Search Documents

By C. R. Hayward

THE CHAIRMAN (ALBERT SAUVEUR, Boston, Mass.).-I am sure we are indebted to Prof: Hayward for his addition to our knowledge of the influence of sulphur on steel. As he has said in this paper, sulphur has had many defenders in recent years. It seems to me, however, that, while it may be old school to believe in the detrimental action of sulphur, it is not yet old school to believe in segregation; that while it may be that 0.1 per cent. of sulphur has no very great effect on the physical properties of steel, a ladle analysis of 0.1 per cent. of sulphur may readily result in 0.2 or 0.3 per cent. sulphur being present in the segregated portion of the ingot, and that, it seems to me, might be a rather serious matter. J. S. UNGER, Pittsburgh, Pa.-Prof. Hayward has presented the results of an investigation along a line to which I have devoted considerable time and attention, and I am particularly pleased to note that his results are in accord with my own and further tend to prove the fact that the old, established prejudice against sulphur is based more on belief than actual facts. I have felt for years that tooo much stress was placed on the harmful influence of certain elements in steel such as sulphur, phosphorus, copper, etc., but it has only been within recent years that efforts have been made to, establish the truth. Practically all the investigations made to date have proven that these elements within reasonable limits are harmless and, in fact, that for certain purposes the addition of these elements is beneficial. In referring to copper, J. E. Stead, Vice-President of the British Iron and Steel Institute, said at their last meeting: "Even today one comes across steel specifications in which copper is barred, which can only be regarded as ail indication of ignorance, if not stupidity, of those who prescribe the composition of steel, for it has been long ago proved that copper in steel, instead of being an evil, is quite harmless, and is sometimes distinctly beneficial." Sulphur owes its evil name to the early days of the manufacture of steel. Chemical analyses were crude, and failure due to either poor raw materials or metallurgical treatment were many. Sulphur being a comparatively easy element to determine with reasonable accuracy, particular attention was called to the amount of sulphur, and the failure was attributed to it, without giving any consideration to other causes. A pre-

Jan 4, 1917

By Linn Bradley

F. H. WILLCOX, Pittsburgh, Pa. (communication to the Secretary*). -We must keep in mind, in balancing the savings-to be anticipated by the most efficient combustion of gas, the best heat absorption by stoves or boilers, and by heat conservation of the thermal equivalent carried in. blast-furnace gas-against the cost in operation, maintenance, depreciation and interest charges of the equipment required to realize the savings, that in boilers and hot-blast stoves we are basing our economies upon two different, combustion phenomena. In a boiler, evaporating water at a heat efficiency of 70 per cent., approximately 47,550 B.t.u. is consumed per boiler horsepower. Taking the blast, furnace gas cited in the above paper, we are using about 38 ¾ lb. of cold-washed gas per boiler horsepower. Using the hot-cleaned gas, the same equivalent heat is furnished by 34 1b. of the gas , This leaves of the 38 ¾ lb. required in the case of cold-washed gas, 4 ¾ lb. or 6,650 B.t.u. available for raising more steam when dry-hot gas is used, which means that an equivalent amount of coal firing can be dispensed with. Per ton of iron, this figure 2/3 X 12,000/38.75 X 4.75 = 980 lb. gas or 1,372,000 B.t.u. or 100 lb. coal. At $1.50 per ton of coal, the net saving per ton of pig iron produced by the use of dry-hot over wet-cold cleaning will, therefore, be about $0.06 2/3. At a stove heating 8,500 lb. of air per toil iron from 150° F., one-quarter of the dry-hot cleaned gas, or 3,000 lb., would heat the air to 1,450° F. 3,000 X 1,400 X 0.70 = (8,500 X 0.255) = 1,300. The cold-wet gas would heat the same amount of air to 1,280° F. 3,000 X 1,225 X 0.70 = (8,500 X.0.255) = 1,130.

