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By H. Biloni

A metallographic study of solute segregation produced during controlled solidification of Sn-Pb alloys has previously been reported.' It was found that the growth conditions which produced well-developed cellular substructures led to severe segregation, and even at solute concentrations of 0.2 wt pct Pb regions of a lead-rich phase were formed at the junctions of cell boundaries (nodes). Similar sample preparation and etching techniques have now been applied to several tin alloys at more dilute concentrations. The crystals were solidified uni-directionally under less-severe growth conditions so that the predominant interface structure was composed of two-dimensional cells.* Binary alloys with lead, using 9.999 pct Sn as a solvent, and ternary alloys with lead and bismuth or lead and antimony, using zone-refined tin as a solvent, were examined. The liquid was decanted from the growing crystals in all cases to reveal the interface structure and ensure that two-dimensional cells were being formed. However, since interference may arise from a liquid layer that clings to the interface during decanting,3 an examination of the segregation pattern was always made behind the interface. In all cases, the structure within the bulk of a crystal at greater than 1 cm behind the decanted interface was substantially the same as that nearer the interface. Representative photomicrographs of the dilute Sn-Pb alloy are shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3. Most observations are similar to those of the previous investigation. For example, the solute concentration at the cell walls is higher than in the intercellular regions; where cell boundaries meet, the segregation is enhanced; the macromosaic or stria-tion substructure and grain boundaries show enhanced segregation; there is also a depletion of solute at cell walls near a striation boundary, as Spittle et a1.4 have observed at decanted interfaces. Not all these observations can be seen in the photos shown since attention has been focused on a special feature; as evident in the photomicrographs, cer-

Jan 1, 1965

By Fred Allison

THE magneto-optic method of analysis had its origin in experiments1 which were designed to detect and measure a time lag in the Faraday effect and later to study this time lag as a function of the wave length of the light.2 Faraday discovered in 1845 that a beam of plane polarized light, when passed through a transparent, isotropic medium traversed by a magnetic field of force parallel to the direction of the light, suffers a rotation. The direction of rotation is reversed with the reversal of the magnetic field and its magnitude depends upon the strength of the field, the length of the path of light in the substance and the nature of the substance. This phenomenon of magnetic rotation is known as the Faraday effect. A question which had been of some interest for years was whether this power of a liquid to rotate polarized light is acquired instantly with the application of the magnetic field, that is, whether it is a case of instantaneity or whether there is a very small interval of time which intervenes between the application of the magnetic field and the consequent rotation of the light by the liquid; in other words, whether there is a time lag in the Faraday effect. Efforts to measure such a lag previously had met with failure. It was recognized at the outset' that since a time lag had escaped detection it must be extremely small, if to a measurable extent it exists at all. It became necessary therefore to adopt a timing device capable of making measures of almost infinitesimally small intervals. The velocity of light served as this timing device, a modification of a method originally employed by Abraham and Lemoine3 being adapted to the requirements of the problem. Since light travels about 30 cm. in a billionth of a second and since settings in our observations may be repeated with deviations not exceeding 3 mm.,

Jan 1, 1932

By Gary Mack, Donald E. Scheck

To help management keep key machines or processes at peak efficiency, draglines, shovels and blast hole drills have been equipped with micro- processor based monitors. The dragline and shovel monitors log operating data such as energy consumption, bucket position, cab rotation and the clock time of key elements within each cycle as well as maintenance information. The output consists of maintenance and management data such as the number of cycles, average cycle times, swing angles, depths and downtimes. Extensive experimentation has shown that a blast hole monitor can provide a log of each blast hole in which the hard to fragment zones are indicated. The logs are printed on board the drill and serve as the design basis for decked loading of the holes. As a result, the fragmentation of the overburden has improved markedly with the same or less powder consumption. This material is based upon work supported in part by the Bureau of Mines, Department of the Interior under Grant Numbers G1115006, G1115391 and G5 105006. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Bureau of Mines, Department of the Interior.

