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By Joseph E. Pogue

NEW economic forces are at work in the petroleum industry.. In order to visualize these forces and clearly see their bearing on the producer, refiner and marketer, it is necessary to see in perspective the economic evolution of the business. For several decades prior to 1913 the outstanding feature of the petroleum industry was a trend toward integration, culminating in a huge combine, the Standard Oil Co. An important aspect of this integrative trend, however, was its concentration on the combination aid control of refining and marketing, leaving crude oil production, for the most part, to the exigencies. of small-unit competition. It is a noteworthy coincidence that during this era the law of oil and gas was formulated and applied, whereby these substances had to be reduced to possession to establish ownership; and the forces of competition in crude oil production were thereby intensified. It was to the interest of an industry, safeguarded in its control of manufacturing and markets, to have supply stimulated by legal convention as well as by individual initiative in order that the growing demand could be met without interruption. And so over-production of crude oil during this era was no handicap, but rather an aid, to the progress of the industry.

Jan 1, 1929

By L. P. Teas

Although 1930 has been a year of stagnation, proration and curtailment, the Gulf Coast has measured up to its tradition in the matter of interesting and significant discoveries. Only 2 domes and 7 new structural areas were brought into the producing column in 1930, whereas, in 1929, 13 domes and one structure were added to this list, yet a total of 14 new producing horizons were proved on various domes and structures. On 5 domes new flanks were successfully tested for commercial production. The year 1930 has shown at Barber's Hill that oil in commercial quantities may exist below salt or cap. Numerous wells have been drilled through cap, or even salt itself, into good producing sands. The past year has been particularly notable in the interest and in the number of deep holes drilled. Two wells have gone below 8000 ft. in each of the states of Texas and Louisiana, and in the two states together 14 wells have gone below 7000 ft At the beginning of the year only one well was producing below 6000 ft. in coastal Texas, while at its end, 19 wells were producing or had produced. Geophysical discoveries and activity on the Coast have waned and this type of work has moved further inland. The peaks of production at Pettus, Barber's Hill, Raccoon Bend, Refugio, Orchard and at Humble, in Texas; and at Lake Barre, Port Barre, Black Bayou, White Castle and Vinton in Louisiana, were seen this year. These were new peaks for Humble and Vinton, of course, these fields having previously gone through periods of peak flank production. In Table 1 the completions listed are for the entire month of December in both years. It is remarkable that in 1930, a year of overproduction and proration, there were actually more wildcat operations at its end than at the end of 1929; but it is gratifying that the operations in the proven fields were exactly one-half what they had been at the end of 1929. The price of A grade coastal crude, or oil below 25" Bé., has been cut from $1.30 at the beginning of the year to $1.00 at its close; and B grade, or oil above 25o Bé., has been reduced from a price range of $1.15 to $1.63 down to a range of from $0.75 to $1.22. In spite of these reductions there has been no proration program on the Coast. Systematic

Jan 1, 1931

E. O'C. Acker ?86 'Truman H. Aldrich '78 Anson W. Allen '87 John H. Allen '84 W. Lawrence Austin ?82 W. S. Ayres '73 David Baker '86 'John Henry Banks '83 'Wm. de L. Benedict '88 'Robert Bentley '84 'Andrew A. Blair '75 'Walter M. Brodie Frederick Burbidge '87 'H. H. Burden '83 'Charles Butters '88 'R. C. Canby '82 Arthur C. Carson '84 'H. M. Chance '74 J. Parke Channing '84 Frank D. Chase '84 Clarence Raymond Claghorn '84 M. E. Clark '86 W. M. Claypool '84

Jan 1, 1937

By F. H. McDowell

DURING the last eighteen months the Tilly Foster Iron Mine Company, the President of' which is Mr. E. I?. Hatfield and the Managing Director Mr. B. G. Clarke, has been carrying out a plan

Jan 1, 1889

By Wm. E. Milligan

LEAD stocks at the beginning of 1943 were comfortable when compared with those of other base metals such as copper, zinc and tin. This situation was early recognized by W.P.B. and other Governmental agencies and every effort was made to encourage the substitution of lead for these latter metals in all essential uses. Despite this apparently healthy condition, lead was not denied participation in the various measures inaugurated by the Government to relieve metal shortages. Thus in the Mexican trade agreement, effective Jan. 20, the tariff on two important classes of lead importss was halved. Similarly, in the setting up of B quota premiums, a B base was allotted to lead, with all pro¬duction above this figure receiving an additional payment of 2.75c. per lb., or a total payment of 11.75c. per lb. At about the same time it was announced that all quota transactions would be based upon the lead content as shown by the smelter settlement sheets. This basis was 86 percent of the lead content for all ores shipped to custom milling plants and 95 per cent for ores and concentrates shipped to custom smelting plants. The importance of this action can be appreciated when in the Coeur d'Alene it was estimated as equivalent to a 5 per cent increase compared to the previous base.

