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By W. A. Lang

RESEARCH has been defined as the link between the present and the future. Science, wonderful though its achievements may be, has but scratched the surface of the unknown. Research is directing its attention to winning new facts in order that their application to the processes of today may open up new sources of wealth for the common benefit. Two classes of research investigations are often recognized-fundamental and applied, but these classes merge into each other and it is often hard to distinguish one from the other. Fundamental research is carried out primarily to develop basic facts, but frequently these are found to have immediate economic value, while applied research, specifically aimed at economic values, often necessitates a preliminary fundamental investigation. Both are essential and both should proceed by scientific method. It is obvious in fuel technology that a knowledge of the physical and chemical constitution of the various coals is fundamental to their industrial utilization, and further, a knowledge of the way these coals react under different conditions of temperature, atmosphere, etc., is necessary in solving such problems as storage, combustion, carbonization, gasification, or con-version to liquid fuels. The wide range of coals, the complexity, of their constitution, and the many uses for coal, makes fuel research no simple subject but one with unending possibilities. The Research Council of Alberta, formerly known as the Scientific and Industrial Research Council of Alberta, was established in 1919, to promote the development and conservation of the natural resources of the Province. The work of the Council was arranged in six major divisions: Fuels; Geology; Road Materials; Soils; Natural Gas; and Forest Products. The office and laboratories are located in the University of Alberta. The Council was financed until the depression of 1933 by a separate vote of the Legislature, but since then has been continued, though on a much smaller scale, as one of the activities of the University. It might, however, be noted that although the Council is now in abeyance, a skeleton organization has been maintained so that it can be brought back to active service as soon as conditions warrant. Annual reports are still submitted to the Legislature. Funds have not been made available, however, for the publication of the last five reports.

Jan 1, 1942

By G. W. Jones

In cooperation with the Edison Electric Illuminating Co. of Boston, Mass., and the-Boston Consolidated Gas Co., the Bureau of Mines, United States Department of the Interior, has conducted a survey continuously since 1929 to determine the general hazards of combustible gases and vapors in manholes of the Edison Electric Illuminating Co.

Jan 1, 1942

By Charles S. Barrett, F. W. Steadman

DEFORMATION bands of surprising regularity are found in large-grained polycrystalline copper after cold-rolling (Fig. I). Individual bands frequently are large enough to permit a determination of their orientation by means of etch pits and an optical goniometer. Measurements have been made on 21 areas in seven different grains, and these, combined with X-ray studies of nine single crystals that had been cold-rolled after mounting in a polycrystal-line block, have contributed to a better understanding of the preferred orientations in rolled copper just as similar studies have for rolled iron' and brass.2.3 Particular attention was given to determining orientations that are stable during rolling and to the manner of fragmentation and rotation of unstable grains. The possible role of twinning was also carefully investigated. The texture of polycrystalline copper after cold-rolling is well established by the pole figures that have been plotted by Schmid and Staffelbach,4 Iweronowa and Schdanow,5 and Brick and Williamson,3 all of which are in substantial agreement. There has been some divergence in the list of individual "ideal" orientations that have been used to describe the texture by these observers and others,6 although the orientation (110) [112]-that is, (110) parallel to the rolling plane and [112] parallel to the rolling direction-is generally recognized as the most prominent orientation and (I12) [111] one of the lesser orientations. Other orientations have been given by some observers as (236) [533], (100) [001], and (I 10) [001]. The texture of copper has also been described as (135) [533].6.1 The sum of these orientations provides a reasonable approximation to the complete pole figure, but it does not follow that these specific orientations are necessarily of fundamental significance, for the choice of indices is arbitrary, within limits. Furthermore, a detailed investigation of the ideal orientations in cold-rolled iron discloses continuous ranges of equally favored positions rather than definite positions of high stability,1 and similarly Brick's observations in a single crystal of a brass2 suggest that all orientations in the range between (110) [113] and (110) [117] are about equally stable. MATERIALS AND METHODS The material used was vacuum-cast electrolytic copper kindly supplied by L. L. Wyman, of the General Electric Co.* Slices 1/2 in. thick and 2 1/2 in. square, cut from the ingot, were rolled with 50 per cent reduction per pass to final thicknesses between 0.02 and 0.04 in., and etched to develop cube-face etch pits suitable for goniometric work.8 The etch was light on some strips and deep in others.

