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By Bryon W. Cheever

The greatest objection to be brought against the present methods for estimating phosphorus in iron and steel, is the time consumed in the operation. The following method, originated and perfected by Mr. E. D. Campbell, assistant in the chemical laboratory of the University of Michigan, will, 1 think, if carefully followed out, give results that are sufficiently accurate for technical purposes, and will give them in less time than they can be obtained by any other process. The process consists in comparing the color obtained by the action of stannous chloride upon a solution of the phospho-molybdate precipitate obtained from the solution of iron or steel, with that obtained from a standard solution of molybdie acid which represents a given amount of phosphorus. The operation is as follows : Take of ordinary steel 1 grm. and treat as in any of the wellknown processes until the phosphorus is precipitated as ammoniumphospho-molybdate. When precipitated, the phospho-molybdate precipitate is filtered out, thoroughly washed with an acid solution of ammonium nitrate, and, finally, twice with water, to remove most of the ammonium nitrate. The precipitate is then dissolved in about 1 c. c. of 10 per cent. potassium hydrate, which is let fall drop by drop on the filter till the precipitate is dissolved ; the filter is now washed with about 25 or 30 c. c. of water, and the potassium hydrate solution, which now consists of 25-32 c. c. of solution, is boiled until the peculiar frothy appearance, which first appears on boiling, is entirely gone. The solution is then cooled until perfectly cold, and about 10 or 15 c. c. of strong hydrochloric acid added ; if the solution is kept cold this will form no precipitate, but a light yellow or colorless solution. The solution is now ready for the addition of stannous chloride, and the subsequent comparison of color produced with that obtained from the standard molybdie acid. The comparison is made in tubes that are calibrated like carbon-tubes, but which are larger, about 5/8-inch bore, and graduated to 100 c. c.; this makes them about 18 inches long. To make the comparison of color, first transfer the now acid solu

Jan 1, 1886

By William P. Shinn

It is almost exactly seven years since the last previous meeting of the Institute in this city. In a paper on " Pittsburgh, its Resources and Sorroundings," read at that meeting, I showed that Allegheny County had produced in 1878, " one-twelfth of all the pig-iron,.... two-ninths of all the rolled iron (except rails), over one-eighth of all the Bessemer and open-hearth steel, two-thirds of all the crucible blister and puddled steel, one-fourth of all the glass, one-eighth of all the coal, and one-sixth of all the pig-lead produced in the United States;" and the object of this paper is to show that, great as the record then was, it has been greatly surpassed since.* Population. In my former paper I expressed the opinion that the census of 1880 would show the population of Allegheny County to be in excess of 300,000. The census report made it 355,869. The following shows the growth of the county in population from 1790 to 1880: 1790,...........10,309 1800,........... 15,087 1810,...........25,317 1820,...........34,921 1830,...........50,552 1840.............81,235 1850............138,290 1860............178,881 1870,...........262,204 1880,...........355,869 This makes Allegheny County, in 1880, rank sixth in population of the counties of the United States, whereas in 1870 its rank was ninth. The population of Pittsburgh in 1880 was 156,359, being twelfth

Jan 1, 1886

By Stuart M. Buck, J. H. Bramwell, Edward H. Williams

The Southwest Virginia Improvement Company began operations in the Bluestone Flat-Top coal-field, situated in Tazewell County, Virginia, in the fall of 1881. In May, 1883, the company had built 200 coke-ovens, and by March, 188-1, had 9000 feet of entries, exclusive of air-ways, in the Nelson or Rig coal-bed of this district (which here averages eleven feet in thickness), and had extracted 200,000 tons of coal, representing an area of about twenty acres. About this opening has grown the recently incorporated city of Pocahontas, and the completion of the New River branch of the Norfolk and Western Railroad to this point enabled the company to make large contracts for supplying coal and coke, so that it was deemed necessary, on account of the limited area developed, to work the mine day and night to fill orders. At 1.30 Thursday morning, March 13th, the inhabitants of Pocahontas were awakened by a violent shock, and within a few minutes all knew that the East mine had been the scene of an explosion of so general a nature that, of the 114 men at work, not one had escaped. The daily papers gave more or less distorted accounts of the number of victims, the scenes in and about, the mine, and the probable cause of the disaster. At the request of the company, the President of the American Institute of Mining Engineers appointed the undersigned a committee of three to investigate the matter, and the committee thus constituted presents the following report, accompanied by a copy of the testimony taken daring the investigation, for preservation in the archives of the Institute. Pocahontas was reached on Thursday, April 24th, and left on Friday, May 2d. During this interval the committee made repeated visits to the mine, especially to the points, of most importance, examining it carefully in every part; and summoned a number of witnesses, twenty-six of whom appeared and testified. The mine had been left in the same state as when the bodies were