Jan 1, 1944

By C. R. Boyd

In 1874 I received an appointment in the corps organized by Col. William P. Craighill, U. S. Engineers, to survey the New or Upper Kanawha river for the purpose of ascertaining the practicability and

Jan 1, 1895

By Brian F. Dyson

The surface tensions at 1550°C of some Fe-S alloys (in the range 0.008 to 0.052 wt pct S), Fe-Sn alloys (0.31 to 48.4 wt pct Sn), Fe-P alloys (0.038 to 2.38 wt pct P), Fe-Cu alloys (2.15 to 22.8 wt pct Cu), and Fe-1 pct C-S alloys (0.005 to 0.076 wt pct S) along with the surface tension of the base iron have been measured by the sessile-drop method. A mean value of 1754 dynes per cm was found for the surface tension of the base iron. Sulfur was found to be highly surface-active, the surface-tension results being in quantitative agreement with existing data. Tin and copper were found to be less surface-active than sulfur while phosphoms was completely nonsurface-active. The surface tensions of Fe-1 pct C-S alloys were found to be lower than those of the Fe-S alloys containing the same sulfur content. This was shown to be a mmzifestation of the increase in the thermodynamic activity of suZfur by carbon. It is only in recent years that attempts have been made to measure the surface tension of liquid iron of known high purity.1-3 Earlier measurements4-7 were made on liquid iron containing variable amounts of what are now known to be surface -active solutes. The exact value of the surface tension of liquid iron is still, however, open to some doubt. Halden and Kingery' reported a value of 1720k 34 dynes per cm at 1570°C, Kozakevitch and Urbain8 gave 1790k 25 dynes per cm at 1550°C, while Van-Tszin-Tan et al. obtained a value of 1865k 37 dynes per cm at 1550°C. The first systematic investigation into the effect of controlled solute additions on the surface tension of iron was made by Halden and Kingery.' They showed that sulfur and oxygen were highly surface-active, whereas nitrogen was only slightly active, and carbon inactive. A subsequent investigation by Kingery indicated that two other group-6B elements, selenium and tellurium, were also surface-active. This highly surface-active nature of sulfur and oxygen has recently been substantiated by Kozakevitch and Urbainla and Van-Tszin-Tan et al. l1 Kozakevitch and Urbainl2 have also conducted an experimental survey of the effects of a number of metals on the surface tension of liquid iron. Their surface-active nature was, in all cases, less than that of the group 6B elements. The present investigation was undertaken to study in more detail the surface tensions of dilute Fe-S alloys and to measure the surface tensions of binary alloys of iron containing phosphorus, copper, and tin. The effect of sulfur additions on the surface tension of Fe-1 pct C alloys was also determined. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE The sessile-drop method was employed in the present investigation. An apparatus was built similar in principle to that described by Humenik and Kingery.lS It consisted of a horizontal silica tube, which could be evacuated to pressures less than 10-5 torr, with its central portion surrounded by a water jacket within which was a high-frequency coil. This generated heat in a tantalum susceptor placed inside the silica tube, which in turn radiated heat to the specimen mounted on a recrystallized alumina plaque. Temperatures were measured by an optical pyrometer and photographs of the molten drop were taken on a fixed-focus plate camera giving a magnification of X2. Surface-tension values were determined from the resultant drop using the method described by Baes and Kellogg.l4 The high vapor pressure of molten iron made it necessary to conduct all the experiments under a 1/4 atm of argon (greater than 99.995 pct purity). The analysis of the base iron used in the investigation is given in Table I. Each sample was approximately 3 g in weight and had a hemispherical base to ensure a uniform advancing contact angle on melting. The iron alloys were prepared individually in the sessile-drop apparatus by drilling a hole in the top of each sample and adding the required amount of solute, the drops being analyzed after the experiment. This method of preparation had the advantage of ensuring a consistent minimal contamination by oxygen due to refractory attack and also allowed surface tension to be measured at the same time. Every precaution was taken to ensure that the specimen was not contaminated by grease when it was introduced into the apparatus, the samples being cleaned in acid, dried in alcohol, and rinsed in petroleum ether. All handling was done with tweezers. Once the specimen had been placed inside the susceptor, the furnace was evacuated and the Sample leveled. The furnace was then degassed at approximately 1000"C before the argon was introduced. In every case the surface tension was determined at 1550" C.

