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By Tristan Worsey, Nathan Rouse

The Florida legislature allocated funding for the Florida State Fire Marshal (FSFM) to review the applicability of the United States Bureau of Mines (USBM) Report of Investigations (RI) 8507 blast vibration limits with respect to Florida and its soils. The study also discusses whether the current blasting vibration limits set by statute are still appropriate, including a review of measured vibration amplitudes and frequencies, structure responses, and theoretical analyses of material strength and strains

Jan 1, 2019

By Tristan Worsey, Nathan Rouse

Florida legislature allocated funding for the Florida State Fire Marshal to review the applicability of the United States Bureau of Mines (USBM) Report of Investigations (RI) 8507 blast vibration limits with respect to Florida and its soils. The study also discusses whether the current blasting vibration limits set by statute are still appropriate, including a review of measured vibration amplitudes and frequencies, structure responses, and theoretical analyses of material strength and strains.

Jan 1, 2019

By Russell E. Clemons

Coarse-crystalline granite, quartz syenite, syenite, meladiorite, and anorthosite in the Florida Mountains, southeast of Deming, New Mexico, were originally mapped as Precambrian. They were remapped in 1971 and some of them described as Mesozoic intrusives. Several subsequent papers presented Precambrian and Ordovician ages. Zinc, lead, copper, silver, gold, manganese, fluorite, and barite mineralization in the Florida Mountains invite more extensive exploration. Clarification of ages of rocks and periods of alteration and mineralization are necessary for efficient exploration. Field observations combined with petrographic studies strongly suggest that all the coarse plutonic rocks are Precambrian and most were altered extensively by late Tertiary hydrothermal activity.

Jan 1, 1982

By Carl Henrich

While the size of the blast-furnaces used for smelting leadand copper-ores has constantly increased, during late years, the manner of removing the slag from the furnace to the slag-dump has (until quite recently, at least) practically remained the same. The only appliance in practical use has been the two-wheeled slag-pot, holding about 300 to 400 pounds of slag, or as much as one man could manage to pull or push on a smooth, hard surface. When these slag-pots on wheels were first introduced, the daily capacity of a lead or copper blast-furnace hardly reached 30 tons of smelting-charge. With furnaces of this size, and even when the capacity had been doubled, this kind of slag-pot answered well enough. All the improvements made were in the construction of these pots and not in an increase of their size, which was limited by the weight which one man could handle. But the size of the furnace went on increasing. The daily consumption of one furnace rose gradually to 75 tons, 100 tons, and even more. The writer had occasion to construct some of these furnaces, which, in their day, were among the largest, if not the largest, of the water-jacketed kind then in existence. A water-jacketed furnace will always smelt more in the same time than a furnace with brick walls. Already, in those days, the slag-removal from these enlarged furnaces received due attention by the writer. The removal of 60 tons of slag in 24 hours, in pots holding only 300 pounds each, will require 400 pots to be filled in 24 hours; and when the amount.of slag increases to 90 tons, 600 pots will be required. That is to say, in the last case, 25 pots in each hour, or 1 pot each 24 minutes, will have to be put under the slagspout, filled, pulled away, and replaced with another. This will involve too much hurry for any degree of comfort, convenience

Jan 1, 1896

By Carl Henrich

In the planning and erection of smelting-works, especially of such as contain the modern large water-jacketed blast-furnaces, we are often confronted with an insufficiency in the watersupply. It may be impossible to find in the immediate neighborhood of the selected site a sufficient supply to furnish the jackets with cold water. Or there may be enough water for this purpose, but it may be highly charged with scale-forming minerals held in solution. Or, the main water-supply, if pumped from the workings of a mine, may carry iron- or copper-salts, or even some free acid in solution, all of these substances being derivable from the oxidation of sulphuret-ores in the mine. Moreover, such mine-waters sometimes contaminate the waters of the creeks, so that these become unavailable, and we have to fall back on an inadequate supply of pure water furnished by some spring or springs, entirely too small in

