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By E. P. Miller, F. R. Morral

Hot-dipped heat-treated zinc coatings on sheet steel were examined with X-rays. The phases identified were compared with those listed in the modern literature 01 the zinc-iron system. The zeta (FeZn13) phase is shown to correspond to the phase found by Schueler (1925) in heat-treated zinc coatings. An investigation was undertaken to determine the phases present in hot-dipped heat-treated zinc coatings on steel sheets and wire. This kind of coating on wire was studied some years ago by Schuelerl by microscopic and chemical methods. He reported a new phase, FeZn10. Later, Clark and Stillwell,2 using X-ray crystal analysis, identified a new phase in ordinary galva. nized wire, which was assumed to be the FeZn10 phase. Since the extensive review of the iron-zinc alloys presented a few years ago,3 much new work has been published, some of which5-l6 was too late to be included in the recent edition (1939) of the American Society for Metals' Handbook.4 Figs. 1 and 2 are reproductions of the latest iron-zinc diagram proposed by Schramml1 as a result of his investigations by microscopic, thermal, magnetic susceptibility and X-ray methods. Table 1 summarizes all the known published X-ray data of the phases Present. The solubility of iron in zinc has been determined by x-ray methods.10 In the same manner the homogeneity range of the P phase was studiedlo using the principle that the parameter of an intermetallic compound changes while the concentration of One of the constituents changes. Schramm10 has found some 80 alpha lines in X-ray powder photograms of phase d1, and from these he believes that this phase is related to the P phase. Previous investi-

Jan 1, 1941

By Frank Foote, V. H. Nordstrom, Eric R. Jette, Bernard Queneau

The nickel-chromium alloys form the base for many industrial heating alloys, so that this system is of considerable practical importance. The literature on these alloys, however, contains much conflicting evidence, not only regarding the solubility limits of the terminal solid solutions at different temperatures but even regarding the number of phases existing in the system. Part of the difficulty undoubtedly arises from the fact that chromium of sufficiently high purity has been available only during the last few years. A second and possibly even more important difficulty arises from the ease with which chromium reacts with silicon and carbon compounds and the atmosphere to form silicides, carbides, nitrides and oxides. Pilling and Kihlgrenl in 1929 reviewed the existing scanty information. They did not consider the diagram by which they summarized the various bits of information to be entirely satisfactory. Matsunaga2 investigated the system by thermal analysis, microscopic examination and other means. Electrolytic nickel of 99.9 per cent purity and thermit chromium containing 0.30 per cent Al, 0.40 per cent Fe, 0.25 per cent Si and 0.04 per cent C were used. A Tammann furnace with hydrogen flowing through it was used for melting. Sekito and Matsunaga3 reported an X-ray investigation, presumably on these same alloys, which, as far as can be judged from the abstract, essentially confirmed the thermal and microscopic results. Nishigori and Hamasumi4 found compositions for the terminal solid solutions in equilibrium at the eutectic temperature which agreed fairly

Jan 1, 1934

By Eric J. Jette, Frank Foote

The unusual physical, electrical and magnetic properties of the iron-nickel alloys has given rise to a voluminous literature. This work will be reviewed critically in "The Alloys of Iron and Nickel," a monograph of the Alloys of Iron Research Series, soon to be published. In what follows we shall therefore confine ourselves to those of the earlier investigations that involved the use of X-ray crystal-structure methods. The earliest X-ray work on the iron-nickel system was by Miss Andrewsl. Using the powder method of X-ray analysis purely as a means of identifying the phases present, she located a region between 20 and 30 weight per cent nickel in which body-centered and face-centered phases coexisted. No lattice constants nor details of heat-treatment were reported. Bain2 also reported some qualitative observations. McKeehan3 made a systematic investigation over the whole of the system, giving many of his alloys four and some five different heat-treatments. In alloys furnace-cooled from 900' to 950' C. he found two coexisting phases between 0.15 and 30 per cent nickel. The precision of the lattice-constant measurements was low in comparison with what can be obtained today. Even for alloys of the same heat-treatment, differences in the constants were often between two and ten parts per thousand. In regions where no change of lattice constant with heat-treatment should occur, differences of the same order of magnitude were found. Since the maximum change in the lattice constant of nickel with change of composition is only about 2 per cent of the constant for pure nickel, these variations in the constants for a given alloy cause the points to "scatter" badly about any curve that may be drawn to represent them and it is difficult to interpret such results. In spite of this, McKeehan shows that the lattice constant of nickel increased as the iron content increased. His results for the alpha-iron phase are less conclusive. Osawa4 also investigated the entire system. For alloys slowly cooled from 1150' C. and then filed into samples for X-ray analysis, he found