Jan 4, 1917

By Richard Moldenke

A. E. OUTERBRIDGE, JR., Philadelphia, Pa. (written discussion).¬ The fact that iron castings improve with age has long been known. Many years ago the late Sir Frederick Bramwell, a distinguished engineer, formerly in charge of the metallurgical and gun-making department of the Woolwich Arsenal, England, determined to break up a large number of cast-iron mortars of an obsolete type that had been in stock for years. It was then reported to biro that it was found to be much more difficult to break these old gun castings under the "drop" than it was to break similar gun-castings recently made, under his own supervision; he changed the.. composition of the iron and still found that whenever castings made recently were broken up (on account perhaps of superficial defects) great disparity was observed in apparent strength between the old and new castings. Sir Frederick then made many other comparative tests, such

Jan 4, 1917

By A. E. Bellis

THE CHAIRMAN (ALBERT SAUVEUR, Cambridge, Mass.).-Any information likely to throw light on the constitution and proper treatment of high-speed steel in order to obtain maximum results, should surely he welcomed. All users of high-speed steel, I believe, will agree with the authors that, in order to obtain satisfactory results, it is not sufficient to heat all brands of high-speed steel to one and the same temperature; apparently very slight differences of chemical composition seem to call for marked differences in temperature. I think that all of us agree that a properly treated piece of high-speed steel should have a fine austenitic or polyhedral structure and that an appreciable quantity of free carbide may be present in the case of very high tungsten steels. What we seem to lack is a satisfactory method, quick and reliable, of ascertaining when the proper structure has been obtained. I think Mr. Bellis' paper is a step in the right direction. To the untrained eye, however, it is not an easy matter to select from some of his photomicrographs the one representing the best structure; for instance, in the case of steel A, we wonder why temperatures of 2,250 and 2,300 do not yield the same results, seeing that both structures are apparently alike, and the same might apply to some of the other samples. I have no doubt, however, that the experienced observer is capable of detecting structural differences that are not made plain here and by which he is able to select the proper quenching temperature. COLIN G. FINK, East Orange, N. J.-On page 68 the authors say that the use of a barium chloride bath to eliminate this difficulty has the disadvantage that the surface of the tool becomes decarbonized." I would like to ask whether they actually found that the surface was decarbonized, or whether they base this conclusion on softening alone? A. E. BELLIS, Springfield, Mass.-No, we have never demonstrated that it was a decarbonization, it is just the softening of the steel. The addition of ferrocyanide to the ferrochloride bath has been suggested. I think that is not altogether satisfactory, because the ferrocyanide bath changes composition very rapidly at these high temperatures, and it would be just a question of luck whether or not it had too much or too little ferrocyanide in the bath giving equilibrium with the carbon content.

Jan 4, 1917

L. C. GRATON, Cambridge, Mass.-I should like to ask the authors if they attempted to draw any analogies with the manganese deposits at Franklin Furnace, N. J., and whether there are. any traces of zinc in these Brazilian-deposits. J. T. SINGEWALD, JR.-We did not think of them at all as analogous to the Franklin Furnace deposits and there is no appreciable percentage of zinc present. If these ores do contain zinc it could be there 'only as a fraction of a per cent. F. LYNWOOD GARRISON, Philadelphia, Pa. (communication to the Secretary *).-There is no disputing the fact that the manganese ore ,supply situation in this country demands serious consideration and is a matter of fundamental public concern. We are consuming this material at a steadily accelerating rate and there is no hope for a proportionate increase in the domestic supply. In the year 1916, this country imported 560,000 tons and produced only 27,000 tons from our own territory In 1915, the local production was 9,709 tons, which on its face shows the American output to have tripled during the past year. Those of us who are familiar with the

Jan 4, 1917

By S. Norton

GEORGE C. FOOTS, Port Henry, N. Y. (written discussion).-The paper by Mr. Norton and Mr. LeFevre will bear the most careful consideration by all interested in the iron business, particularly in the East. There is much information contained therein which should be emphasized. The idea of handling iron-bearing rock in quantities comparable to the porphyry coppers does seem at first blush to be beyond the pale of commercial possibility. Yet, today in the Adirondack region 25 per cent.