Jan 1, 1896

In response to Dr. Ledoux's paper, a large number of metallurgical establishments and individual assayers expressed their willingness to co-operate in the plan he proposed. The necessary samples were prepared as follows : Matte.—A car-load of matte was put through a Blake crusher, then automatically subdivided into tenths by a Taylor and Brunton sampler, and one-tenth passed through Cornish rolls and through a 12-mesh screen. This was again subdivided by an automatic sampler into tenths, and a final tenth, representing 1 per cent. of the original lot, was finished by hand-sampling on an iron floor until 100 pounds remained. This was pulverized to pass a 40-mesh screen and then thoroughly mixed and divided in the presence of my assistant for distribution to the parties co-operating. Copper Borings.—These were taken from a lot of anodes, the dip-samples from several batches having been united, remelted and cast into a plate, which was proved by assay to be of uniform quality in its different parts. Borings from this plate were intimately mixed and divided in the presence of my assistant. Samples were sent out November 1,1894, with the following letter: New York City, November 1, 1894. Samples of matte and copper (about I pound each) carefully prepared in the presence of my assistant and sealed with his seal as below, are sent you by express for assay and report according to the plan of Dr. Ledoux. These samples are constituted about as follows: Matte. Copper. From. To. From. To. Copper, per cent.,.....50 60 ..........., Gold, oz. per ton,.....2 3 0.20 0.50 Silver, oz. per ton,.....100 150 140 180

Jan 1, 1896

C. A. Stetefeldt, Oakland, Cal.: It has always been assumed by the writer, and also by others, that the silver volatilized by roasting in a Stetefeldt furnace was a minimum as compared with roasting in other furnaces. Now, Mr. Morse records at

Jan 1, 1896

By H. O. Hofman

Jan 1, 1896

By E. T. Cox

The peninsula of Florida is remarkable for the uniform character and simplicity of its geological structure. Major Henry Whiting, of the U. S. Army, was one of the first to give an account of the physical features and rocks of Florida, in an article published in 1839, in the American Journal of Science (vol. xxxv., p. 47). He says: " The rocks found in situ are all calcareous, though siliceous boulders are occasionally seen, and nodules of hornstone are here and there mingled with the limestone, which elicit sparks and are sometimes used by the Indians for flints."

Jan 1, 1896

By Henry A. Gordon

Under the title " Hysteromorphous" it is proposed to include deposits which have been formed from original deposits by the influences of the surface-region. The term Hysteromorphous—later-formed—has been used by Prof. Posepny, of Vienna, to distinguish secondary from primary deposits and is more comprehensively applicable than the terms or designations hitherto used for the same thing.

Jan 1, 1896

By Willard S. Morse

Referring to Mr. Rickard's paper on " The Limitations of the Gold Stamp-Mill" (Trans., xxiii., 137), and the discussions that have followed, and without entering into any controversy as to the relative merits of the " California " and " Colorado " types of stamp-mills, I wish to give the results obtained on ores from Lynx Creek district, near Prescott, Arizona, with a stampmill of the Colorado, or, more precisely, the Gilpin county, Colo., type. The mines of the district have been worked for nearly thirty

Jan 1, 1896

By Francis L. Sperry

Up to within a few years, the consumption of nickel has been more directly dependent upon the available supply than that of any of the other useful metals. The Gap mine, in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania,* has been, for the last quarter of a century, the only property in this country furnishing nickel in paying quantities. Its yearly output was about 300,000 pounds of metallic nickel, or nearly half the amount used annually in the United States. Foreign nickel from mines on the New Caledonia islands, in the South Pacific, found entrance into our markets as the production of the Gap mine fell off. The price of nickel was constantly maintained, and no special effort was made to extend its use. Over-production was cautiously guarded against, and all surplus metal was held by the banking-houses of the Rothschilds, who assumed the bonded indebtedness of the Sociètè le Nickel. The opening of the Ontario nickel-mines has, however, brought about a radical change; and nickel from the Sudbury district can be delivered in New York within four days, and in European markets within two weeks, as against two months consumed in transporting South Pacific ores. Former prices have been irretrievably smashed, and European trade-journals comment favorably on the influence which Canadian nickel has had in making lower prices, and breaking the backbone of the " nickel trust." Production and Costs. The quantity of nickel produced and the prices which it commanded may be briefly summarized as follows: The total production of the world from 1840 to 1860 was about 100 to 250 tons yearly of metallic nickel; from 1860 to