Jan 1, 1936

By Frank Foote, Eric J. Jette

The unusual physical, electrical and magnetic properties of the iron-nickel alloys has given rise to a voluminous literature. This work will be reviewed critically in "The Alloys of Iron and Nickel," a monograph of the Alloys of Iron Research Series, soon to be published. In what follows we shall therefore confine ourselves to those of the earlier investigations that involved the use of X-ray crystal-structure methods. The earliest X-ray work on the iron-nickel system was by Miss Andrewsl. Using the powder method of X-ray analysis purely as a means of identifying the phases present, she located a region between 20 and 30 weight per cent nickel in which body-centered and face-centered phases coexisted. No lattice constants nor details of heat-treatment were reported. Bain2 also reported some qualitative observations. McKeehan3 made a systematic investigation over the whole of the system, giving many of his alloys four and some five different heat-treatments. In alloys furnace-cooled from 900' to 950' C. he found two coexisting phases between 0.15 and 30 per cent nickel. The precision of the lattice-constant measurements was low in comparison with what can be obtained today. Even for alloys of the same heat-treatment, differences in the constants were often between two and ten parts per thousand. In regions where no change of lattice constant with heat-treatment should occur, differences of the same order of magnitude were found. Since the maximum change in the lattice constant of nickel with change of composition is only about 2 per cent of the constant for pure nickel, these variations in the constants for a given alloy cause the points to "scatter" badly about any curve that may be drawn to represent them and it is difficult to interpret such results. In spite of this, McKeehan shows that the lattice constant of nickel increased as the iron content increased. His results for the alpha-iron phase are less conclusive. Osawa4 also investigated the entire system. For alloys slowly cooled from 1150' C. and then filed into samples for X-ray analysis, he found

Jan 1, 1936

By Frank Foote, E. R. Jette

Precision lattice-constant measurements have been widely used in the study of cubic solid solutions but as yet have been rarely applied to noncubic solid solutions. (See, however, references I and 2.) With the high precision at present attainable in the measurement of lattice constants, the X-ray method should be readily applicable to noncubic solid solutions. In the work reported here, hexagonal close-packed magnesium was used as the solvent and either lead, bismuth or gold as the solute. In the magnesium-lead and magnesium-bismuth systems the a and c lattice constants were determined as a function of composition, densities were calculated from these lattice-constant data, these theoretical densities were compared with those directly measured and the solid solubility limit was determined on quenched specimens over a considerable range of temperature. In the magnesium-gold system, the solid solubility is very small but we have obtained an indirect check on the solubility limit previously reported. Materials and Preparation oF the Alloys The magnesium used was obtained from the Aluminum Company of America and was 99.987 per cent pure. Impurities as reported On the label were: Fe, Al, 0'004 per cent; Si, 0.009 per cent; Zn, trace; Cu, Pb, nil. The bismuth was Merck's analytical grade, minimum purity 99.95 per cent. Maximum impurities as listed on the label were: Fe, 0.008 per cent; Pb, 0.010 per cent; Ag, 0.010 per cent; Cu, 0.005 per cent; Sn, 0.003 per cent; Sb, 0.00; As, 0.000; S, 0.01 per cent. The gold was purified by double precipitation with sulphur dioxide. The lattice constants of these three metals have been previously reported.3 The lead used was test lead, silver free and with a maximum of 0.10 per cent heavy metal impurities. The lattice constant 01 this lead has been measured and found to be 4.94057 ± 0.00016 at 25°C. The alloys were prepared by melting together weighed amounts of the constituent metals in magnesia-lined alundum crucibles under an atmosphere of hydrogen purified by passing over magnesium heated to 500°C. The magnesia lining prevented contamination 01 the alloys with aluminum. Vacuum melting could not be used because of the volatility of magnesium. A high-frequency induction furnace was used for the melting operation and the stirring action of the current resulted in thorough mixing of the constituents. The melts were allowed to freeze in the crucible, the ingots obtained weighed about 10 grams. An extremely thin white film formed on the surface of the melts, sometimes covering only a part of the exposed surface. The ingots were filed clean, placed in small iror crucibles with close-fitting lids and indi. vidually sealed into Pyrex glass tubes Before sealing off, the tubes were alter