Jan 1, 1983

By G. S. Farnham, D. A. Scott

Partition of certain elements, particularly nickel, was determined for slowly cooled steels, the greater number containing from 0.30 to 0.35 pct C. Approximately 3 pct of the nickel, 18 pct of the manganese, 33 pct of the molybdenum, and 35 pct of the chromium occur in the carbide phase. Partition of one element is not much affected by the presence of another. THE object of this investigation was: 1—to determine the partition of nickel between cemen-tite and ferrite in a medium and high carbon series of annealed steels; 2—to evaluate the effect of chromium and/or molybdenum or both on the partition of nickel in medium carbon annealed steels; 3— to determine the partition of chromium between ferrite and carbide in a series of medium carbon annealed steels; and 4—to study the chemistry of the carbides formed in an AISI 2330 steel during both isothermal transformation, and quench and draw experiments at 1150°F (620°C). The partition of alloying elements between ce-mentite and ferrite in annealed steels has been the subject of many investigations, a summary of which has been given by Austin1. However, there is no satisfactory data available concerning the partition of nickel. It has generally been assumed that virtu- ally all of the nickel concentrates in the ferrite phase in annealed steels. Two investigators"." have reported the finding of nickel in extracted carbide residues. Recently, it has been shown4 that nickel substitutes up to 40 pct for iron in the lattice of cementite produced by the low temperature carburization of iron-nickel powders. In addition to the lack of data on nickel partition, the literature also fails to make reference to the effect of other elements on the nickel content of the carbide in nickel-bearing steels. The partition of molybdenum between ferrite and carbide has been reported"-' for hypoeutectoid steels, isothermally transformed at 1300°F (705°C) and

Jan 1, 1954

By Hermann Irresberger

SUMMARY In the German hard coal industry, relevant parameters influencing strata control have been identified in many years of intensive research work. The research results allow the formulation of the technical requirements on the design of shield supports as a function of the geological and operational conditions the face machinery is subject to. Keys to strata control are support resistance adjusted to the individual conditions of application and the tip-to-face interval. The technology to implement these requirements in actual operation is available. The automation of the shield-advance work cycle, currently setting in, can further contribute to improve strata control. In doing so, however, we must not forget the demand for an unsophisticated and low-cost design of shield supports with high operational safety. INTRODUCTION The German hard coal mining Industry produces coal from flat and inclined seams in depths between 400 and 1,300 m. The coal is exclusively won by longwall working involving face lengths up to 280 m. The thickness of the seams being worked is between 0.7 m and 4.5 m. Coal winning is fully mechanized with drum shearers or coal ploughs; two, three, or four leg shields are predominantly used as supports.

Jan 1, 1984

By Frederic Laist

IN the spring of 1931 an experiment was made at Anaconda with a small reverberatory furnace, with which was combined a roasting shaft. The arrangement is shown in the accompanying drawing (Fig. 1) and requires but little explanation. The general idea was to roast .flotation concentrates, mixed with the proper fluxing materials, by dropping them down a heated shaft, from which the calcines would enter the smelting zone of the reverberatory furnace through an opening in the roof. The hearth of the reverberatory was 3 ft. wide by 21 ft. long. The roasting shaft was 3 ft. square inside and had an effective height of about 20 ft. . The reverberatory furnace was arranged so that it could be charged either directly through the roof with regular hot calcines, in the usual manner, or by means of the shaft, at the top of which were a feed-ing arrangement by which cold flotation concentrates, suitably fluxed, could be fed continuously and a pipe through which cold air was blown in. Means were provided for distributing the feed over the cross-section of the roasting shaft. At first a mechanical arrangement was used but later it was found that a simple cone served the purpose equally well and gave less operating trouble. On account of the small size of the equipment, it was realized that absolute capacity and fuel consumption figures would mean but little. It was not to be expected that ratios comparable to those obtained in large furnaces could be gotten, and the only way in which any idea could be obtained as to the possibilities of the combination furnace was to run it in parallel with the reverberatory furnace charged in the usual manner and operating without the shaft. The results of such parallel runs are given in Table 1. The amount of oil burned in the reverberatory was purposely maintained at substantially the same rate during both runs in order that the benefits resulting from the shaft might be gaged.