Jan 1, 1942

By J. A. Fellows, Earnshaw Cook, H. S. Avery

THE increased use of heat-resistant alloys (26 per cent Cr, 12 per cent Ni, 16 per cent Cr, 35 per cent Ni, 12 per cent Cr, 60 per cent Ni, etc ) in recent years has been accompanied by continued demands by the consumer for improvement in properties The manufacturers of these materials, of necessity, have resorted to more critical studies of the basic causes of variations in fundamental properties To keep pace with the need for augmented information, previous techniques of investigation have been refined and new test methods and instruments created It is the purpose of this paper to describe the apparatus, experimental technique and precision of measurement that were employed in the exploration of properties of heat-resistant alloy presented in a companion paper† The detailed precautions in experimental procedure essential for attainment of accurate and comparable data at elevated temperatures cannot be too highly emphasized THE CREEP TEST Since the fundamental concepts of creep testing have been recognized for the past 20 years, present interest is restricted to refinements in equipment and experimental procedure The creep-test laboratory constructed for the American Brake Shoe and Foundry Co is designed to permit 1000-hr tests in the temperature range of 1200° to 2200°F with a choice of applied stress extending from 50 to 50,000 lb per sq in in increments of 50 lb per sq in To simplify the calculation of weight combinations, the loading beams (Fig I) are provided with counterweights to eliminate the tare The precision of the knife-edges (10 1 ratio) is such that a 10-gram weight placed on the upper specimen grip will be exactly balanced by a 1-gram weight attached to the loading shackle Check of the loading weights proved the maximum error to be 0 06 per cent Axial alignment is provided by crossed knife-edges in the grip seats The furnaces are similar in design to those of Crane and Company, Battelle Memorial Institute, and the U S Steel Corporation An 80 per cent Pt, 20 per cent Rh No 19 B and S gauge wire is used as the heating element The details of construction are shown in the radiograph reproduced in Fig 2 The windings are held in place on an alundum tube with alundum cement, the distribution of turns is adjusted to give a maximum temperature gradient of ± 1°F over a 4-in gauge length (Fig 3) To avoid sharp temperature differentials at the ends of the test section, the length of the furnace is four times the gauge length Sixteen-inch coupons are used to reduce the temperature of the threaded

Jan 1, 1942

The pattern of the coal industry west of the Mississippi River, so far as its history is concerned, is entirely different from that to the east of the "Father of Waters." When the Louisiana Purchase was consummated, one of Jefferson's first thoughts was to ascertain what sort of a country had been purchased, and to that end he sent Lewis and Clark to ascend the Missouri River and to reach the Pacific Ocean if possible, but above all to bring back a report showing the character of the country, its mineral and other resources, inhabitants, etc. This first expedition was supplemented by others to various parts of the vast domain for the same purpose; years later, when transportation routes were necessary to hold and develop the western country, a number of expeditions were sent to explore possible routes for railroads. The records of nearly all of these explorers, as will be shown later, contain references to coal in many localities, the possible value of which was realized but its potential value remained dormant for many years until increasing population and methods of transport made markets available. Missouri was the first state west of the Mississippi in which coal was produced and the names of a number of places show that the French were familiar with the coal deposits there. Lewis and Clark, soon after they left St. Louis, passed "a remarkable Coal Hill on the Larboard Side, called by the French Carbonere, this hill appeares to Contain great quantity of Coal."1 This hill was about seven miles below St. Charles. No other outcrops were seen by them until they had passed the present limits of the state. The Louisiana Gazette of April 9, 1805 contained an article on "The Missouri," author not stated, which said, "the short stay we have generally made among the savage nations has prevented us from making those researches, which would have supplied us with a more extensive information respecting the various mines found on the borders of the Missouri; we know with certainty only those of iron, lead and coal." In 1806 Pike passed through Missouri on his tour to Mexico. On August 17th, along the Osage River he remarked, "here the river-bank is