Jan 4, 1917

As a representative of the Institute in the Joseph A. Holmes Safety Association, which comprises some twenty-three different National Societies, it is proper that I make some report of the progress of the Association to the Institute. The societies represented in the organization are as follows: Association- Representatives, 1916 American Association for the Advancement of Science L. 0. Howard American Chemical Society Charles Baskerville American Electro-Chemical Society F. G. Cottrell American Federation of Labor : A. E. Helder American Forestry Association P. S. Ridsdale American Institute of Electrical Engineers John H. Finney American Institute of Mining Engineers Hennen Jennings American Mining Congress David T. Day American Red Cross Society Maj. Robert U. Patterson American Society for Testing Materials A. W. Gibbs American Society of Mechanical Engineers..... John A. Brashear

Jan 4, 1917

By E. Maltby Shipp

E. MALTBY SHIPP.-It was the intention of the Committee on Safety anti Sanitation to collect information and useful data from the companies having well-organized safety departments and print this in pamphlet form for distribution among the small companies that have no way of employing safety engineers nor have at their disposal these data. Consequently, I took these rules and the general data, especially the rules, went over them a great many times and tried to cut out whatever duplications appeared.

Jan 4, 1917

By William H. Kobbé

THE CHAIRMAN (M. L. REQUA, San Francisco, Cal.).-We have had in California a great deal of trouble from the breaking. off and collapsing of well casings from shifting sand, and it is quite true with us as indicated in the paper, that no casing has been found sufficiently strong to withstand that. I know of wells in which casing that has not been in the hole over 2 or 3 days has collapsed and when that casing has, been pulled out it has been just as flat as your hand. I am also familiar with swelling bed rock in the gold drift mining ground of California. It does swell and keeps on swelling and never seems to stop. Just as long as tunnels are kept open in that kind of material there has to be a gang going through the tunnel constantly cutting out and easing up. They have put in timbers 24 in. in diameter in an effort to hold that kind of ground and it has always filled. The only way to succeed is to keep a gang of men busy all the time cutting out and easing down as it squeezes in. C. NARAMORE, Washington, D. C.-My experience has been very similar to yours in, the same field in the matter of breaking off of casing. I had charge of one well, in which I put in reënforced casing, anchored it in place and got 1 day's production, 150 bbl., out of it. The following morning my lease foreman telephoned that it had broken off. I thought at that time we would have more evidence, so I drove out to the well without ordering a new shoe joint. It had been customary to merely start from town with a new shoe joint, pull the pipe, take off the crooked bottom joint, start the casing back and sometimes never touch any iron (lost casing)- when redrilling the well. Where the flattened joints went

Jan 4, 1917

By R. A. Conkling

DORSET HAGER, Tulsa, Okla. Recently we have, been doing a little work along the same lines Mr. Conkling has outlined iii his paper. I am not prepared to say that Mr. Conkling is not correct but our results do not agree with his. I think it is a question of difference in correlation and interpretation of the well records. Our cross-section of the Cushing pool does not agree with that of Mr. Conkling and we find instead of the beds thickening in the syncline, there is a tendency to thicken on top of the anticline. We took the north dome of the Cushing field, and are now trying to get all the records. It will probably be another month before we have all the data complete but our results at present do o not agree with those of Mr. Conkling at all.

Jan 4, 1917

(Members are urged to send in for this column any notes of interest concerning themselves or their fellow-members) Members and guests who called at Institute headquarters during the period Feb. 10, 1917 to Mar. 10, 1917: F. H. Armstrong, Vulcan, Mich. G. Komar, Staten Island, N. Y. Franklin Bache, Philadelphia, Pa. H. M. LaFollette, LaFollette, Tenn. R. A. Bingham, W. Orange, N. J. H. Mortimer-Lamb, Montreal, Canada. G. S. Blair, Pittsburgh, Pa. J. S. Lane, New York, N. Y. Graham Bright, Pittsburgh, Pa. D. H. McLaughlin, Cambridge, Mass. C. A. Burdick, New York, N. Y. F. J. McMahon, Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Frederick P. Burrall, Dawson, Y. T. F. Oskar Martin, San Francisco, Cal. William Campbell, New York, N. Y. C. Mentzel, New York, N. Y. G. L. Carlisle, Jr., New York, N. Y. T. C. Merriman, New Haven, Conn. J. Murray Clark, Toronto, Canada. K. -A. Pauly, Schenectady, N. Y. Wayne Darlington, Philadelphia, Pa. , Francis R. Pyne, Elizabeth, N. J. Ralph W. Deacon, Elizabeth, N. J. C. S. Robinson, Youngstown, O. P. St. Jon Dixon; So. Porcupine, Canada. W. A. Scheuch, New York, N. Y. A. E. Drucker, New York, N. Y. Jesse Scobey, New York, N. Y. Lucien Eaton, Ishpeming, Mich. Dunbar D. Scott, Rochester, N. Y. W. E. Goldsborough, New York, N. Y. W. C. Smith, Elizabeth, N. J. C. Marshall Gravatt, Port Royal, Va. Charles Spearman, Mt. St. Patrick, Can. C. N. Hickok, Cleveland, O. . - Harold C: E. Spence, Duncan, Ariz. C. Vey Holman, Rockland, Me. M. M. Thompson, Morsemere, N. J. W. F. Jahn, Kirkland Lake, Canada. Benjamin F. Tibby, Salt Lake City, Utah. F. E. Johnesse, Boise, Ida. J. S. Unger, Pittsburgh, Pa. E. C. Johnson, Chicago, Ill.