Jan 1, 1933

By Kendall E. Born

PRoduction of crude oil in Tennessee during 1938 was slightly more than 41,000 bbl., an increase of about 5000 bbl. over 1937. The production by counties and by fields is shown in Table 1. The increased production has resulted from continued activity in the Upper Cumberland district, especially in Clay County. The "Mississippi lime" production in Scott and Morgan Counties continued to show a further decline with a 1938 production of 12,379 bbl. as against 14,644 bbl. during 1937. Small scattered production from some half dozen wells in Clay, Pickett, and Fentress Counties, on which there are no accurate figures, is estimated at 500 bbl. during the year. The only natural gas marketed off the lease in Tennessee during 1938 was in Morgan County, where a small amount was furnished for the town of Sunbright and immediate vicinity. The gas occurs with the oil in the Boone Camp field and small amounts were put on the line from the near-by Coon Hollow and Seabolt pools. Developments There were 88 wells spudded in during 1938, of which 10 were drilling or only temporarily shut down on Dec. 31, 1938. Eighty wells were completed during the year; 16 produced oil and 3 were gas wells of undetermined quantity. The total footage drilled on 1938 completions was 63,385 ft. Flush production during the year totaled 850 bbl. per day. The more important wildcats are listed in Table 2; the distribution of oil and gas tests drilled during the year, according to physiographic divisions, is given in Table 3. Cumberland Plateau There were no completions in the producing pools in Scott and Morgan Counties. The decline in production in these areas has been steady for the past several years. In an effort to revive production, present plans include a repressuring program in the Boone Camp field in Morgan County early in 1939. There was one completion in Morgan

Jan 1, 1939

By Kendall E. Born

PRoduction of crude oil in Tennessee during 1938 was slightly more than 41,000 bbl., an increase of about 5000 bbl. over 1937. The production by counties and by fields is shown in Table 1. The increased production has resulted from continued activity in the Upper Cumberland district, especially in Clay County. The "Mississippi lime" production in Scott and Morgan Counties continued to show a further decline with a 1938 production of 12,379 bbl. as against 14,644 bbl. during 1937. Small scattered production from some half dozen wells in Clay, Pickett, and Fentress Counties, on which there are no accurate figures, is estimated at 500 bbl. during the year. The only natural gas marketed off the lease in Tennessee during 1938 was in Morgan County, where a small amount was furnished for the town of Sunbright and immediate vicinity. The gas occurs with the oil in the Boone Camp field and small amounts were put on the line from the near-by Coon Hollow and Seabolt pools. Developments There were 88 wells spudded in during 1938, of which 10 were drilling or only temporarily shut down on Dec. 31, 1938. Eighty wells were completed during the year; 16 produced oil and 3 were gas wells of undetermined quantity. The total footage drilled on 1938 completions was 63,385 ft. Flush production during the year totaled 850 bbl. per day. The more important wildcats are listed in Table 2; the distribution of oil and gas tests drilled during the year, according to physiographic divisions, is given in Table 3. Cumberland Plateau There were no completions in the producing pools in Scott and Morgan Counties. The decline in production in these areas has been steady for the past several years. In an effort to revive production, present plans include a repressuring program in the Boone Camp field in Morgan County early in 1939. There was one completion in Morgan

Jan 1, 1939

By E. T. Dumble

THE development in the Gulf Coastal Plain for the year 1923 was entirely devoid of any spectacular feature and was considerably less than that of 1922. No large fields were discovered and the principal advances lay in the extension of the old fields and the finding of a new dome and other possible producing structures, which, however, so far, have given only small wells. While the production of some fields, such as those at Hull and Orange, was materially increased at times by comparatively large wells, the output as a whole shows a marked decrease over that of the preceding year. TABLE 1.-Production by Fields in Gulf Coastal Plain in 1923 FIELD BARRELS FIELD BARRELS Anse La Butte 16,942 Jennings 212,376 Barber's Hill 172,660 Markham 39,290 Batson 391,857 North D ayton 74,983 Big Hill (Jefferson County) 13,853 Orange 5,311,995 Blue Ridge 332,445 Pierce Junction 332,565 Damon Mound 822,355 Richmond (Big Creek) 17,545 Edgerley 176,964 Saratoga 700,661 Goose Creek 6,251,761 Sour Lake 2,091,961 High Island 19,018 Spindletop 309,315 Hull... 7,732,139 Vinton 2,134,430 Humble 2,449,744 West Columbia 6,598,589 36,203,448