Jan 1, 1942

Jan 1, 1942

Trans No. Place Date Vol. 1. Wilkes-Barre, Pa. May, '71 1 2. Bethlehem, Pa. Aug., '71 1 3. Troy, N. Nov., '71 1 4. Philadelphia, Pa. Feb., '72.. 1 5. New York, N. Y. May, '72 1 6. Pittsburgh, Pa. Oct., '72 1 7. Boston, Mass. Feb., '73 1 8. Philadelphia, Pa. May, '73 2 9. Easton, Pa. Oct., '73 2 10. New York N. Y. Feb., '74 2 11. St. Louis, Mo. May, '74 3 12. Hazleton, Pa. Oct., '74.. 3 13. New Haven, Conn. Feb., '75 3 14. Dover, N. J. May, '75 4 15. Cleveland, Ohio Oct., '75 4 16. Washington, D. C. Feb., '76 4 17. Philadelphia, Pa. June, '76 5 18. Philadelphia, Pa. Oct., '76 5

Jan 1, 1942

ABOUT 2 lb. of alumina (aluminum oxide) of high purity is required to produce a pound of metallic aluminum. Projected production of metallic aluminum in the United States is now seven to ten times the peacetime rate a few years ago. In the past, all the alumina for aluminum production in the United States has been obtained from bauxite. Part of the bauxite was mined in the United States--chiefly in Arkansas-and part was imported from Surinam. All of it was chemically treated in the United States to separate the greater part of the aluminum oxide from the bauxite, alkaline solutions being used, in a method known as the Bayer process. The ingredients of the bauxite other than alumina, such as the compounds of iron titanium, and silicon, constitute the tailings from the Bayer-process operation. This product contains sufficient iron to give it a red color and hence it is called "red mud." Lime and soda used in the processing, are also present. Varying amounts of alumina remain in the red mud, depending upon the characteristics of the bauxite, the effectiveness of the treatment, and in particular upon the amount of silica originally present in the bauxite. High-silica bauxites result in high alumina loss in the red mud.

Jan 1, 1942

Jan 1, 1942

By T. L. Johnston

The Dobbins property about 4-1/2 miles northeast of Cartersville, Ga., was first operated in 1866. It is the oldest manganese mine in Georgia and one of the oldest mines in the United States still producing manganese ore. Changes in ownership lessees and operators and lack of records prevent the compiling of statistics regarding total production of ore from the property

Jan 1, 1942

Curiously enough, considering the relative accessibility of the two places, coal was reported at an earlier date in Saskatchewan than in British Columbia. Henry and Thompson were on the Saskatchewan River in February 1811, and on the 4th of that month recorded, while on Jack's Branch of North Brook, "I observed in one of the bends on the north side a bank of yellow clay, on which there appeared several horizontal veins of pure coal, of the best quality I have seen along this river." Later at Rocky Mountain House it was said: "a quantity of coal is tumbling into the water, as the current washes away the earth underneath. This coal abounds along the Saskatchewan, in some places forming solid beds several feet thick for several acres, which are washed by the river. In its pure state our smiths use it for the forge with equal proportions of charcoal made of birch or aspen, which answers every purpose for making and repairing our axles and other tools."1 It is needless to say that it was many years before this coal was used for any commercial purposes. Coal was first found on the northern end of Vancouver Island in British Columbia in 1835 at Beaver Harbor, where later Fort Rupert was established, where Indians had advised some of the Hudson Bay Company officials it would be found.2 The coal was used by smiths, and later on by the steamer plying along the coast.3 A report to the government in 1845 called attention to the coal reported in the neighborhood of Puget Sound and on the Cowlitz River, and that probably the samples used by the Hudson's Bay Company were obtained from the surface and. were not good. On September 7, 1846 a report on the coal situation was submitted by Ogden and Douglas, and a naval vessel was sent to investigate the report and was loaded with 62 tons dug out by the Indians, the seam outcropping along the shore.2 In 1847 some samples were sent to England by a returning war vessel. In 1849 the Hudson's Bay Company established a

