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The American Mining Congress, 841 Munsey bldg., Washington, D. C. J. F. Callbreath, Secretary. The American Mining Congress is a trade association rather than a technical society and as such does not issue scientific papers. Aside from the articles appearing in the monthly Mining Congress Journal, and the Proceedings of the Annual Meetings, only two works have been issued. They are: The standard handbook on mining methods, practice and equipment. $3.

Jan 1, 1933

The Johns Hopkins Press, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md The Johns Hopkins Press has issued a number of books as The Johns Hopkins University Studies in Geology Five of the studies are paleontological in character; five are on geology: No. 1, The geology of the Corocoro copper district of Bolivia, by J. T Singewald, Jr and E W. Berry, $1 50, 2, The geology and paleontology of the Huancavehca mercury district, by E W Berry and J T Singewald, Jr $1 50, 6, Contributions to the geology and paleontology of South America, by E W. Berry and F M Swartz, 3175, 7, The geology of the Island of Trinidad, B W I, by G A Waring, with notes on the paleontology by G. D Harris, $1 75, 8, Fifty years' progress in geology, 1876-1926 Papers presented at the Geological Conference during the 50th Anniversary of the Johns Hopkins University, $1 50 An additional publication on geology is. Notes on the minerals occurring in the neighborhood of Baltimore, by G H Williams, 25 cents. In the list of Doctors' Dissertations available from the University are found all theses on geology and mineralogy, about 90 in number, from 1886 on Authors of many of these have since made great names for themselves in the fields of geology and mineralogy. Most of the theses have been published as papers by other agencies and, as such, will be found under other headings in this directory

Jan 1, 1933

By Oscar Marzke

STUDIES on the precipitation of a face-centered from a body-centered structure-a common occurrence in alloy systems-are essential to the development of a theory for the formation of segregate structures. The separation of the alpha phase from the beta of the copper-zinc system is an example of this type of precipitation. EARLIER STUDIES ON THE SUBJECT R. F. Mehl and 0. T. Marzke1 in 1931 presented a paper giving the results of some investigations carried out by them on the segregate structures produced when the alpha and gamma phases of the copper-zinc system and the alpha phase of the copper-aluminum system precipi-tate from the beta phases of these systems. They showed that the alpha phase precipitates as needles close to the [111] directions of the beta phase. In the discussion of that paper some doubt was expressed about the nature of the segregate. More investigations were undertaken to determine the character of the precipitate in the copper-zinc system and also the orientation relationship between the matrix and precipitate. The present paper gives the results of these investigations. Since the publication of the earlier paper, several other papers on this subject have been published in this country and abroad. Haneman and Schroder2 reported that the alpha phase precipitates as needles along the [111] directions of the beta phase and that these needles align themselves to form plates on the {111} planes of the matrix. Mathewson and Smith3 pointed out that the {111} plane does not contain the [111] direction and that it would be quite impossible, therefore, for needles in the [111] direction to form plates on the {111} plane. They suggested

Jan 1, 1933

By Sidney A. Swensrud

The writer has been interested for some time in trying to appraise our industry's prospects for gasoline consumption over the next half dozen years or so. Anyone who has even approached the problem knows the intimate relationship to it of the number of automobiles in use— by automobiles I mean both passenger cars and trucks. Probably at least 90 per cent of our gasoline is used in automotive vehicles. Some recent estimates secured from the Department of Commerce show the following breakdown: Per Cent Passenger cars............................................ 60.0 Trucks................................................... 27.4 Busses................................................... 2.9 Taxicabs................................................. 2.2 Subtotal............................................... 92.5 Aviation, motor boats and railroads......................... 0.5 Agricultural: farm tractors, etc.............................. 3.3 Balance (manufacturing, government use, construction, etc.)... 3.7 100.0 Up to the beginning of the depression there was, of course, a constant annual increase in the number of automobiles in use, for each year the industry added to the total inventory or ''population" more new units than were being scrapped, as may be seen in Fig. 1. Few of us in the oil industry needed to give much attention to the detailed figures, although the automobile industry seemed to interest itself in all sorts of calculations of replacement demand vs. new car demand, the average life of the car, the number scrapped, and the like. Probably many people in the oil industry, as well as outside it, were surprised at the way in which automobile registrations and gasoline consumption held up during the early years of the depression. Nor were they greatly perturbed when, as in the last two years, both registrations and consumption began to fall somewhat. That was natural enough; it