Jan 3, 1924

By E. T. Dumble

THE development in the Gulf Coastal Plain for the year 1923 was entirely devoid of any spectacular feature and was considerably less than that of 1922. No large fields were discovered and the principal advances lay in the extension of the old fields and the finding of a new dome and other possible producing structures, which, however, so far, have given only small wells. While the production of some fields, such as those at Hull and Orange, was materially increased at times by comparatively large wells, the output as a whole shows a marked decrease over that of the preceding year. TABLE 1.-Production by Fields in Gulf Coastal Plain in 1923 FIELD BARRELS FIELD BARRELS Anse La Butte 16,942 Jennings 212,376 Barber's Bill 172,660 Markham 39,290 Batson 391,857 North D ayton 74,983 Big Hill (Jefferson County) 13,853 Orange 5,311,995 Blue Ridge 332,445 Pierce Junction 332,565 Damon Mound 822,355 Richmond (Big Creek) 17,545 Edgerley 176,964 Saratoga 700,661 Goose Creek 6,251,761 Sour Lake 2,091,961 High Island 19,018 Spindletop 309,315 Hull 7,732,139 Vinton 2,134,430 Humble 2,449,744 West Columbia 6,598,589 36,203,448

Jan 3, 1924

By John Birkinbine

THE favor with which the members of the Institute received Mr. Fernow's paper upon the use of charbon roux in the manufacture of iron has encouraged me to present this paper, in the hope of having the discussion upon the manufacture and use of the oldest and undoubtedly the best fuel for producing pig iron continued. Owing to the advances made in employing anthracite coal, bituminous coal, or coke, or mixtures of them, we are apt to forget how much of our present development is due to the pioneers in iron manufacture and the fuel which they employed in the production of pig iron. In Mr. Swank's last compilation of the iron and steel works of the United States, the furnace capacity of the country is given as 5,868,000 tons, of which 1,000,000 tons can be made in the 264 charcoal furnaces. In other words, over one-third of the furnaces now in existence use charcoal for fuel, and produce more than one-sixth of the iron made. If to this is added the 130,000 tons of blooms and billets turned out by the 122 forges and bloomaries, the importance of the charcoal industries will be appreciated.

Jan 1, 1879

By O. J. Malacarne, D. G. Millenbruch

The use of a series of thickeners for washing of the slime fraction of a leached ore is not uncommon in the uranium industry; however, few ore processing mills have used a thickener circuit for washing leached total ore. The common practice is to wash the sand fraction in classifiers and the slime fraction only in thickeners. At the Uravan mill of Union Carbide Nuclear Co., a total ore acid leach is employed to extract uranium values from sandstone ores. These leached ores are then washed at a nominal rate of from 1000 to 1300 tpd in a series of washing thickeners. A typical screen analysis of the ore being washed in these thickeners is: 25 pct, -200 mesh; 3 pct, +35 mesh; and about 1 pct, +14 mesh. The amount of slimes (-200 mesh) will vary from 20 to 30 pct as the mill receives ore from 150 different mines. The washing liquor is acidic, from a pH of about 2 in the first thickener to 0.6 pH in the last thickener and, of course, all acid duty equipment must be used. The Uravan mill of Union Carbide Nuclear Co. is located in Montrose County, Colo. and is physically located on a canyon wall along the San Miguel River. The thickeners referred to in this paper are located on top of the mesa above the canyon. For purposes of identification, these thickeners are numbered 1 through 8 from south to north. GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF CIRCUIT The circuit utilized consists of eight wooden fir tanks, 60-ft diam by 12-ft deep, set in a line and staggered in elevation by approximately 3 ft. The washing water flows through the thickeners by gravity, while the ore pulp is pumped uphill from thickener to thickener. Adequate piping and pumping capacity are available so that any of the thickeners can be bypassed in the circuit. All the controls for the