Jan 1, 1942

By C. L. T. Edwards

In the preparation of this paper, the author has drawn upon experience with the operation of a blast furnace on Ioo per cent scrap burden, which he believes was the first operation of its kind in the country. It is the writer's further belief that much of the controversy attending discussions of this subject may be obviated by the presentation of a group of facts that should be known by blast-furnace men and open-hearth men alike. The following question has been raised: "Is iron made with scrap in the blastfurnace charge as good iron as that made without scrap—made with straight ore?" This question may he answered in part by the fact that the open-hearth men of the Bethlehem Steel Co. who used pig iron from a blast furnace that operated on Ioo per cent steel scrap found no difficulty in the processing of such iron other than that to be expected from the known analysis. Operation with ioo PeR Cent Steel Scrap During World War I, there was accumulated at the Bethlehem plant of the Bethlehem Steel Co. some 22,000 tons of alloy-steel turnings and borings. This scrap material was highly corroded and, like alloy-steel turnings of that period, were as a drug on the market. There was also a small tonnage of scale, rich in valuable metal. If this scrap could be worked up into pig iron, it would become readily available for use in the open hearth. In order that the pig iron should contain the maximum percentage of nickel, permission was obtained from the Management to try a Ioo per cent scrap operation. Accordingly, a blast furnace was swung over on July 25, 1919; the percentage of steel scrap increased more or less irregularly until July 29, when Ioo per cent steel turnings were charged. Except for occasional charges of nickel scale as an "cxtra," the operation continued uninterruptedly until Aug. 27, when the furnace was swung back to the regular ore—ore and scrap—operation. During this period, the furnace production ranged from a low of 568.60 tons to a maximum of 766.07 tons. At the swing-over from Ioo per cent scrap to the regular burden, the charge I hung up rather severely. While the latter condition has nothing to do with the object of the paper, a brief discussion of the experience will appear later because of the interest it may have for blast-furnace operators. In Table I, results of the first and last days of the ore charge are shown, July 25 and July 29. The last column shows a summary for the period of maximum scrap ' charge. The furnace employed had a hearth 16 ft. o in., bosh 22 ft. o in., stock line 15 ft. 6 in., bell 11 ft. 6 in., batter in., bosh angle 73' 27' and a Balrer-Neuman top, with gas-engine blowers. Analyses Range of material charged Gravel: SiO2, 64.40 to 70.54 per cent; A1203, 3.52 to 4.58; CaO, 7.27 to 9.49; MgO, 5.09 to 6.14; FeO, 1.67 to 3.34, ignition loss, 9.50 to 13.83. I

Jan 1, 1942

By Walter Fuchs

It is now generally conceded that coal is the product of deposition and transformation of debris of forests and swamps.29 Ample data are available to illustrate the metamorphosis of biochemical substances through biological action; other data show the progressive regional metamorphism existing in coal beds;25 and numerous examples of change effected by intrusion of igneous dikes into coal deposits have been established.23 However, often the relative importance of the biological and the geological factor in determining the character of the various natural coals is a debatable question. Since both biological and geological factors are ever present in nature, the problem, at first glance, would appear to resemble certain probability problems: specifically the simultaneous toss of two coins, with the biological factor as heads and the geological as tails. The probability is 2:I for the combined effect of both factors, as compared to the exclusive effect of either one, if the a priori probability is the same for each factor. This condition can be analyzed by a thermodynamic treatment of data, which may be obtained from a consideration of pertinent biological, chemical, geophysical and geological facts. Synopsis of Biological and Chemical Facts The biosphere is not sterile; i.e., microorganisms are always present. Microor- ganisms have been established in the ocean deep, under the ice of the polar regions, in the sand of the deserts, and in swamps far below the surface. The various biological media may be acid, neutral, or alkaline, and they may or may not be readily accessible to air. Microorganisms are encountered almost everywhere, except where the temperature is not within the range tolerable by microbial life. Of course, with changing conditions, the type of microorganisms will change. All chemical products of life—proteins, fats, carbohydrates, lignins, waxes, resins— may serve as a habitat of microorganisms. In the decomposition of a medium, some microorganisms macerate organic matter mechanically and remove certain constituents for their own nutrition; others decompose a large part of the organic matter but may leave certain constituents undecomposed. Some attack only certain specific ingredients of the organic matter. All of them build up cell substance. The nitrogen content of the medium largely determines the degree of decomposition. Below 1.7 per cent nitrogen, growth of microorganisms and hence decomposition of organic material is retarded; consequently organic material will accumulate.17,32 Such accumulations of organic material may give coal eventually. Coals differ in type and rank. The nature of the original vegetation and the conditions attending the transformation of the accumulated debris determine the type of coal such as bright, splint, cannel, and algal or boghead coals. Chemical analysis of representative samples of a given type of