Jan 1, 1896

By William R. Webster

In view of the great interest now taken in the tests of castiron and details of foundry practice, with the number of investigators at work, and recent improvements in the methods of research, it would seem that the time is ripe to attempt the solution of some of the many problems with which iron founders have to contend. Recent papers and discussions on these subjects* have opened up s large field for investigation, and have emphasized the importance of many considerations generally overlooked. With the view of promoting a comprehensive and systematic discussion, I have attempted to tabulate, in conveilient form, some of the most important points for investigation, on the general plan suggested, with such good results, by our former President, H. M. Howe, for the discussion on the Physics of Steel, at the Virginia Beach meeting, last year. This table can, no doubt, be modified or enlarged to advantage, and put in shape to serve as a guide or reminder to all who are interested in this line of work. Suggested Lines for Discussion and Investigation. I.—Correspondence between chemical composition and melting point, fluidity, shrinkage, fracture, chill, micro-structure, and other physical properties. II.—Influence of: I. Cupola mixture, use of steel and other scrap, oxidized or clean material, 2. Manner of melting, flux, etc., 3. Casting temperature, A. Fracture. 4. Manner of handling melted metal and B. Micro-structure. method of casting, C. Physical properties. 5. Size and form of casting, D. Shrinkage. 6. Kind of mould, green sand (under dif- on 1 E. Chill. ferent conditions of ramming, amount F. Residual stress. of moisture, and skin-dried), dry sand, G. Condition and quan loam, and chills, tity of carbon and 7. Rate and mode of cooling castings, other elements. 8. Manner and temperature of heating for annealing, 9. Additions of nickel or aluminum,

Jan 1, 1896

By J. J. Ormsbee

Attempts at coal-washing have been made in the southern states during the last twenty years; but it is only within the last four or five years that the practice has become at all general. It might perhaps be claimed as one of the blessings derived from our departed " booms;" for, during their sway, the supply of coal of all qualities, good and bad, could not equal the demand; but, with the subsidence of the inflated demand, came imperative calls for fuels of better quality; and washers, previously regarded as luxuries, became necessities. Among those now in use in this section are representatives of the following types or classes: the trough washer; the jig washer; the percussive table; and those washers in which a constant upward current of water effects the separation. Without having full statistics, it is safe to say that there are in successful operation in the South more washers of the last class than of any of the others. The purpose of these notes is to present data with regard to the constructiOn, operation, and results of one of these current-washers, based mainly on the plant at No. 2 Slope, Pratt Mines, Alabama. The coal is mined from the well-known Pratt seam, having here an average thickness of 3 feet 6 inches. It has distinct cleavage-planes, and breaks in cuboidal lumps; is bright black in color, firm in structure, and air-slacks only after considerable exposure. It burns freely, leaving a gray or buff-colored ash. The lump- and nut-coals are used for domestic and steampurposes (chiefly, however, for locomotive firing), and the slack for making coke. The specific gravity is 1.272. Analyses of Pratt Coal. I. 11. 111. IV. Min. Resources Authority. Phillips. McCalley. of U. s.,1892. Lupton. Fixed carbon,. . 67.90 61.600 64.30 63.82 Volatile material,.. 29.80 31.480 32.08 31.85 Moisture,.,...... 1.508 1.07 1.02 Ash,.... 2.30 5.416 2.08 3.31 Sulphur,. .. 0.83 0.918 0.47 0.70

Jan 1, 1896

By E. T. Cox

The Albion phosphate-district embraces a territory about 4 miles wide and 6 miles long, in a northerly and southerly direction, situated in Levy county, Florida. The Florida Central and Peninsular railroad, running from Fernandina, a shipping port on the Atlantic, to Cedar Keys, on the Gulf of Mexico, passes through the center of the district. The post-office and railroad station is in the town of Albion. The physical features of the district present a series of white aqd whitish-gray sand-hills and ridges, rising about 130 feet above tide-water. The sand lies in a loose body, like that seen on the ocean beaches. In places the hills have the appearance of sand-dunes, such as are seen along the Platte river, in Nebraska. Beneath the sand are found the phosphate-deposits, which are partially exposed in places, but, for the most part, lie buried to a depth of 15 feet and more. In this district the phosphate is designated as " hard rock,"

Jan 1, 1896

By Richard W. Lodge

The following work, performed by Mr. W. A. Tucker, of the class of 1893, in the mining department of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, seems to me to be worthy of publication. I believe it has always been considered that the presence of arsenic especially interferes with the extraction of gold by the cyanide method. Mr. Tucker's work, although made on a laboratory scale, certainly seems to disprove this view, and to show that even with a very large percentage of arsenic present in the ore, a high extraction may be obtained without an excessive consumption of potassic cyanide. The ore from which the concentrates were obtained was a gray argillaceous schist. and slate, with stringers and veins of quartz running through it. It carried free gold and about 12 per cent. of sulphides. The ore was crushed with stamps; the free gold was collected in the ordinary way on silver-amalgamated copper plates; and the sulphides, which consisted chiefly of arsenopyrite and pyrite, with very small amounts of galena and chalcopyrite, were concentrated and collected by means of a Frue vanner. A carefully-taken sample gave: Gold,........6.17 ounces per ton. Arsenic,.......30.6 per cent. The latter figure would correspond to about 66.5 per cent,. of arsenopyrite in the concentrates. The work to be done was outlined as follows: 1. Sizing the concentrates; 2. Assaying the different sizings; 3. Treating these different sizings with ECy of different degrees of strength for different periods of time.