Jan 1, 1962

By J. Kent Smith

Vanadium is generally spoken of as a rare element; but, even in the light of our resources as known a couple of years ago, this description could be accepted in a qualified sense only. In fact, vanadium is very widely distributed, being a constituent of most clays, while even caustic soda has been shown to contain almost regularly a minute proportion of it, although the quantity in each case is so small as to render impracticable the extraction of the metal therefrom with profit. The opening-up of a large deposit of vanadium sulphide ore in South America has put a new phase on the commercial outlook of vanadium, the technical value of which for the improrement of steel has been proved by rigorous scientific investigation. This sulphide ore has the following analysis: Per Cent. Vanadium sulphide,.39.84 Molybdenum sulphide,.1.57 Nickel sulphide,.........1.49 Iron sulphide,.........4.07 Arsenic sulphide,.. nil. Copper sulphide,.. nil. Manganese sulphide,..nil. Free sulphur,..30.57 Phosphorus,...nil. Silica,....13.60 Alumina,..........2.46 Combined water, 5.00 Carbonic acid, Lime, magnesia, potash, soda and unaccounted for, 100.00 Being a free-burning ore it is calcined with ease, losing 45 per cent. of its weight in the process. The calcined ore has the following analysis:

Jan 1, 1908

No early records of coal in Iowa have been found, although it is very probable that coal along the Mississippi, in the northeastern corner of the state, was seen very early. The United States Census of 1840 showed a production of 400 tons, mined of course in 1839, and the earliest mining, was in Jefferson and Fairfield Counties where the coal was hauled by wagons to shops in the Mississippi River towns years before any railroad was built in the state. In 1840 mines were opened in Van Buren County, near Farmington and Douds, and in Scott County, near Jamestown, all of the product being used locally.' In 1844 D. D. Owen reported seeing mines in the tongue of land between the Rock and Mississippi Rivers, in one of them the coal being 5 to 6 ft. thick, and several other seams south of this locality? In the, late forties a number of small mines were opened in various parts of the state, and in following years in practically every county having coal. The Mystic seam was first opened in 1857 in Appanoose County, since then consistently one of the large producing areas in the state. Consumption was local until the Milwaukee Railroad was built through the county in 1887.1

Jan 1, 1942

By George Beavers

FLASH roasting of iron concentrate is in the experimental stage at Copperhill. The problem is peculiar in that the iron concentrate is predominantly pyrrhotite; the ratio of that mineral to pyrite being 5 to 1. Results so far indicate that the heat, generated in roasting a material containing 52.0 per cent iron and 38.0 per cent sulfur, requires special handling and for this reason the installation costs per ton of roaster feed may be too great to compete with hearth roasting. Interesting features of flash roasting at Copperhill are: 1. The sulfur dioxide content of the roaster exit gas can be varied between wide limits. Eight per cent sulfur dioxide gas, with 1.30 per cent sulfur in the calcine, has been common practice and gas up to 13.0 per cent sulfur dioxide has been possible. 2. Temperatures of the exit gases are very high. When roasting 60 tons or more of iron concentrate per 24 hr. in a modified Wedge roaster, the temperature in the roaster rises to 2000° F. and the calcine is lowered to 0.20 per cent sulfur. If the entire roaster system could be constructed to withstand such temperatures, ideal roasting conditions would obtain as regards sulfur elimination and tonnage roasted.