Jan 4, 1917

By Paul Billingsley

THE purpose of this paper is a comparison, based on genesis, of the ore deposits associated with the igneous rocks of the central Montana Rockies. Considered separately, without attention to their origin, the orebodies appear to be distributed haphazard, with no fundamental laws controlling their position and character. It is believed, however, that if all the factors be weighed, this apparent confusion will to a large degree disappear. The, first essential to such a comparison is detailed knowledge of the individual mines, as to their geographic position (see Fig. 1), their mineralogical character, and in particular the derivation of their ores.1 The authors of this paper have pursued such an investigation for the past 6 years, and have accumulated a mass of evidence that enables a preliminary correlation to be attempted. It appears that the majority of ore deposits are genetically related to one or another of the igneous

Jan 4, 1917

The Library of the above-named Societies is open from 9 A.M. to 10 P.M., except on holidays. It contains about 70,000 volumes and 90,000 pamphlets, including sets of technical periodicals and the publications of scientific and technical societies. Members of the Institute, with few exceptions, are forced to spend a portion of their time in localities isolated from sources of information. To these the Library, through its Library Service Bureau, can render valuable service through correspondence; letters requesting information will receive especial attention. The Library is prepared to furnish references and photographic copies of articles on mining and metallurgical subjects; to determine the existence of mining maps, and to furnish general information on the geology and mineral resources of all countries. All communications should be made as definite as possible so that the, information received may be what is desired and not include collateral matter which may, not be of interest. The time spent in searching for such collateral matter will be saved, and the information will be sent more promptly and in more usable shape.

Jan 4, 1917

By M. D. Cooper

LUCIEN EATON, Ishpeming, Mich.-It is not the custom in the Lake Superior region, as far as I know, to employ shot-firers. Each man, or pair of men (most of the contracts are given to two men) do their own firing; each contractor keeps his powder separately. The general custom is to distribute powder (dynamite only is used) to the mines 2 days a week. The boxes, marked with the contract number and the level, are taken underground and the men take them to their working places. They are kept in boxes, which must not be nearer together than 50 ft. and are usually away from the timber roads or traveling roads. When holes have been drilled, one man usually takes down the machine, and the other man makes up the charge. He cuts the fuse, puts in the caps, etc., at a distance from the powder box. He then carries the powder charges to the working place where both men charge the hole. They do their own firing and warn others coming from any direction that the holes are being fired.

Jan 4, 1917

As already announced in the notice of the 114th (New York) Meeting of the Institute, the ladies present met and organized the Women's Auxiliary of the Institute. All ladies of the families of members of the Institute-are eligible to this Auxiliary. The purpose and objects of the Auxiliary are well stated in the address of the President, Mrs. S. J. Jennings, in opening the organization meeting on the morning of Feb. 20, 1917. The address follows: "Ladies: Friends from far and near, on behalf of the Women's Entertainment Committee of the A. I. M. E., I extend to you a hearty welcome. "Most especially are we glad to see our friends from the Pacific Coast and the middle West, .whose royal hospitality to the members of the A. I. M. E. and their wives and daughters on their trips to California and to the Copper Country of the Southwest can never be forgotten. We are glad to be able in some small measure to return it.