Jan 1, 1941

By Frank Foote, E. R. Jette

Precision lattice-constant measurements have been widely used in the study of cubic solid solutions but as yet have been rarely applied to noncubic solid solutions. (See, however, references I and 2.) With the high precision at present attainable in the measurement of lattice constants, the X-ray method should be readily applicable to noncubic solid solutions. In the work reported here, hexagonal close-packed magnesium was used as the solvent and either lead, bismuth or gold as the solute. In the magnesium-lead and magnesium-bismuth systems the a and c lattice constants were determined as a function of composition, densities were calculated from these lattice-constant data, these theoretical densities were compared with those directly measured and the solid solubility limit was determined on quenched specimens over a considerable range of temperature. In the magnesium-gold system, the solid solubility is very small but we have obtained an indirect check on the solubility limit previously reported. Materials and Preparation oF the Alloys The magnesium used was obtained from the Aluminum Company of America and was 99.987 per cent pure. Impurities as reported On the label were: Fe, Al, 0'004 per cent; Si, 0.009 per cent; Zn, trace; Cu, Pb, nil. The bismuth was Merck's analytical grade, minimum purity 99.95 per cent. Maximum impurities as listed on the label were: Fe, 0.008 per cent; Pb, 0.010 per cent; Ag, 0.010 per cent; Cu, 0.005 per cent; Sn, 0.003 per cent; Sb, 0.00; As, 0.000; S, 0.01 per cent. The gold was purified by double precipitation with sulphur dioxide. The lattice constants of these three metals have been previously reported.3 The lead used was test lead, silver free and with a maximum of 0.10 per cent heavy metal impurities. The lattice constant 01 this lead has been measured and found to be 4.94057 ± 0.00016 at 25°C. The alloys were prepared by melting together weighed amounts of the constituent metals in magnesia-lined alundum crucibles under an atmosphere of hydrogen purified by passing over magnesium heated to 500°C. The magnesia lining prevented contamination 01 the alloys with aluminum. Vacuum melting could not be used because of the volatility of magnesium. A high-frequency induction furnace was used for the melting operation and the stirring action of the current resulted in thorough mixing of the constituents. The melts were allowed to freeze in the crucible, the ingots obtained weighed about 10 grams. An extremely thin white film formed on the surface of the melts, sometimes covering only a part of the exposed surface. The ingots were filed clean, placed in small iror crucibles with close-fitting lids and indi. vidually sealed into Pyrex glass tubes Before sealing off, the tubes were alter

Jan 1, 1941

By Earl S. Greiner, Eric R. Jette

The constitution of the iron-silicon alloys containing from 14 to 33.4 weight per cent silicon has been studied by a number of investigators, whose results have been reviewed in a monograph published by the Engineering Foundation1. In these previous researches, the solubility of silicon in iron was determined by thermal, microscopic or magnetic methods and the compound Fe3Si2 was reported to be stable at temperatures from 0 to approximately 1030' C. This paper describes the results of an X-ray investigation of the solubility of silicon in iron and gives data which prove that the Fe3Si2 phase is unstable below 825" C. In order to obtain the present results on the solubility of silicon in iron, the authors have utilized the lattice constants of the alpha-phase iron-silicon alloys given in a previous publication2, and also some additional data which will subsequently be described. Materials and Methods The alloys used in this investigation are listed in Table 1. They were prepared in 30 or 50-gram ingots by melting specially purified silicon and electrolytic or carbonyl iron in alundum crucibles under a pressure of less than 1 mm. of mercury. The purity of the silicon, electrolytic and carbonyl irons has been given by the authors in previous publications2, 5. The ingots were homogenized in vacuo at approximately 1000" C. for at least 96 hr. and then slowly cooled. The homogenized specimens were ground to powder in a hardened steel mortar. This powder was passed through a 150 or 200-mesh screen and sealed in evacuated quartz, Jena or Pyrex glass tubes and heat-treated as noted in the various tables. Specimens 23A, 24B, 33 and 35 and the specimens heated for one month at 700" C. were quenched by quickly removing the tubes from a horizontal tubular furnace and dropping them into water. The other specimens were quenched by means of a drop-quenching device, which has been described previously3.