Jan 1, 1963

By R. F. Miller

DUE to wartime secrecy restrictions a large part of the technical information developed by government and industrial laboratories was withheld from distribution. Much of this information has now been released or "declassified" and reports of technical work carried out during the war in allied and enemy countries are also becoming available. Information on the latter subject has been augmented by the work of the Technical Industrial Intelligence Corps of the U. S. Army. Through the Joint Chiefs of Staff, rep¬resentatives of this Corps co-operated with the British Combined Intelligence Observations Subcommittee, and some of the observations were made by combined personnel of both groups. The U. S. Government has undertaken the indexing and abstracting of all of this information in the Bibliography of Scientific and Industrial Reports, a weekly bulletin which appeared first early in 1946. Other publications, such as the Bulletin of the British Iron and Steel Institute and The Metals Review of the American Society for Metals, provide abstracts of domestic and foreign magazine articles and papers presented to technical societies. However, they do not cover the industrial and government reports recently released by the Government nor the reports of the Army investigators hence the new bibliography is a welcome addition to our metallurgical library.

Jan 1, 1947

Organization Place Date 1919 American Chemical Society Philadelphia, Pa. Sept. 2-6 National Assn. of Stationary Engineers Huntington, W. Va. Sept. 8 American Peat Society Minneapolis, Minn. Sept. 22-24 American Iron, Steel Electrical Engineers St. Louis, Mo. Sept. 22-26 American Institute of Min. and Met. Engineers. Chicago, Ill. Sept. 22-27 American Steel Treaters' Society, First Annual Convention Chicago, 111. Sept. 22-27 National Exposition of Chemical Industries.... Chicago, Ill. Sept. 22-27 National Safety Council Cleveland, O. Sept. 29-Oct: 2 American Foundrymen's Association Philadelphia, Pa. Sept. 29-Oct. 4

Jan 9, 1919

By D. S. Flett, A. W. Fletcher

Equilibrium studies on the extraction of nickel and cobalt with kerosine solutions of naphthenic acid have shown that an exchange extraction reaction occurs at pH 5.5. The nickel/cobalt separation factor is constant at 1.8 for constant total metal molarity and varying nickel/cobalt ratios. The separation factor decreases with increasing total metal molarity in the organic phase beyond 0.2 M and also decreases with increasing temperature. From the equilibrium data, it has been possible to derive a mathematical model for the separation of nickel from cobalt by exchange extraction in multistage systems. Experimental data from a continuously operated multistage mixer/settler apparatus has shown a reasonable correspondence with computer-calculated data. The effective separation of nickel and cobalt in sulfate solution remains a problem in hydrometallurgy and the hope that this would be solved by solvent extraction has not yet been fulfilled. With chloride solutions, advantage may be taken of the ability of cobalt to form anionic complexes with the chloride ion. It can then be readily separated from nickel, which does not form stable chloro complexes, by extraction with a suitable long chain amine. However, in hydro metallurgical operations, sulfate solutions are generally obtained in which no extractable anionic species are present. Thus, the possibility of using cationic extractants must be considered, and in this paper attention is directed to the use of carboxylic acids. The method of separation studied has been termed exchange extraction, which involves replacement of a metal in the organic phase with a more acidic metal in the aqueous phase. Thus, (BR2).+ (Az+)aqt=(AR,).+ (B2+)aq (I) where metal A is more acidic than metal B, R represents the acidic radical derived from the acid RH, and the subscripts e and aq refer to the organic and aqueous phases, respectively. Ashbrook and Ritcey' have used this method for the separation of cobalt from nickel using the sodium salt of di-2 ethyl hexyl phosphoric acid, which preferentially extracts cobalt. Some nickel is coextracted, and this is removed by exchange with cobalt ions in the feed solution by suitable countercurrent operation in a pulsed column. Much work has been carried out by a number of workers in Russia on the general use of exchange extraction for the separation of metal ions using car-boxylic acids. Gindin et aL a have demonstrated that this technique could be applied to the separation of nickel from cobalt using a C--C. carboxylic acid and have applied the technique to the production of high purity cobalt solutions for electrolysis. Further worka was concerned with the development of a process for the separation of nickel from cobalt in a pulsed column. This system permitted the separation of iron and copper from nickel and cobalt in one system. The procedure involved center feeding with acid backwashing at the top and alkali addition lower down the column. Thus the system operated under a pH gradient and the metals were distributed in the column in the order of their basicities. A similar application was studied by Gel'perin et al,4,5 for the removal of copper and iron impurities from a nickel anolyte by means of a C10-C,12 fatty acid fraction. Ginden et al,' and Fletcher and Wilson' have studied the effect of pH on the extraction of a number of metals with carboxylic acids. These studies showed that metals such as iron, copper, lead, zinc, nickel cobalt, and manganese are extracted at pH values close to the pH of hydroxide precipitation. Nickel is extracted at a slightly lower pH than cobalt and thus the nickel/cobalt separation factor has a value not much greater than 1. More basic work on complex identification has been reported by Fletcher and Flett: by Tanaka; and Jay-cock and Jones." These studies have suggested that at low loadings in the organic phase, the nickel and cobalt carboxylates appear to be dimeric and solvated by free carboxylic acid molecules. As the concentration of metal in the organic phase increases, the complex changes and larger polymeric species are formed. In order to permit assessment of the potential of carboxylic acids as extraction reagents for separation of