Jan 4, 1917

By Frank C. Schader

JOHN CARTER ANDERSON, Kingman, Ariz. (communication to the Secretary *).-From an extended study of the Oatman and Secret Pass districts of Mohave County, Arizona, I believe that the genesis of the ore deposits, in most cases, is directly connected with rhyolitic intrusions later than the Tertiary flows; and that the developments of, the future will prove these intrusives to be the primary source of the ore. In support of this opinion I will instance the Wilhelm-Eclipse dike in Secret Pass and the Murdock, Nellie, Black Range dike and ledge in the southern part of the Oatman district. The Wilhelm-Eclipse dike is a very fine-grained light-colored siliceous rhyolite dike with a strike of N.45W. traversing the full length of the Secret Pass district about midway between two major faults which mark the easterly and westerly boundaries of the district. These faults .have lifted the block between so that erosion has exposed the pre-Cam-

Jan 4, 1917

By A. Patton

E. T. McCLEARY, Youngstown, Ohio (written discussion).-Perhaps there is no question before the steel manufacturers of America today that causes them more worry than that of maximum production, together with good quality, and Messrs. Patton and Speller have clearly shown in their excellent paper how this may be accomplished. Any operation that tends to uniformity is certainly conducive to good practice, and as the use of roll scale in the converter eliminates to a large extent the variations in temperature due to varying silicon content in the pig iron, it should certainly give a more uniform product. At the plant of The Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. the use of roll scale was started in the year 1908. A great many tests have been con-

Jan 4, 1917

Volume LIV has been shipped to all members whose clues were paid on or before Feb. 10, 1917. The next shipment will be made the latter part of April to all those whose dues were paid on April 1, 1917.

Jan 4, 1917

ALEXANDER BURRELL Alexander Burrell, general manager of the Furnace Creek Oxide Copper Mining Co., and' a member of the Institute for 20 years, died suddenly at the Argo mine on Feb. 13, 1917. Mr. Burrell was one of the best known mining men in Montana. He was horn at Edinburgh, Scotland, Jan. 14, 1851, and came to Chicago with his parents in 1856. His father, who was a coppersmith, died soon after their arrival, and the ,son had few opportunities to gain an education in school, but was a natural student and was possessed of a liberal education acquired through self-teaching and through his constant reading and studying, particularly along scientific lines. It was this technical knowledge both of mining, and business, as well as his experience in the practical side of mining and his ability as an executive that won for him a high place in mining circles in Montana. As a very young man he worked as a miner in Illinois and later became an operator of a coal property. Subsequently he engaged

Jan 4, 1917

By William Newnam

LEAD mining has been carried on in several localities of the Province of Ontario in a desultory fashion for the past 60 years, but up to 1916 the results have not been of much commercial importance. The most ambitious attempt was made by an English company which built a lead smelter at Kingston, Ont., in, 1880 to treat the- concentrates from the . Frontenac mines. After 2 years' operation, the -mines and smelter were abandoned. Up to the present there has not been a sufficient tonnage of concentrates to support an efficient blast-furnace plant and as most of the small properties could not stand the heavy freight and duty charges into the United States, development work has not been carried on in a, systematic manner. As a result the industry has languished. At, Galetta, in southeastern Ontario, considerable prospecting and development work has been carried on in the last few years and very promising deposits of galena have been found in the Chats Island group by the James Robertson Co., Ltd., of Montreal. The chief deposit is that of the Galetta or Kingdon lead mine, located on Chats Island in. the Ottawa River about 5 miles east of the town of Arnprior. The rocks' in the vicinity of -the mines consist of an interbedded series of crystalline limestone and biotite gneisses of pre-Cambrian age. This part of the Ottawa River' basin has been severely faulted and the overlying Paleozoic limestones may be seen in normal fault contact with the pre-Cambrian. The vein filling is of a very well-marked fault fissure type and although the amount of displacement is not determined at this point, similar faults to the east show a displacement of from 1,500 to 1,800 ft. which would indicate mineralized fault fissures of considerable depth. The ore occurs in a highly crystalline calcite with some barite and fluorite, and the galena occurs more or less richly disseminated in clusters and crystal aggregates. In some cases these masses weigh several hundred pounds. Small amounts of sphalerite are occasionally encountered.

Jan 4, 1917