Jan 1, 1937

By E. H. Bunce, H. M. Haslam

The "direct process" for the manufacture of pigment zinc oxide produces the oxide directly from ore. This is accomplished by reducing the zinc by means of carbonaceous fuels and immediately burning the evolved zinc vapor to zinc oxide. For many years this was done by smelting a loose charge of ore and fuel on perforated grates. Since this process was developed in America and was extensively used here, it has become known as the "American process." Alternative methods of producing pigment zinc oxide are the "indirect process " and the "wet process." In the indirect process the raw material is metallic zinc, which is volatilized and burned to the oxide. For a long time this has been done in externally fired horizontal refractory retorts. This process has become known as the "French process," from the country of its origin. The wet process precipitates the carbonate or hydrate from zinc-bearing liquors and then calcines the precipitate. This method has been but sparingly used for producing commercial quantities of zinc oxide. It appears to be advisable to restrict the use of the terms "American process" and "French process" to the methods of the earlier periods and to consider the terms "direct process" and "indirect process" as generic terms to designate, first, all methods of producing pigment zinc oxide directly from ores, and, second, to include all those methods of producing zinc oxide from metallic zinc and metallic zinc-bearing substances. American Process In 1796 John Atkinson was granted British Patent No. 2094/1796 entitled, "Manufacture of White Paint." This patent describes a method of producing zinc oxide in which roasted zinc blende or calcined calamine is mixed with charcoal, and the mixture heated in a muffle to liberate zinc vapor, which is then burned to obtain zinc oxide fume. About 1850 The New Jersey Zinc Co., at its plant in Newark, N. J., attempted to make zinc oxide by smelting, in a reverberatory furnace, a mixture of coal and ore from its Franklin mine. A considerable amount

Jan 1, 1937

By W. R. Ingalls

In reviewing the history of the metallurgy of zinc, I shall pass hastily over what is only of antiquarian interest. That has been excellently treated by Dr. Bernhard Neumann in "Die Metalle" (1904) and has been described briefly in my "Production and Properties of Zinc" (1902), in my "Lead and Zinc in the United States " (1908), and in other metallurgical works of more or less the same date. In this present monograph, I have it in mind to confine myself mainly to technical practice, especially to that of the last 75 years, prior to which period advance was slow and of no great moment. The ancients made brass by the cementation process, i.e., embedding copper in a mixture of calamine and carbon and heating, whereby zinc oxide was reduced and zinc was vaporized and combined with the copper. Zinc was isolated by some of the alchemists, who named it and knew something of its properties, but made no use of it. Long before then, however, zinc was produced in India. Later it was produced in southern China. Possibly the Chinese obtained their knowledge from India. The Chinese in remote places still produce small quantities of zinc. I have seen photographs of their furnaces; or pots, for they hardly deserve the dignity of being called furnaces. I imagine that they are the same that were used centuries ago, for I cannot conceive of anything more primitive. Anyway, it is certain that the idea of a commercial production of zinc in Europe was imported from the Orient, where the metal was known in commerce as Speauter and Spiauter, whence speltrum and finally our term spelter. Tutanego and Tuteneague are other old names. Dr. Isaac Lawson went to China about 1730, expressly to discover the method of its production. What connection there was between Isaac Lawson and John Champion we do not know, but the latter obtained in 1739 a patent for a process of distillation downward and at some time between 1740 and 1743 erected a works at Bristol and actually began the manufacture of spelter. A production of 200 tons per annum is mentioned. In about the year 1766, Rishop Watson visited the Champion works and saw the process in operation, which previously had been

Jan 1, 1937

By T. B. Gyles

Zinc is made by the National Smelting Co. and its associates by both the horizontal retort process and the vertical retort process developed by the New Jersey Zinc Co. This paper deals only with the horizontal retort practice at Avonmouth. That the horizontal retort process does survive in all countries in some form or other is due to at least partial success in overcoming some of the inherent difficulties of the process. The horizontal retort furnaces ran into considerable difficulties when the product of the selective flotation of mixed lead and zinc ores became the normal material for treatment. It is necessary, therefore, to make some reference in connection with the process to the preliminary treatment of the ore prior to distillation.. Therefore we include some small reference to this aspect in our description. Furnace Design and Structure Of the types of furnaces in operation at the company's various works, those at Avonmouth are perhaps more typical of the trend to utilize large units, with a subsequent saving in costs, such as heating and supervision.