Jan 1, 1933

By H. E. Nold

THE raw materials of the ceramic industry are mostly clays. This raw material is ground, water is added and the mixture pugged into a moist, plastic, rather stiff mass. From this mass the desired units of manufacture are made (bricks, hollow building tile, sewer .pipe, etc.). These units are dried; then placed in kilns and heated until the desired degree of vitrification is obtained.1 For firing ceramic ware, two distinct types of kilns are used; namely, periodic and continuous tunnel. PERIODIC KILNS Periodic kilns are those ordinarily seen in a brick plant. They are either round or rectangular. The raw, dried, formed ware is piled or set in the kilns to depths frequently exceeding 10 ft. The kiln is heated until the ware is matured, then gradually cooled sufficiently to allow men to remove the ware; then the cycle is repeated. The time duration of the cycle may be more than two weeks.

Jan 1, 1933

By D. L. Pitt

This paper, describing the milling methods at the concentrator of the Premier Gold Mining Co., Ltd., Premier, B. C., Canada, is one of a series being prepared by the United States Bureau of Mines on milling methods and costs in the various mining districts throughout the United States and Canada. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors wish to acknowledge the assistance and suggestions given during the preparation of this paper by the engineering staff and accounting department of the Premier Gold Mining Co., Ltd., all of whom have assisted materially in gathering the data used.

Jan 1, 1933

A list of publications of the United States Bureau of Mines, complete from its establishment to the end of June, 1931, may be had upon request. In addition a monthly leaflet of new publications is issued and is sent to those on the mailing list of the Bureau. Publications are separated into three main divisions: 1. Sales Publications.-Those for which a charge is made. Any orders or remittances in payment for sales publications should be sent directly to the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C., and not to the Bureau of Mines. Sales publications are classified into (1) Bulletins, (2) Technical Papers, (3) Economic Papers, (4) statistical reports of the mineral resources of the United States, (5) Monographs, (6) Handbooks, and (7) Schedules. Bulletins and Technical Papers present the results of scientific and technical investigations. Economic Papers are analytical studies of production statistics, sources, resources, .distribution, and industrial flow of mineral commodities. The Annual Report, entitled "Mineral Resources of the United States," includes chapters, published separately, on the production and consumption of metals and of nonmetallic minerals. Monographs give detailed results of extensive cooperative investigations of special

Jan 1, 1933

By Jesse Betterton

IN the Parkes process of lead refining, after desilverization has been completed by means of zinc additions, there will remain in the lead from 0.5 to 0.6 per cent zinc. At this stage in the refining practically all impurities are reduced to refined lead specifications except zinc and antimony. All excess of copper and nearly all the arsenic goes out with the silver. Silver remaining should not exceed 0.1 oz. per ton. It thus remains only to remove zinc and antimony to produce refined lead. The older practice was to complete refining by means of oxidation processes in reverberatory furnaces. Essentially this consisted of heating the lead to 1200° to 1300° F. and allowing it to come in contact with a considerable excess of air passing through the furnace, or accom-plish the same result by blowing the lead with steam by means of pipes introduced for that purpose, at the same time allowing air to enter the furnace. Usually some procedure involving alternate oxidation and reduction with fine coal or coke was employed in order to reduce the weight of dross or skim finally removed from the furnace. This practice had many elements of weakness in that the main flow of lead, after the preceding expensive operations had been performed, and the whole refining process nearly completed, was subjected to an operation at a comparatively high temperature, which involved much lead loss if the furnaces were not on bags, and the production of 3 to 5 per cent of the weight of the lead as dross or skim, which had to be resmelted and the lead either refined or produced as antimonial lead. In addition, the operating expense of the process was a considerable item. The, process of dezincing with chlorine was developed as a substitute for the foregoing described oxidation process, and finally resulted in such advantages as nearly equal operating costs, a practical elimination of the lead loss, and the direct production of a very valuable byproduct, zinc chloride, that may be sold as such or retreated for its zinc and chlorine contents, both of which can be reused in the refining processes.