Jan 1, 1934

By G. D. Rieck, G. H. G. Vaessen, D. L. Vogel

Both doped and undoped tungsten single crystals exhibit hardness anisotropy with respect to the direction of testing in each of the crystallographic phes investigated. The hardness anisotropy of undoped single-crystal tungsten is rather pronounced in (001) and (110) planes but very minor in (111) planes. The anisotropy in (122) planes of the doped and drawn tungsten after recrystallization is in accordance with a previously published concept of a stringlike distribution of the doping material in the metal. ANISOTROPY in mechanical properties of single-crystal tungsten was investigated by Rose et al., Garlick and Probst,2 and Beardmore and Hull. 3 Although data on the Vickers microhardness of tungsten have been published (see, e.g., Boosz 4 and the references cited by him), no data on the microhardness anisotropy are available. We report, therefore, some of our own results on the microhardness and its anisotropy. The microhardness has been determined of the following samples. A) Polycrystalline tungsten samples taken from: 1) powder metallurgical tungsten "normally" doped with potassium-silicon-aluminum oxides (final contents inppm: K, 100; Si, 100; Al, 20; Cr, 20; Fe, 50; Mo, 400; Ni, 10) and in the form of: a) a 10-mm-diam swaged ingot annealed at 1600°C, the grain sizes varying between 15 and 250 p; b) a sheet rolled at about 800°C and recrystallized at 2000°C7 the grain sizes varying between 15 and 150 p; c) a 2-mm-diam swaged rod, as-worked, with elongated grains (average diameter of about 25 , lengths up to 1 mm); 2) undoped electron-beam-melted tungsten with very large grains (contaminations in ppm: K < 10; Fe < 20; Cr < 10; Cu < 0.1; Ni not detectable; inter-stitial~ not determined). B) Single-crystal samples taken from: 1) pure tungsten grown on a Pintsch wire by the van Arkel procedure (main contaminations inppm: Mo, 100; Si < 10; Cu and Fe, 2; A1 < 2; interstitials not determined); 2) zone-melted undoped tungsten (analysis as under A2); 3) large crystals in secondary recrystallized tungsten

Jan 1, 1969

By Frederic Benard

PRIOR to 1936, the Ontario Refining Co. received all incoming blister copper from The International Nickel Company&apos;s smelter in the usual form of 460-lb. cakes, or slabs. These were received in open cars in lots of 250 pieces. At the refinery the cakes were unloaded onto narrow-gauge cars, for convenient handling and pickup by charging cranes. In March 1936, an investigation was started on the feasibility of trans-ferring converter copper in the molten state from the smelter to the refinery anode furnaces, a distance of 114 miles. Although common in steel practice, the transportation of blister copper in this form had not previously been attempted and a preliminary study of the various factors involved was therefore necessary. For this purpose, a series of experiments was made in which molten copper, removed at different stages during the furnace cycle, was held in a small portable holding furnace. This vessel was essentially a refractory-lined steel cylinder provided with ports for filling and emptying, heated by an oil burner. Dimensions of the steel shell were 3 ft. 10 in. diameter by 7 ft. 3 in. long, and thickness of refractories depended oil the design and combination used for the particular experiment. The vessel was filled with approximately 2 ½ tons of copper at a predetermined temperature, the lining having been preheated to a definite point by means of an oil burner. All openings were well luted and temperature readings were made every 15 min. by means of an immersion-type thermocouple. In this manner the rate of heat loss resulting with different refractory design could be developed. The ratio of exterior surface to weight of metal was taken into consideration in comparing the experimental results with what might be expected for a full-sized unit, and observations were also made on type and degree of slag accretion. It was not possible to get as much information on this latter point as desirable, but all evidence showed that the problem would be control of slag build-up rather than attack oil refractories.