Jan 1, 1937

By E. H. Bunce, E. C. Handwerk

The inherent difficulties of zinc smelting arise from the fact that metallic zinc is volatilized at the reducing temperature of zinc oxide and thus is liberated in the form of a vapor. This vapor must be subsequently condensed to obtain metallic zinc, first in molten and eventually in solid form. Zinc vapor is sensitive to oxidation not only by air but by combustion gases containing carbon dioxide. It is, therefore, necessary to carry out both the reduction and the condensation operations in a closed system consisting of an externally heated muffle with attached condenser from which extcrnal oxidizing agencies are excluded. However, the reoxidation of zinc vapor cannot be entirely prevented by excluding external sources of oxidation. Internal sources of oxidation are necessarily present when oxidic zinc ores are reduced by a carbonaceous reducing agent. The reduction reactions themselves involve, first, the production of carbon monoxide in an amount at least equal in volume to the zinc vapor produced in the reaction, and, second, the formation of carbon dioxide. Not all of the carbon dioxide is reduced again to carbon monoxide by the excess carbon in the time available, and the slightly oxidizing condition, which results, seriously affects the efficiency of the condensation of the zinc vapor to the metallic state. In the past the difficulties arising from these causes have limited practical zinc smelting on an industrial scale to the use of small retorts equipped with small condensers. The retorts had to be small, because a closed refractory container capable of excluding oxidizing gases from the heating chamber surrounding the retort could not be built in large dimensions. The size was also limited because ordinary refractories when thin enough to conduct heat readily are not capable of sustaining a heavy load of charge at high temperature. Moreover, a loose charge of zinc ore and carbonaceous reducing material such as fine anthracite coal or coke breeze is a poor conductor of heat, thus limiting the cross section of the retort. The operation of these small retorts requires arduous

Jan 1, 1937

By H. A. Doerner

The process for smelting zinc developed several centuries ago is still in use. Through the experience accumulated over this long period of time, details of the process have been perfected until there is little opportunity to make any further improvement except by a radical change in method. Such a change was accomplished by the process recently developed by the New Jersey Zinc Co. The process to be herein discussed is a still more radical departure, which has been developed to large-scale laboratory operation by the Metallurgical Division of the U. 5. Bureau of Minesl. † The reduction of zinc oxide by carbon is a highly endothermic reaction, which requires temperatures in the range 1200° to 1400' C. for even a slow reaction rate. The transfer of the heat of reaction through thick fire-clay walls, the high radiation loss in the type of furnace used, and the practical impossibility of recovering or using the combustible products of the reduction (CO) cause a deplorable waste of fuel. With the one exception mentioned, all zinc smelting is done in small retorts manually charged and discharged. Attempts to mechanize these operations have been only partly successful, and there seems to be no way to avoid or improve the uncomfortable conditions in which the work is done. The reduction of zinc oxide by methane has a relatively high reaction rate at 1000' C. At this temperature most ore residues do not sinter, and it is possible to use metal retorts. These factors make gaseous reduction especially adapted to a continuous operation and compared to reduction by carbon make possible: (1) higher rate of reaction at lower temperature, (2) more nearly complete extraction of the zinc, and (3) much better utilization of fuel and reagent. Although the reaction between methane and zinc oxide requires 105,900 calories per mole, compared to 86,860 cal. in the carbon reduction, it is obvious that much less fuel will be required to supply 105,900 cal. through 36 in. of metal at 1000' C. than to transfer 86,860 cal. through 1 in. of fire clay at 1300° C. Moreover, the gaseous products of gaseous reduction (CO and H2) can supply 183,430 cal. by complete combustion.