Jan 1, 1933

Metal Statistics, Published by the American Metal Market, 111 John St , New York, N. Y. While it is not policy to list in this directory commercial publishers of literature on mining and geology, it is felt that reference to a few standard works of wide distribution and general use should be included; particularly when those works are statistical or of a specific informatory nature Metal Statistics is a book issued annually by these publishers. It contains a general assortment of statistical information concerning the ferrous and the nonferrous metals-price quotations of the metals, tables of production, and so on It is a widely used reference The 25th Annual Edition was issued in March, 1932. The price is $2

Jan 1, 1933

By M. Van Siclen

THE outstanding fact in connection with dust disease in the United States at present is the growing recognition of its seriousness by state officials and by the more progressive operators of mining, metallurgical and allied industrial plants. The same may perhaps be said of labor in some of its better organized centers, but the average independent non-union workman continues, as of yore, to suffer the toll of disability and even of death from dust inhalation without realization of the source of his ill-being. Progress in the betterment of the handling of sufferers from dust disease and of the conditions creating dust hazards in mining and allied industries is pursuing a course similar to that of the now widespread campaign against accidents, in which the risk is more obvious, more severe, and was naturally recognized sooner. The coming on of dust disease is generally relatively slow and its immediate effects not infre-quently masked by or attributed to other diseases. Marked exceptions to this general rule have occurred in districts where the dust is particularly pernicious, such as the Rand and Joplin; yet such exceptions, unhappy in themselves, opened the eyes of medical men, and of those in other localities charged with the responsibility for the welfare of industry, to the much more widespread if less spectacular hazard existing from the inhalation of dust in all rock-excavating operations and all industrial operations creating inorganic dust, whether it be crushing and grinding, sand-blast-ing, granite-cutting, or what not. Advancement to date in the United States in prevention and treat-ment has been slow, yet the record shows that quantitative methods for determining the degree of hazard and means for decreasing it were being developed as far back as 25 years ago; and that more rapid progress may be looked for from now on. In 1908, in this country, F. L Hoffman?(1) discussed the mortality from consumption in dusty trades, especially brass foundries; and in 1913 E. R. Hayhurst(2) described the effects of inhalation

Jan 1, 1933

By H. C. Fowler

No exact demarcation can be made between producfion engineering and engineering research projects which interest production engineers because the results of today's engineering research make possible many of the applied production engineering methods of tomorrow. A corollary of the development of fundamental research is that so-called practical research becomes necessary. Assuming engineering research to include all subjects related to oil and gas production on which knowledge is being increased through experimentation and through analyses of data obtained from both the laboratory and the field, a review of the work of 1932 shows that the fundamental concepts of at least three major problems have become better understood—bottom-hole pressures, solubility of gas in oil, and fluid movement—and that the established data on the relationships of oil and gas have been applied to obtain more efficient and more economic production of both. Engineers no longer are concerned primarily with the initial development of devices for obtaining the pressures at the bottom of wells. Advancement in the technique of obtaining reliable pressure readings in wells has been rapid. One of the first public suggestions regarding apparatus for obtaining precise information at the bottom of oil wells was made before the Petroleum Division of the A.I.M.E. in 1928. Even during the early development stages in East Texas, reservoir pressures were estimated from well-head observations. Soon, however, a number of proved devices and methods were available, and today bottom-hole pressures in many fields are being recorded and studied as an essential part of the production programs. The research now turns to interpretations of data, obtained with these devices, in terms of reservoir energy and to the development of methods whereby the oil and gas will be withdrawn in accordance with rational and equitable programs based on oil-gas-energy relationships. The term ((bottom-hole pressures" should not be interpreted as indicating the full scope of all research on this problem. By using pressure (and temperature) data obtained in related vertical-flow studies,

Jan 1, 1933

By S. H. Ash

The United States Bureau of Mines has published relatively little on the flooding and unwatering of coal and metal mines. Bulletin 229, Fifty-Nine Coal-Mine Fires, published in 1927, contains several instances of the flooding of mines or sections thereof to extinguish fires but does not describe their unwatering. Report of Investigations 2649, Explosion Hazards Incidental to Unwatering Coal Mines, published in 1924, warned against the possibility of gas accumulations in flooded mines and indicated the precautions to be taken. Report of Investigations 2255, An Unusual Hazard in Reopening Long-Flooded Timbered Metal Mines, published in 1921, told of methane being pocketed and the danger thereof. The flooding of mines originates in many ways. At some mines flooding followed reopening after what was thought to be permanent abandonment; also, explosions have caused some mines to be flooded. Extinguishing fires, accidental encountering of underground streams or flooded old workings, and caves of strata admitting water from underground workings, water-bearing strata, or surface accumulations have also flooded all or parts of mines. Unfortunately, un watering often necessitates much study and causes apprehension largely because experiences in similar situations are not generally known, as few descriptions of successful or unsuccessful methods are available. The job has sometimes been contracted for outside the local management involved and has become a matter of record for the contractor only. As the cost-plus contract system often employed in the past is now known to be expensive, careful managements elect to handle the problem themselves, in line with the general policy of cutting expense where possible. This report describes specific in-stances of successful unwatering by operators.