Jan 1, 1942

IN order to defend batteries or to make a stratagem at night in making an assault it is useful to tie certain tubes of paper on wooden forms to the ends of the lances of the cavalry, or on the ends of the pikes of infantrymen. These are made in the form , of rockets or squibs, half a braccio or more long, and are full of coarse gunpowder in which are mixed pieces of Grecian pitch, sulphur, grains of common salt, iron filings, crushed glass, crystalline arsenic, and the like. Their very shape gives a hold at the foot, and they should be well packed and full. Then, having put in a good fuse and turned the fire-emitting end toward the enemy and having tied it well to the lance or pike, at the proper time cause them to burn as you wish. From the thing made in this way you will see issue a fearful very hot tongue of fire more than two braccia long, full of explosions and horror. This works much better if used when the weather is mild or when you are aided by the wind. This thing serves very well in battles at sea as well as in its effects on land.

Jan 1, 1942

HAVING shown you before how moulds of statues and also those of guns are constructed, I wish to tell you at present how, if you wish to cast them in bronze, you are further to prepare and arrange these moulds so that they may receive the melted mass of the metals in a friendly manner and without disturbance. I know that you understand that a real and intense heat has been intro-

Jan 1, 1942

By John A. Johnson

The purpose of this report is to clarify the interpretation of some phases of previous progress reports5/ on the use or omission of stemming that have been brought to the attention of the authors by readers. As the stemming problem was approached from an entirely disinterested viewpoint and the data were presented impartially, results of investigations published in previous reports5/ were obtained under a definite set of conditions and procedure, and they may of may not be duplicated under different conditions and procedure in actual mining practice. Final conclusions regarding the use or omission of stemming in blasting have not been reached pending completion of all aspects of this investigation.

Jan 1, 1942

Very little coal was produced in Texas in the period considered and nearly all of that was used locally. All data are shown in Table 81. [ ]

Jan 1, 1942

By L. E. Welch, C. W. MacGregor

THE past 20 years has seen a revolutionary change in the testing of materials at elevated temperatures. This has largely been brought about by the practical importance of the creep problem in the design of equipment for operation at high temperatures. The short-time tension test carried out at elevated temperatures has consequently assumed in many cases only a secondary role compared to the long-time creep test. In many problems, however, a knowledge of the short-time high-temperature properties of a metal is essential. To mention a few cases in which this is so, we might include all hot-forming operations such as rolling,' forging, etc., the welding problem if residual stresses are to be computed, the development of new alloys for high-temperature service where, in the initial stages, time does not permit of long duration creep tests, and others. Usually a knowledge of the short-time properties is desired, if only to serve as a background against which to compare creep behavior. In conducting short-time high-temperature tests, it has been almost the universal practice to determine stresses based on the original area and strains referred to the original gauge length which is usually chosen as 2 in. It has. been pointed out 1,2 that one of the reasons that the true significance of certain tensile properties is not understood, which perhaps curtails their usefulness, especially when the material is applied [ ] under conditions differing considerably from the test conditions, is that true physical stresses and strains are not determined. It is essential to have a knowledge of true stresses, and strains in order to correlate the values present in the tension test with those existing, for example, in hot metal-forming operations and in the general problem of the yielding and failure of metals under combined stress conditions. Stress and strain values based on the original dimensions of the test piece do not exist physically except in the early stages of the test. Since at the present time there is very little information in the literature on true stress-strain relations in the short-time high-temperature tension test it is proposed in the following pages to describe a

Jan 1, 1942

Jan 1, 1942

Jan 1, 1942