Jan 1, 1937

By H. J. Stehli

The first sintering of zinc ores was done at the Bartlesville plant of the National Zinc Co., under the auspices of the late Otto Rissman. Mr. Rissman, who had had a long experience in the treatment of zinc ores, well realized all the difficulties of satisfactorily roasting zinc concentrates, which were becoming finer and dustier as each year went by—thus increasing the difficulties of roasting them in the existing forms of roasters, which were furnaces of the Ropp, Hegeler or similar types. Mr. Rissman's idea of the advantages of sinter was expressed in this way: in a zinc ore dead-roasted in a mechanical furnace there are many particles that are just like an egg; that is, they have a hard and impervious film of fused material on the outside, and in the retorting this completely cuts off access of the reducing gases to the center of the egg until a temperature has been reached at which this shell of the egg can be broken down through fusion. A particle of sintered zinc sulphide, on the contrary, is exactly like a piece of sponge. The moment the retort reaches the temperature at which the reactions can take place, they begin, because the reducing gases have ready access to the interior of the particles by means of the pores of the '" sponge." His faith in the advantages of sinter was amply borne out by the results obtained at the pioneer sintering plant for zinc ores installed by the National Zinc Company. Early Method of Sintering The method of procedure at Bartlesville was to roast the zinc concentrates down to somewhere in the neighborhood of 8 per cent residual sulphide sulphur; to cool these, then to wet them down to the proper moisture and mix them in the mixer of the sintering plant; then to sinter them by means of the heat available from the residual sulphides. The sulphur contents of the roast varied considerably, of course, as it was difficult with the furnaces in use to control the roasting exactly at any point short of dead roast. Hence at times the concentrates were roasted a little too low to sinter readily, and at such times the lack of sulphur was made up by the addition of raw concentrates to the sintering-machine charge in suitable amount.

Jan 1, 1937

By R. R. McNaughton

The Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada, Ltd. at Trail, B. C., inaugurated a comprehensive program of investigation about 15 years ago to develop the most economical process of recovering the metal in the large accumulated stock of by-products of the lead smelter and the zinc plant. Two principal methods of recovery were followed to a successful conclusion—an electrothermic process to treat zinc-plant residues and cold slag and the fuming of hot slag from the lead blast furnaces. The latter was selected because it showed a saving over the former in its ability to handle hot blast-furnace slag, thus obviating the necessity of granulating, handling and eventually remelting the same slag for the electrothermic process. The design of a fuming plant was commenced in 1928, and construction, which was started immediately, was completed in July 1030. Operating intermittently for a general tuning up, the plant was officially blown in for regular operation in August. During this month the vagaries of a slag-fuming plant were studied and an operating crew was trained. A history of slag fuming at Trail and the development of plant design is given in a paper by G. E. Murray in the Transactions of the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy for 1933. Fuming Plant The fuming plant at Trail (Fig. 1) is a separate unit although of necessity interlocked closely with the lead smelter. The plant consists essentially of a fuming furnace with its accessories, a waste-heat boiler followed by an economizer, and a suction-type baghouse. The plant was built as the first of two 400-ton units with the intention of adding the second unit within a year, so that flues, fans and buildings were built to handle double the original load. Furnace.—The furnace as originally built (Fig. 2) was of water-jacket construction, 10 ft. wide, 20 ft. long and 6 to 10 ft. high. The roof height was made variable to check experimental work, which had indicated that this dimension affected the rate of reduction. Coal and air were supplied

Jan 1, 1937

By George F. Weaton

Although an almost continuous campaign had been carried on by various experimenters since 1885 to find a commercial process of smelting zinc by electrothermic means, no commercial success was attained in the United States. The St. Joseph Lead Co., appreciating the theoretical possibilities of such a process, such as the ability to construct units of large capacity, quality control, and the possibility of treating complex and refractory ores, decided in 1926 that the process was worthy of further investigation, and in that year, at one of its southeast Missouri plants, began the development of the electrothermic zinc-smelting process according to the invention of the late Earl C. Gaskill. Late in 1929 the process reached a stage of commercial significance, and in 1930 the erection of a modern electrothermic zinc smelter was begun, at Josephtown, Beaver County, Pa. The site is 3 miles from Monaca, which is on the main line of the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad, and a spur of the railroad has been constructed to the plant site. The site borders upon the Ohio River, which is navigable for 600 to 800-ton barges. This district was selected for the plant after an economic survey involving such questions as cost and availability of electric power, reduction fuel, transportation facilities, and the transportation charges on raw and finished materials, labor conditions, and taxes. The initial unit of the plant was designed to treat daily 120 tons of 58 per cent zinc sulphide concentrates from the company's mines in St. Lawrence County, New York. The plant equipment is housed in seven modern steel-frame buildings, and includes: Roasting and Acid Plants 3000-ton concentrate storage. Two Nichols-Herreshoff 21 ft. 6-in. diameter, 12-hearth roasters with usual cast-iron airshaft supporting chromium-alloy rabble arms and rabbles. SO2 gas purification system consisting of: One double-compartment hot-dust Cottrell precipitator. Cast-iron sinuous air-contact gas cooler.