Jan 1, 1885

By R. P. Rothwell

Jan 1, 1885

By Frederick H. McDowell

Notwithstanding the rapidly increasing use of copper, due to the extension of its applications within the last few years, the fact of its continued steady decline in price stands prominently forward. Nor have we far to look for the cause. The opening up of the vast copper-deposits of our Western States and territories is the metallurgical event of the last five years. We must not forget, in looking at the new field, the changed conditions under which the metallurgist must work, as compared with the previous history of copper-smelting. Until quite recently, the copper-plants of the country were few in number; and the concentration of industry implied in this circumstance, allowed many practices which must be considered as inapplicable to the conditions offered at the many mines which have of late become such important factors in our copper-production. Thus the old style of smelting the ore for matte in brick furnaces, involving great expense and time in their construction, while deservedly losing repute even in its old strongholds, in comparison with water-jacketed smelters, is still in some cases adhered to. But to put up such furnaces at Western mines would be out of the question. The large and continual need of brick for relining and repairs acts as an effectual bar, when such furnaces come into competition with the light, portable, and easily managed water-jacketed smelters of improved types. It is owing to the present unusual activity, manifested in the opening up of new copper-properties and the erection of plants for working them, that any improvement in furnace-construction is of especial interest and importance. The method in which processes are copied without variation in the rapid growth of metallurgical interests, has already been strikingly exemplified in the history of

Jan 1, 1885

By John Gjers

Being on a visit to your great and prosperous country, and having been favored with an invitation to attend this meeting of your Institute, the author has been requested by your Secretary to give a short account of his invention of the " soaking-pit," which he has great pleasure in doing. The object of the soaking-pit is the rolling of steel ingots with their own initial heat, that is, to supply the missing link in that chain of metallurgical operations which Sir Henry Bessemer began in 1857, when he proved how it was possible to produce malleable iron or steel direct from the fluid cast-iron out of the blast-furnace, without any further direct use of fuel. The great Bessemer invention has revolutionized iron and steelmaking throughout the world; but it stopped short at producing the ingot, which, it was found, had afterwards to be heated in a furnace to enable it to be rolled or hammered; and it is only lately, twenty-five years after Mr. Bessemer's announcement, that the author of this paper has been able to show that furnacing can be dispensed with, and that it is practicable to roll a steel ingot into say a bloom, a rail, or a billet, with its own initial heat. It has no doubt suggested itself to many that there ought to be heat enough in the ingot just cast, for the purpose of rolling; and from time to time attempts have been made to utilize this heat; but such attempts always ending in failure, it became a settled opinion in the trade that it could not be done—an opinion which the author is aware that your late lamented countryman, Mr. Holley, than whom there was none more conversant with Bessemer steel-making, also entertained. But settled opinions sometimes prove to be great fallacies. As an instance, it is not many years since the opinion prevailed in the trade that steel ingots could not be rolled successfully, that is, so as to make good rails, unless they were first allowed to get quite cold, and afterwards heated. No greater boon was ever conferred on the

Jan 1, 1885

Jan 1, 1885

By Frank Firmstone

In a paper read at the meeting in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1875,* I showed that as a result of changing from open-topped to close-topped furnaces at the Glendon Iron Works, there had been a decided falling off in regularity of working, which we attributed to the very different distribution of the materials in the new method of filling. Subsequent experience has, on the whole, confirmed the opinions then expressed, and in 1881 we decided to try the modification of the Langen charger, shown on the accompanying drawings, thinking by its use to approximate to the distribution obtained by dumping the barrows at six equidistant points in the circumference of the open-topped furnaces. The top of the furnace is closed by a ring-shaped " bell," as we still call it, the outside of which is cylindrical and rests by the turned lower edge on the bored seat of a " loose ring," supported by the lower part of the hopper. The inside of the bell is an inverted frustrum of a cone, the central opening in which is closed by a cylindrical plug, which is prolonged into a pipe to carry off the gas.? This center-plug is connected by rods and chains to sectors on the ends of a forked lever, to the other end of which is attached, by a wire rope, the piston-rod of the blast-cylinder used in opening the top. The rods connected to the center-plug pass loosely through the apexes of triangular frames, to the other angles of which the bell is attached; it thus being suspended by four points when the top is open. When the materials are dumped out of the barrows into the hopper, a part is thrown over the crest of the bell into the space between it