Jan 1, 1938

By Dewitt T. Ring

Lack of reliable detailed production figures for earlier years, together with the loose nomenclature in reference to producing horizons and the application of the term "field" without any definite meaning or restriction, has made it impossible to gather statistical data suitable for the Institute&apos;s form. In common with all other producing areas in the United States, Ohio has felt severely the economic ills of the entire industry during the past year. With overproduction, not only of crude but also of refined products, going on throughout the country, the price structure as a direct consequence has weakened on Ohio oils. Valuable crude is being sold at a big loss today because producers arc willing to, and do, sell more than the market can absorb. The axe hangs heavy over the heads of Ohio producers, and will until something constructive is done to keep supply in proportion to demand. This not only applies to Ohio but to the entire industry. Production of Pennsylvania grade in Ohio was under 50 per cent proration, which has been in effect since Oct. 1, 1937. Three price cuts since February have lowered the posted price from $1.70 to $1.18, a 30 per cent reduction; other grades were less drastically reduced. Pipeline storage facilities were limited; many producers were faced with the problem of providing their own storage or the risk of ruining their wells. If they wanted to pull and abandon wells, there was no market for junk equipment. Many employees have been cut to half time and in a number of instances their services entirely dispensed with. Summary of Production and Drilling Both oil and gas production in the state during 1938 showed a definite decline over the previous year. (A table showing production by years from 1876 through 1937 was published in Vol. 127 of the Transactions.) The total production of crude oil in the state for 1938 was 3,357,914 bbl., as compared with 3,654,000 bbl. in 1937, a decrease of 7.1 per cent. At

Jan 1, 1939

By Dewitt T. Ring

Lack of reliable detailed production figures for earlier years, together with the loose nomenclature in reference to producing horizons and the application of the term "field" without any definite meaning or restriction, has made it impossible to gather statistical data suitable for the Institute&apos;s form. In common with all other producing areas in the United States, Ohio has felt severely the economic ills of the entire industry during the past year. With overproduction, not only of crude but also of refined products, going on throughout the country, the price structure as a direct consequence has weakened on Ohio oils. Valuable crude is being sold at a big loss today because producers arc willing to, and do, sell more than the market can absorb. The axe hangs heavy over the heads of Ohio producers, and will until something constructive is done to keep supply in proportion to demand. This not only applies to Ohio but to the entire industry. Production of Pennsylvania grade in Ohio was under 50 per cent proration, which has been in effect since Oct. 1, 1937. Three price cuts since February have lowered the posted price from $1.70 to $1.18, a 30 per cent reduction; other grades were less drastically reduced. Pipeline storage facilities were limited; many producers were faced with the problem of providing their own storage or the risk of ruining their wells. If they wanted to pull and abandon wells, there was no market for junk equipment. Many employees have been cut to half time and in a number of instances their services entirely dispensed with. Summary of Production and Drilling Both oil and gas production in the state during 1938 showed a definite decline over the previous year. (A table showing production by years from 1876 through 1937 was published in Vol. 127 of the Transactions.) The total production of crude oil in the state for 1938 was 3,357,914 bbl., as compared with 3,654,000 bbl. in 1937, a decrease of 7.1 per cent. At

Jan 1, 1939

By Orville R. Lyons, A. C. Richardson

F. X. Ferney—We are pleased that this paper was presented at this meeting and thank Mr. Richardson and Mr. Lyons for their effort and work in preparing it. We agree with the authors that it was unfortunate that more comprehensive data were not available when the paper was prepared, this being particularly true since we had no knowledge that the paper was being written and could not make available data which were in our process files. Further, it is our opinion that because the data are not sufficiently comprehensive the results which are presented are erratic and will lead to false conclusions. As we see it, there are three Specific reasons why the data which are presented cannot be considered accurate. 1. The preparation plant was not at equilibrium while the samples were being taken. This is indicated by the fact that the percent of solids in the circulating water varied from 3.9 pct to 10.7 pct during the period when the plant was sampled. 2. We do not believe that the samples of Bird feed which were taken were representative and could indicatc the true feed to the filter. Evidence of this is shown in the data where the dewatered product leaving the centrifuge contains more coarse material than the feed to it, that is, material which is +6-mesh in size. 3. We question if the data concerning screen analysis in the fine sizes is accurate and would conclude (from the data) that these tests were made by a dry-screen method. We have found that wet screening is always necessary to obtain a true picture of the quantity of —200-mesh fines which is present. The test work described in the Lyons-Richardson paper was conducted some time ago and the tests were carried on during a period when the preparation plant had not ironed out all of their start-up problems. Since that time most of these problems have been corrected and now this is a smooth running, well-operated prep-

Jan 1, 1951