Jan 1, 1937

By Hermann Bach, Walther Hänig, Willi Gehrhardt, Ernst Theurich, Walter Langner

With the construction of the Magdeburg zinc works, the Georg von Giesche's Erben Mining Co. of Breslau has to a certain extent completed the program of reconstruction which it set as its goal after the boundaries of Upper Silesia were drawn by the Treaty of Versailles. During its history, covering.more than two centuries, zinc and lead mining has been its chief activity. Through the new boundaries established, it lost to Poland all its mines and smelters, including five distillation smelters. Of its extensive properties, there remained only an apparently unimportant and unexplored portion of the old Bleischarley ore field which, however, happily made possible the resumption of its old business. In 1925 the Deutsch-Bleischarley shaft-only a few kilometers from the old Bleischarley shaft—was sunk and developed, and in May 1926 production of lead and zinc ore was resumed. As facilities for smelting were lacking, the ore was at first delivered to the neighboring smelters, which had now become Polish. Realization of the plan to build its own zinc works had to be postponed at first for lack of capital. In the meantime, however, plans for the new works were worked out in all details. After extensive experimentation in a semicommercial pilot plant it was decided, at the end of 1928 and the beginning of 1929, to use the electrolytic process and, for economic reasons, to place the works at Magdeburg. With zinc at the approximate price level that had ruled since the Deutsch-Bleischarley mine had begun working, it was hoped that the plan could be completed in 1930 with the company's own resources. However, falling metal prices, already noticeable in 1929, made this impossible, and further postponement for a time became necessary. Finally, at the end of July 1933, the funds for building the works became available, in the form of a loan granted under the first employment

Jan 1, 1937

By Munroe F. Warner

As originally built, the plant of the American Zinc and Chemical Co. at Langeloth, Pennsylvania, was based upon the Joplin and Wisconsin fields as primary sources of zinc ores, the ores being the then normal jig and table concentrates. Construction incorporated standard Matthies-sen and Hegeler kilns without regenerators. With the development of differential flotation, zinc concentrates produced by that process became the basis of operation. These concentrates were very fine, upwards of 90 per cent passing a 300-mesh screen, and had a comparatively low fusing point with marked caking and crusting characteristics. Difficulties and losses quickly developed. In roasting, the ore went through a decidedly fluid state, and spills became serious. Caking and crusting on hearths was severe and dust losses throughout became intolerable. Acid recoveries dropped from the normal ton-for-ton level to 0.85 tons per ton of ore, and choking of Glover towers and acid lines became a problem. In 1926 and 1927 a two-unit sintering plant was built and placed in operation in accordance with the Baelen process for finishing desulphuri-zation with admixture of carbon. This had its beneficial effect in smelting, but the other problems remained. The problem presented was the roasting of Pecos flotation concentrates at the rate of 200 tons daily to a sulphur content suitable for finishing in the sintering plant. Specifications had to be governed by the existing acid plant of four chamber sets built in units of two, rather widely separated, and the sintering plant built in the space between the existing pairs of kilns, of which there was one on the center line of each of the four chamber sets. The problem contained elements of pioneering and experimentation. A thermal analysis and heat balance clearly demonstrated a possibility of accomplishing autogenous roasting, well worth the attempt, because of high fuel costs and resultant economies in operation of the acid plant due to decreased gas volumes and a consequent release of capacity for increasing acid production, a problem also faced.