Jan 1, 1885

By Eugene B. Wilson

The development of coal-mines has kept pace with the facilities at command for ventilating and lighting. In fact, it was formerly • customary to leave unworked those mines, or portions of mines, in which naked lights could not be used without danger. Attention was then turned to the ventilation; but even with improved ventilation, the naked light was often unsafe. The new era in coal-mining dates, we may say, as far back as 1815, when Sir H. Davy and Mr. George Stephenson discovered the principle of the safety-lamp. Since then many improvements have been added to their lamps, but

Jan 1, 1885

By Byron W. Cheever

While engaged in experimenting with the usual methods for estimating phosphorus in iron and steel, it occurred to me that potassium chlorate might be used to oxidize the carbon, and thus avoid the tedious and vexatious evaporations necessary for successfully carrying out the usual methods. After many trials, the following plan was adopted : Take, for analysis, of Bessemer or other low-carbon steels, from 3 to 5 grammes; of crucible steel, 10 grammes; of pig-iron, 1 to 5 grammes, according to the percentage of phosphorus supposed to be present. Of iron, high in phosphorus (1 per cent.), take 1 gramme. Place in a No. 4 evaporating dish the amount of iron or steel decided upon, cover with a funnel which will just fit inside the dish, and then add gradually HNO3, (1.20 specific gravity), using 12 C.C. of acid for each gramme of steel or iron taken. (A larger quantity of acid will be required for small samples.) When the full amount of acid has been added, and the violent action has ceased, place the evaporating dish on a sand-bath, add 10 C.C. HNO3, (1.40 specific gravity), and boil till the bulk of the solution is reduced about onehalf. Then add 10 C.C. HNO3, (1.40 specific gravity), continue the boiling, and add from time to time, during the next 15 minutes, small portions of pulverized KCIO3, till about 2 grammes have been added. (If the solution shows signs of going dry, more strong acid must be added.) This will precipitate the manganese, with some iron. Sometimes it happens that the manganese does not come down readily, and more KCIO3, or further concentration, or both, will be required. The process is not complete till the manganese is precipitated, which may be known by the appearance of a dark, mirror-like deposit on the dish, at the edge of the solution. Boil the solution 5 minutes after the last addition of KCIO3, and then add cautiously (to prevent sudden explosions) 5 C.C. strong HCl. This will dissolve the precipitated manganese and iron. Continue the boiling till the chlorine is all expelled, adding from

Jan 1, 1885

Jan 1, 1885

By Byron W. Cheever

In the Journal of the Iron and Steel Institute for 1881 (vol. ii., page 379), will be found an article upon this subject. The analyses there reported mere of samples taken from an ingot made especially rich in impurities and then cast in a sand-mould in order to give the elements a better chance to redistribute themselves, on account of the steel solidifying more slowly than when cast in an iron mould. Wishing to ascertain how much, if any, segregation takes place when the steel is cast in the ordinary way, I placed the subject in the hands of Mr. W. J. Olcott, a graduate of the Michigan University, who has carefully collected and analyzed samples taken from different parts of ingots and billets. In this undertaking he found himself somewhat embarrassed on account of being distant from steel-works, and therefore unable to supervise the selection of samples. He found, however, a competent and willing aid in the person of E. F. Wood, M.E., chemist of the Pittsburgh Bessemer Steel Company, Limited, who has spared no pains in collecting the desired samples and furnishing drawings and descriptions of the ingots from which the samples were taken. The following are the results obtained: Ingot No. 1. This ingot was about 5 feet long and 13 X 131/4 inches at the point of fracture, which was 2 feet from the bottom. The samples

Jan 1, 1885

By James W. Neill

The occurrence of minerals of nickel and cobalt at Mine La Motte is probably known to every mineralogist. I will not attempt to describe these minerals, but, before entering on my subject, will briefly mention the ores, etc., which call for metallurgical treatment and enter into the composition of our mattes. Our staple lead-ore, the dressed galena, is the chief source of nickel and cobalt. It carries but a small percentage of these metals, viz.: 0.2 to 0.3 percent. usually, though when much copper pyrites is contained in the gangue, the amount of nickel and cobalt may be as great as 1.0 to 1.5 per cent. Next in importance is the ((middle product" of the dressingworks, consisting of the sulphides of iron (and copper) with gangue and galena. This usually carries 20 to 23 per cent. of lead, 0.5 to 1.0 per cent. of copper and 2.5 to 3.5 per cent. of nickel and cobalt. A larger percentage of copper always carries with it an increase of nickel and cobalt. In some few cases 12 to 15 per cent. of copper gives 6.5 to 8.0 per cent of these metals. Resides these products of the dressing-works, there is a small quantity of true nickel-cobalt-ore

