporated in the pellets. However, the main source of process heat is now derived from the combustion chamber gases. In some instances no solid fuel is used. The pellet movement in the shaft furnace is counter-current to the flow of gases. Ambient air is introduced through louvers at the lower end of the furnace, at about 6 psi, cooling the fired pellets and supplementing the heat of the high temperature gases from the combustion chamber ports. The zone of maximum temperature, located above the ports of the combus-

Jan 1, 1963

By Frederic E. Carter

THERE have been many attempts to prove that platinum was known to the ancients, but since no traces of the metal have been found in the relics of early times, it must be concluded that it was not known to them. As far as records go, it was actually first discovered in the 16th century in a Spanish mine on the Pinto River in South America; from which source it received its name of Platina del Pinto (little silver from the Pinto). It was more or less of a rarity and was a subject of interest to a few chemists only, until the year 1822 when the metal was first discovered in Russia. In 1819 there were noticed in the washings of the gold sands of the southern part of the Ural Mountains, grains of a heavy white substance, but it was not until three years later that this substance was found to contain platinum. While at first the amounts of platinum brought from the Urals were meager, prospecting soon disclosed rich deposits extending over a considerable area, and nuggets from 10 to 20 lb. were by no means rare. This discovery assured to chemists an ample supply of platinum for their crucibles, etc. The ore is now found in various parts of the world but the richest deposits are still found in the Ural Mountains. The platinum of commerce is obtained entirely from alluvial deposits at depths varying from 6 to 40 ft. The sand and gravel of former river beds are subjected to a series of screenings and washings to effect the separation of the ore. Actually, probably all gold-bearing gravel beds of the world contain platinum, and it is more than likely that large quantities of platinum ore have been thrown away with the black sand washings from gold placer deposits. This is especially true of the alluvial deposits of the Pacific Coast in California and Oregon. Platinum ore is usually found in the form of rounded or flattened grains of "sand," and occasionally in irregular lumps of the size of peas. Large nuggets are very rare. The ore has a metallic luster and is distinguished by its steel gray color, but shows light gray streak when rubbed on a hard white surface; it has a high specific gravity, 16 to 19; is infusible in the hottest blast furnaces, and insoluble in any single acid. Platinum ore is a complex body consisting of the metal in combination with varying proportions of the other members of the platinum group; iridium,

Jan 1, 1928

By N. Pessall, A. D. McQuillan

The phase relalionsllips in an isothernzal section of the Ti-Zr-H system at 750°Chave been investigated by measurement of hydrogen equilibrium pressures. The resulting diagram indicates that the hydride phase has an anomalously wide range of homogencity extending from 66.6 to 30 at. pct H in alloys containing about 15 al. pet Zr. Measurement of the heat of solution of hydrogen as a function of alloy composition in ß-phase alloys indicates no anomalous behavior in the region of 15 at. pet Zr, and suggests that the extensive range of homogeneity in the hydride phase at about this composition must he attributed to an enhanced stability of the, hydride phase. THE manner in which titanium and zirconium react with hydrogen and the constitutional diagrams of the two metal-hydrogen systems are qualitatively very similar,'-6 as can be seen from Fig. 1 which shows the constitutional diagrams of the two systems. Quantitatively, however, there are some differences. For example, the exothermic heat of solution of hydrogen in ß titanium is smaller than that in ß zirconium, and consequently the equilibrium hydrogen pressure of a Ti-H alloy is higher than a Zr-H alloy at the same temperature and hydrogen concentration. Other differences manifest themselves in the hydride phases which exist at high hydrogen concentrations. In the Ti-H system, above room temperature, there exists only a single hydride phase in which the metal atoms are arranged on a fee lattice, but in the zirconium system there are two hydrides, and whereas the hydride of lower hydrogen concentration has a fee structure, the higher hydride has a face-centered tetragonal structure. The tetragonal hydride retains its stability up to temperatures in excess of 450oC.7 From the foregoing, it would be expected that the constitutional diagram of the ternary Ti-Zr-H system would have a very simple form, especially as titanium and zirconium are completely miscible in both the a and ß forms.8 The present work, which consists of a study of an isothermal section of the ternary system, was carried out in order to check the assumption frequently made that the electronic structure of the two metals and the mechanism by which hydrogen is held in solution in the metals is the same for each. Although this proved largely to be true, certain inter esting and unexpected features of the ternary system emerged which must be explained before we can really say that the reactions of titanium and zirconium with hydrogen are fully understood. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE The most convenient method of studying hydrogen-metal systems is by the measurement of the hydrogen pressure in equilibrium with the hydrogen dissolved in the metal as a function of hydrogen concentration and temperature. In binary systems, the results are easily interpreted in terms of alloy constitution, since two-phase regions can be recognized by the fact that the hydrogen pressure at constant temperature does not vary with the hydrogen concentration in the alloy when it is in the two-phase condition. This criterion does not apply in ternary systems, but there is usually a marked change of slope in the isothermal pressure-composition curves when a phase boundary is crossed, and with care, and a knowledge of the limiting binary systems, the phase structure of the alloys can usually be deduced. In the

Jan 1, 1962

HAVING told you about steel in the previous chapter, it seems to me necessary to speak here of brass for the same reason, for it bears the same relation to copper that steel does to iron. It is the opinion of some concerning both of these that they are true minerals because Pliny in his Natural History calls it aurichalcum and says that it has its own ore; he does not say, however, where it is found, and I have not heard from anyone else that it has been found anywhere, and, surely, if it had been found when he wrote, it would also be found today. Since I have no knowledge other than that gained through my own eyes, I tell you as a certainty that just as steel is iron converted by art into almost another kind of metal, so also brass is copper given a yellow color by art. Surely it was a splendid discovery, for which we must praise the alchemists,* although perhaps whoever discovered it was deceived, thinking that he had made gold from copper. Now, in short, this work requires infinite labor, and is carried out in various places, for instance, in Flanders, Cologne, Paris, and in many other countries, and also in the city of Milan in Italy, where I have seen a

Jan 1, 1942