Jan 1, 1933

By W. R. Webster

SINCE the delivery of our paper on Some Comparative Properties of Tough-pitch and Phosphorized Copper,1 a new brand known as "oxygen-free high-conductivity copper" (brand OFHC) has become available to consumers. It was thought desirable to make a comparison between the properties of this material and those of the materials covered by our original paper and its discussion. FIG. 1.-CHARACTERISTIC ANNEALING CURVES OF VARIOUS TYPES OF COPPER. Preliminary tests had indicated some notable differences. A billet of oxygen-free high-conductivity copper was taken from regular production. A chemical analysis of the particular billet was not made, but the producer of the material has given as typical the analysis shown in Table 1. The

Jan 1, 1933

Jan 1, 1933

By A. C. Richardson

The mine of the Porter Coal Co. is located at the town of Porter in the northwestern part of Jefferson County, Ala., about 20 miles west of Birmingham. The operations in this mine are confined to the middle and bottom benches of the Mary Lee bed. The coal from the Porter mine is handpicked and washed before being placed on the market. The handpicked lump coal and the washed egg and nut coal are sold chiefly as domestic and steam-raising fuel. The coal finer than 1 inch is washed in 2-compartment jigs and utilized in the manufacture of metallurgical coke. The coal company has found that, when coal ranging in size from 1 to 0 inch is washed in jigs, a considerable amount of high-ash material finer than 3/16 inch remains in the washed coal. This paper gives the results of an investigation which was conducted for the purpose of determining the washing characteristics of the through 3/16-inch raw coal and the extent to which the ash might be reduced by means of coal-washing tables. This investigation has been made in connection with an extensive study of the coal-washing problems now being conducted by the United States Bureau of Mines and the University of Alabama, with the cooperation of the coal-mining companies of the State.

Jan 1, 1933

By Paul Tyler

THE extensive employment of nonmetallic minerals antedates the use of metals, but only within the last two decades has the production of nonmetals begun actually to keep pace with the complicated activities which characterize the so-called Machine Age. The economic changes ushered in by the Industrial Revolution were reflected first in an increased demand for metals and for fuels. In the modern sense, therefore, the nonmetallic mineral industries are new and afford new opportunities for engineer and economist alike. A certain amount of caution is indicated, therefore, before attempting to apply ready-made formulas to the problems of these industries. Economics is not an exact science. In the field of production technology where the number of variables is fairly well known, the principles of economics are readily applicable, but as the student proceeds through the province of marketing into the unexplored regions of psychology and sociology he must distinguish carefully between scientific reasoning and purely metaphysical speculation, even when the latter masquerades as economics. The present paper attempts to prove no preconceived theorems and is designed primarily to stimulate careful thinking on sundry neglected phases of these industries. An attempt is made to differentiate the general problems into single aspects which afford promise of being comprehended separately; also, some fundamental statistical data are presented, but merely to indicate a method of scientific approach applicable to more intensive studies.

Jan 1, 1933

By Irwin Roman

NUMEROUS results and formulas have been published for analyzing seismic records, but most of them apply only to large-scale phenomena such as are encountered in studying earthquakes. In a few cases,1 formulas have been published for some of the simpler structures. In the present paper, an attempt will be made to analyze several types of struc-tures without using methods more advanced than those of a first course in calculus. In, tracing a disturbance through a medium, it is almost always possible to base the analysis on Fermat's Principle of Extreme Time, which states that waves of displacement travel between points in such a manner as to make the time of travel an extremum with respect to all neighboring paths. In the simpler cases, comprising most of those used in optics or geophysical prospecting, this time is a minimum and the principle is often referred to as the Principle of Least Time. Within a homogeneous medium, having a uniform speed of transmission of the disturbance in all directions and throughout the medium, the paths are straight and are refracted at the interfaces in accordance with the Snell law of refraction, which states that the ratio of the sine of the angle, made by the ray with the normal to the interface, to the speed of trans-mission is the same on both sides of the interface. Thus, in any medium composed of homogeneous sections, this same ratio has a constant value at all points. In particular, if all interfaces are horizontal, it is apparent that the angles of incidence are the angles made by the ray with the vertical direction. Furthermore, the incident ray, the refracted ray and the normal to the interface are all in the same plane at each refraction;