Jan 1, 1885

By R. Gatewood

The solution here offered is at once simple and important in its direct and indirect bearings. According to the principles of surface-tension, which will be found sufficiently enlarged upon for present purposes in Clerk Maxwell's excellent little treatise on The Theory of Heat, a mechanical mixture of liquids will frequently of itself divide into groups, consisting of liquids mixing among themselves but withdrawing from the other liquids. The following simple and familiar illustration will suffice: " If we mix water with alcohol, the liquids diffuse into each other. If we now attempt to mix oil with the alcohol and water, the two liquids separate from each other of themselves, and in the act of separation sufficient force is brought into play to set in motion considerable masses of the fluids." Maxwell goes on to show that this relative energy is one of arrangement, depending on the nature of the fluids and the area of the surface of contact, the act of separation tending to reduce this surface to a minimum consistent with equilibrium; that this surface-tension exists between a solid and touching fluid, either liquid or gaseous, being of one sign or the other, in the case of a liquid, according as it tends to draw itself up into a drop on its surface or to spread and wet the solid. After considering various cases, lie states that which particularly interests us, thus : " When a solid body is in contact with two fluids, then, if the

Jan 1, 1885

By Walter Lee Brown

One of the characteristic steps in the march of modern scientific progress is the substitution of improved time-saving and labor-saving appliances for the antiquated and, in most cases, inconvenient forms of chemical and physical apparatus used by the earlier experimenters. This fact is strongly impressed upon us when we consider the question of the employment of illuminating-gas as a source of light, heat and power. Concerning its value as a light-producer, let the record of the past three-quarters of a century speak for itself. As a factor for power, we have evidence of its efficiency in the shape of the gas-engine. But its adaptability as a medium of heat, is the feature to which I wish to call attention, and in a special direction, viz., the assaying of ores. Gas assay-furnaces have been known and used for some years, but not to any very great extent, in this country at least. Therefore no apology on my part is required for the description I now give of a complete gas assaying-plant. The illustration accompanying this paper is a faithful representation of the group, as it was designed by, and arranged for myself, and appears in actual running order in my laboratory to-day. Its duty is to do roasting, crucible-fusion, scorification and cupellation. The furnace at the left is for roasting sulphurets or other ores for experimentation or actual work. It is what is known as a Fletcher No. 163, and consists of a fire-clay body strapped with sheet-iron bands, and a burner (No. 16, Fletcher). The opening at the top

Jan 1, 1885

By J. C. Bayles

Jan 1, 1885

By Arthur F. Wendt

Within the last few years the production of iron, and of the metals generally, by a given furnace-plant, has been largely increased, in many instances trebled. Iron-furnaces exceeding one hundred tons' capacity per diem are now the rule in new constructions. Copper and lead-furnaces smelting from 60 to 100 tons of ore per day are common. With this greatly augmented product, the life of furnace-linings has been diminished, and recourse has been had to various cooling devices for prolonging the life of such liuings. The object of this paper is to call the attention of the profession to an arrangement recently patented by the writer. The common course of projecting water against the exterior of the brickwork of a furnace has been in a large measure abandoned by our most progressive managers. All have recognized the danger of this proceeding, especially when applied to the crucible of a furnace below the line of the tuyeres. Cast-iron water-jackets, with wroughtiron pipes for circulating the cooling-water, have replaced the cruder methods. In iron-smelting the use of such jackets has been confined to the crucible and the space around the tuyeres; and it has been the custom to support the jackets on the brickwork of the furnace. But the erosion of the brickwork below tuyere-jackets allows them to sag, and often displaces the alignment of the tuyeres and leads to other annoyances. The principle of construction adopted by the writer to remedy this and other evils, is to use a thin fire-brick lining (not over nine inches) from the tuyeres up to the bosh, to back this lining with wrought-iron or steel water-jackets, hung from the mantel-ring, and thus to carry the whole weight of the furnace and its filling upon the supporting pillars. The crucible proper is lined with three or four thicknesses of fire-brick on the sides, and not less than forty-eight inches in the bottom. It is supported on independent pillars, and is practically an independent structure. It could even be placed on wheels and made removable, were there any adequate advantage to be gained by such an arrangement.