Jan 1, 1937

"The following articles were produced through funding under Generic Mineral Technology Center for Respirable Dust research. Full articles appear in the proceedings, 3rd Symposium in the Mineral Industries, published in 1991 by the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration, Inc.Personal Diesel Exhaust Aerosol SamplerV.A. Marple, K.L. Rubow, and Y. TaoParticle Technology, Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota(Section ill. Diesel I: Diesel Particulate Measurement, pp. 73-81)Abstract. Techniques are being developed for measuring the mass concentration of respirable diesel exhaust particles found in underground coal mines. Studies have been conducted over the past five years to investigate size selective 18Dlpling techniques to measure the respirable mass concentrations of diesel exhaust and mine dust aerosol particles in underground coal mines. Results from these studies have been used to develop design and performance criteria for a personal diesel exhaust aerosol sampler.Three personal diesel exhaust aerosol samplers have subsequently been designed and evaluated in both laboratory and field settings. These samplers use size selective classifiers for the determination of respirable mass concentrations of mineral dust and diesel exhaust particles. Their designs are based on the premise that diesel exhaust particles are predominantly less than 0.8 µm while mineral dust is greater than 0.8 µm.One design, selected for field evaluation, consists of a 10 mm nylon respirable dust cyclone followed by a 0.8 µm cutpoint impactor and afterfilter. The cyclone removes the nonrespirable particles while the inertial impactor state, collects the mineral dust on an impaction plate and allows the diesel particles to penetrate to an afterfilter. The two sample fractions of the respirable particles ( <0.8 µ.m and >0.8 µm) are gravimetrically analyzed to determine the concentrations of the diesel and mineral dust portions in the respirable coal mine aerosol."

Mar 1, 1992

The following are abstracts from papers presented at the 4th Symposium on Respirable Dust in the Mineral Industries and· were produced through research funding under the Generic Mineral Technology Center for Respirable Dust. Full articles appear in the proceedings published in July 1996 in Applied Occupational and Environmental Hygiene. (Volume 11, Number 7). The two addresses included in the proceedings point to the progress, prospects, problems, and perspectives on control of respirable dust and dust-related disease in the mineral industries. The symposium papers deal with respirable dust issues that are longstanding such as characterization, health effects, control of airborne coal dust, new and emerging issues such as iron toxicity, diesel particulates, and sampling. The papers were grouped into the following topics: continuous dust monitoring, encompassing the development of a fixed-site monitor that will provide continuous information on instantaneous and time-weighted respirable dust concentrations; mechanisms involved in the generation of dusts in mine environments, important for dust control at the source; characterization and control of diesel emissions (particularly diesel particulates) in mine atmospheres; mining systems effects and models; dust control in mine working faces and in milling environments; characterization of the physical, chemical mineralogical, and biological properties of the dust and their relevance to health effects and sampling; dust-lung interactions, encompassing results from several biomedical studies dealing with acute and chronic inhalation of airborne dusts and associated lung responses; the role of iron in causing lung injury; and therapeutic strategies for ·the control of pulmonary disease. All papers submitted to the organizers were peer-reviewed. In the proceedings, we have not differentiated among the platform and poster papers; rather, they have been grouped into the above topical areas. Taken together, these papers reveal significant progress in the control of dust generation, characterization of dust, understanding of dust-lung interaction, and mining and milling practices to reduce dust exposure - all essential for reducing dust-related occupational hazards at the workplace.

Jan 1, 1998

The economics of aerial survey and the technical processes by the aid of which vertical and oblique aerial photographs are turned into line maps showing the most profuse topographical detail such as contours, rivers, roads, plantations, habitations and cultivated lands do not concern us here. They have been ably and exhaustively described in the publications of the British War Office, handbooks on surveying methods and on photogrammetry and in the South African mining, engineering and geological press. Suffice it to mention that for geological interpretation vertical photographs are used on such scales as 1/5000 to 1/10,000, overlapping each other by 55 to 60 per cent in the direction of flight and some 10 to 20 per cent sideways on to the next sequence or strip. Through this duplication in the overlap the stereoscopic examination becomes possible. The standards by which monochrome aerial photographs are interpreted can be grouped under the following headings: 1. Continuity.—The continuity of topographic relief not obtainable on the ground owing to the smallness of man relative to that relief. Here lies the greatest value of aerial survey with relation to geology. An immediate alignment can often be made of drainages running in different directions on each side of a hill; saddles and gorges in the mountainsides; abrupt termination of outcrop or indubitable signs of faulting. Most conclusive evidence is thus often obtained about faults which may be perfectly visible at one place on the ground but cannot elsewhere be identified because of decreased throw. Similarly, dikes can often be followed notwithstanding frequent interruption and disappearance under the soil. Scattered outcrop in scrub-covered or bush-covered country can be conveniently located and often correlated, with a large saving of time compared with field work. The same applies to geological contacts. Once these have been established at a few points on the ground, the intervening stretches can be drawn in.

Jan 1, 1937