Jan 1, 1933

By John A. Allan

Introduction There are times when meditation on the past is worth while. Too often does it happen that in the busy routine there appears t9 be little time for reflection, and little good or benefit to be derived from what has already taken place, or what has become past achievement. Under conditions such as those that prevail at present, consideration is being given to many subjects that a few years ago were not looked upon as worthy of time or thought. The temporary lull in industrial development is permitting of a stock-taking investigation, a perusal of past activities, and a planning for future development with the return to normality. It is not proposed to include much new data in this address, but the endeavour will be made to survey, in resume, the sequence of events which led up to the birth of the mining industry in Canada, and to show how, as new discoveries were made, the centres of interest changed from time to time until mineral development extended across Canada from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It will appear, also, that external causes have accentuated mineral development at one time and retarded it at another. Early Records A, historical background to the mining industry extends even to an earlier date than the discovery by white men of that part of the continent of North America represented by Canada. It has been stated that the aborigines were still in the neolithic stage when the white man arrived. One metal only was known to the natives, and that was copper, obtained from possibly many parts of Canada, but particularly from the shores of lake Superior in Ontario, from the Coppermine river on the Arctic coast, and from die coastal regions of British Columbia.

Jan 1, 1933

By Cyril Stanley Smith, Earl W. Palmer

A complete discussion of the literature on the subject of the influence of copper on iron and steel will be published elsewhere.' The present paper is concerned especially with the precipitation-hardening of copper steels, and brief mention will be made here only of the work of Kin-near,2,3 Nehl4 and Buchholtz and Koster,5 who alone have studied this phase of the subject. Kinnear found that normalized low-carbon steel castings containing about 1.0 per cent copper on drawing at temperatures in the neighborhood of 530" C. (1000" F.) increased in tensile strength and yield point, with little decrease in ductility. The maximum effect was obtained with about 0.9 to 1.0 per cent copper, and when the copper exceeded 3 per cent no improvement occurred on reheating. Kinnear did not study the effect of time of reheating—an all important factor where precipitation is concerned. Neh1,6 who apparently was unaware of Kinnear's work, recognized the change as due to precipitation and studied the interdependence of time and temperature of reheating, the temperature of the initial solution heat treatment, and the speed of cooling necessary to retain the bulk of the copper in supersaturated solution and to give an increase in hardness and tensile strength on reheating. Nehl found that if the final rolling or forging temperatures exceeded 700" C. (1300" F.) it was not necessary even to normalize the steel, but full precipitation occurred on merely reheating the forged or rolled shapes at 500" C. (930" F.). Buchholtz and Koster7 studied in detail the precipitation-hardening of a mild steel containing 1.0 per cent copper and 0.5 per cent chromium. From data on the electrical and magnetic properties of copper steels, they drew the portion of the equilibrium diagram in Fig. 1, assuming the

Jan 1, 1933

By G. S. Rice

The Experimental Mine of the United States Bureau of Mines is a unique coal mine that serves as a large-scale testing laboratory. It is used primarily for testing the explosibility of coal-dust and gases but is also the workshop for many other kinds of research work of which the chief object is to increase safety in mining. The mine is situated in Allegheny County, Pa., about 13 miles southwest of Pittsburgh among the high hills of the west bank of the Monongahela River, at the northeastern edge of the gas-coal district of the Pittsburgh coal bed which extends south through the Connellsville coking-coal district into West Virginia. The Pittsburgh bed, of the Upper Carboniferous age, is one of the most extensive continuous coal beds in the United States, if not in the world. Throughout large areas it shows remarkable uniformity of thickness, levelness, and character of coal, which is a coking coal of high-grade bituminous rank. Its thickness in the northern part is 5 to 5 ½ feet and in the central and southern part is 7 to 9 feet.

Jan 1, 1933