Jan 1, 1885

By Theodore A. Blake

More than a quarter of a century has passed since the introduction of the machine known as the Blake crusher, the invention of Eli W. Blake, of New Haven, Conn. Although originally designed for breaking stone for road-metal, its importance for crushing ores of the precious metals, and those of iron, copper, and zinc, as well as emery, phosphates, plaster, etc., mas soon recognized, and for many years its use has been world-wide, and its construction so well known that no special description of it is deemed necessary. Following its introduction, many different machines for the same purpose, containing the same essential features of upright convergent jaws, one of which is movable with respect to the other, hut having some slight modification of such movement (generally a rubbing motion) or of the non-essential method of imparting motion to one or both of the jaws, have been offered to the public for sale and use, but have, as a rule, in time disappeared from the market. If we seek for the reason of the success of the Blake crusher, aside from its simplicity of construction, we shall find it in the adherence to the principle of crushing by simple pressure and careful avoidance of attrition. In this lies the economy of power and of wearingsurfaces. To reduce any hard and brittle material to a fine powder by many different methods—by attrition, impact, or percussion—is a comparatively easy matter; but to accomplish this by the employment of either of the above-mentioned principles involves such a consumption of wearing-surface? (generally iron) or of power, that the numerous devices that have hitherto been presented to the public as solutions of the problem of fine crushing have proved utter and complete failures when tested with reference to the power employed and the wear of iron in doing their work.. Aside from the use of crushers with the harder ores, the only two methods of fine crushing in general use, and, in the writer's opinion, worthy of consideration, are by means of stamps and rolls; the former doing their work by percussion, the latter by pressure, provided

Jan 1, 1885

By Richard E. Chism

I have thought it well to lay before the Institute some account of the Vallecillo Mines, now, I believe, the only paying ones in American hands in northeastern Mexico, including the States of Nuevo Leon, Coahuila and Tamaulipas. The authentic history of these mines dates from their ownership by an American Company in the year 1851, when they were bought by the Vallecillo Silver Mining Company of New York. They had been worked before by the Spaniards, but had been abandoned for many years, on account of the heavy expense of drainage and the constant incursions of the Indians. The company commenced work with several well-known New York capitalists among its stockholders, and had a large fund of both money and enthusiasm. The first point of attack was at a shaft on a mine known as the Jesus Maria, which had the most favorable traditions. Extensive buildings were put up, and two sets of pumps were successively tried. After the second pump, with a steam-cylinder 5 feet in diameter and 10 feet stroke and a plunger 20 inches in diameter, had failed to do more than hold the water, with infinite labor, at the 250 feet level, and after a thorough exploitation of the whole mine above that level had failed to yield more than some $30,000 worth of ore, it was resolved to abandon the effort. Operations were accordingly transferred to the old Dolores shaft, at a point about 21/2 miles to the

Jan 1, 1885

By William F. Blake

In September I contributed an article upon Columbite in the Black Hills of Dakota to the American Journal of Science. I had not at that time seen the paper by Professor Charles A. Schaeffer, of Cornell University, upon the occurrence of tautalite in the same region," or I would have gladly made reference to it. His analysis, proving the entire thence of columbic acid, shows that the specimen he analyzed, at least, should be called tantalite, and not columbite, if the distinction between these two closely related species is to be maintained. It is hard to say where the line is to be drawn, in such cases, between two minerals, when the specific characters and the composition are so nearly the same. If the name is to be determined by the relative amounts of tantalic and columbic acids, what shall we call the mineral when these acids are present in nearly equal quantities? Preference was given in this case to the name columbite, for the reason that the specific gravity, as ascertained by the ordinary scales at command, was nearer 6 than 7. As Professor Schaeffer had only one fragment by post, while I had an abundance from many places, it may yet be found that columbic acid predominates in some of the specimens. I therefore use the name columbite or tantalite indifferently. With this explanation I proceed to give a few observations upon the occurrence of the mineral with the tin-ore of the Black Hills. There are two localities, especially, where the mineral is found in the same dike or vein as the cassiterite: 1. at the Etta mine; 2. at the Bob Ingersoll claim. At the Etta it occurs in close association with albite and feldspar in crystals from one to four or five inches broad, and from one-quarter of an inch to three inches thick. It is not in contact with or mingled with the cassiterite, and each call be

Jan 1, 1885