Jan 1, 1896

By H. O. Hofman

The mining and metallurgical laboratory, as we understand the term in this country, is a place .in which mechanical and chemical working-tests are made on ores, fuels and furnacematerials. It is of quite recent origin. The first laboratory of this kind to be used in connection with teaching was put into operation in 1871 at the Massachusetts Institute of Techilo1ogy. † The idea had already existed in the mind of President W. B. Rogers when he wrote, in 1864, his pamphlet 'on " The Scope and Plan of the School of Industrial Science of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology;" but several years elapsed, and an extended visit to the mines and mills of Colorado, Utah, Nevada and California was required before this idea could take a form adapted to the purposes of original research as well as of instruction. The laboratory was given from the first into the charge of Prof. R. H. Richards, who, by improving its methods and enlarging its scope, has brought it to the position which it occupies to-day as the leading representative of its class. Private laboratories for making tests upon ores had previously existed here and there, especially on the Pacific coast, for silver and gold ores; but in the educational field the

Jan 1, 1896

By Willard S. Morse

The purpose of this paper is to record the results obtained in the use of the Russell process at Aspen, Colo., covering a period of fourteen months, from November, 1891, to December, 1892, during which time over 30,000 tons of ore, purchased outright, on sample and assay, were treated. No explanation of results will be attempted, nor will the chemistry of the process be discussed. The plant was designed by C. A. Stetefeldt, of San Francisco, and built by the owners by day-labor. The entire plant is run by water-power, supplied by a flume 3600 feet long, and a pipe-line 2200 feet long, with a head of 170 feet. A Pelton water-wheel, 8 feet in diameter, is used, from which power is transmitted by wire-rope to the main counter-shaft in the mill, a distance of about 250 feet. From the mill to the samplingworks, about 150 feet, power is also transmitted by a wirerope. A Pelton water-wheel, 3 feet in diameter, supplies power to the dynamo for lighting the plant. The works are located adjoining the Santa Fe railroad tracks, and all ore and supplies are unloaded directly from the cars to the works. The sampling-works are provided with crushers and rolls, the latter being used only on samples, and not on the entire ore. The Cornish hand-quartering method is used in sampling ore for purchase. After crushing and sampling, the ore goes to the bedding-floor, where it is made up into mixtures suitable for the mill. The drying-plant consists of four Stetefeldt double shelfdryers, six shelves high, and is provided with dust-chambers and a stack 65 feet high for draft. These dryers are fired with gas

Jan 1, 1896

By Walter Renton Ingalls

The ores of zinc which are important as sources of that metal are of two classes, viz., the sulphide and the oxidized. The latter includes six varieties: zincite (the red oxide) and franklinite (the oxide of zinc, iron, and manganese), which are found abundantly only in New Jersey; and the hydrous and anhydrous carbonates, the hydrous and anhydrous silicates, which are of widespread occurrence. The hydrous carbonate is known mineralogically as hydrozincite, zinconise, or zinc-bloom; the anhydrous silicate is recognized as willemite. With respect to the anhydrous carbonate and the hydrous silicate, however, there is a confusion of name which is of old standing. Attempts to clear it away were long ago made by the mineralogists with the result that there is now a more or less national uniformity of nomenclature; but there is still an international disagreement, sometimes very perplexing and always leading to inexactness in expression, which may be considered an adequate excuse for this return to a time-worn subject. The name calamine, together with Galmei of the Germans, is commonly supposed to be derived from xadµela, which was used by the Greeks to designate the peculiar kind of ore employed with copper in their brass-making, and also the accretions which formed in the brass-founder's furnaces. Agricola, however, says that it is from calamm, a reed, in allusion to the appearance of the material, cadmia fornacum, which collected 011 the furnace-walls. But whatever the derivation of the word, it was used until within one hundred years to include all the oxidized

Jan 1, 1896

By Charles Willard Hayes

Shortly after the discovery of black phosphate on Swan creek, in Hickman county, Tennessee, prospectors familiar with the Florida phosphate came to the region and began the search for rock similar to that found in Florida. Among these was Mr. E. Slattery, who located at Linden, in Perry county. He gave a piece of the Florida rock to Mr. C. C. Sutton, and the latter discovered on Tom's creek a deposit which bore a strong

Jan 1, 1896