Jan 1, 1971

By MARIUS R. CIMPBELL, Edward W. Parker

DESCRIPTION. ACCORDING to the estimates prepared by the U. S. Geological Survey, the area underlain by workable coal-beds in the United States is 496,776 sq. miles. Of this total area, 480 sq. miles contain the entire anthracite coal-fields of Pennsylvania. The bituminous coal-fields are estimated to be contained in areas aggregating 250,051 sq. miles. The grade of coal between bituminous and lignite, and which is designated by the Geological Survey as " sub-bituminous," is estimated to be contained within areas aggregating 97,636 sq. miles, while the areas containing lignite aggregate 148,609 sq. miles. The coal-fields are divided, for the sake of convenience in classification, into six main provinces, as follows: 1. The Eastern. Province, containing the anthracite coal-fields of Pennsylvania and the bituminous coal-fields of the Appalachian region-namely, those of western Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, and small outlying areas in North Carolina. 2. The Interior .Province, containing the bituminous coal-producing regions of Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, western Kentucky, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Texas. 3. The Gulf Province, containing the lignite-areas of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas. 4. The Northern or Great Plains Province, containing the lignite and sub-bituminous areas of North and South Dakota, eastern Montana, and northeastern Wyoming. 5. The Rocky Mountain Province, containing the bituminous and sub-bituminous areas of western Montana and western Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico. 6. The Pacific Coast Province, containing-the areas of Washington, Oregon, and California.

Apr 1, 1909

By Robert Linton

M ETHODS by which Americanization is developed among the foreign workers at the mines in the United States, with particular reference to mines of the Pennsylvania coal region, were discussed in a most constructive way at the Wilkes-Barre Meeting of the Institute. Arthur Notman, of the Phelps Dodge Corpn., as chairman, guided the discussion. Americanization was defined by E. E. Bach, !chairman of the Institute's Sub-committee on Americanization, who said: "Americanization applies either to the native-born or foreign-born and is that process of assimilation which guarantees the full functioning of American citizenship. Naturalization papers merely entitle one to the privileges of citizenship."

Jan 1, 1921

By E. H. Dix

All commercial aluminum contains small percentages of copper, iron, and silicon as unavoidable impurities. The purest metal obtainable commercially, special grade high purity ingot, contains a maximum of 0.50 per cent. impurities of which the usual minimum amount of copper is 0.01 per cent.; silicon, 0.12 per cent.; and iron, 0.20 per cent. This grade is too costly for most purposes. The two standard grades, Nos. 1 and 2, containing a minimum of 99.0 and 98.0 per cent. aluminum, respectively, are more generally used. Other grades of secondary aluminum often contain as high as 3 or 4 per cent. of impurities, which include 1 per cent., or more, of zinc. Specifications for high-grade aluminum-casting alloys generally allow a maximum of 1.7 per cent. for total impurities. The S. A. E. Specification No. 33, which is intended to cover alloys made from secondary aluminum ingot, gives the iron maximum as 1.5 per cent. and the maximum for silicon (including manganese and tin) as 0.75 per cent. The effect of even relatively small amounts of impurities on the physical properties of ingot aluminum is shown by the following cornparison of two lots of aluminum, which may be taken as representative of special grade and grade No. 2 ingot, respectively. AnalysEs Special Grade, Gbade No. 2, Per Cent. PeR CBnt. Copper................................. 0.01 0.32 Silicon................................. 0.12 0.32 Iron................................... 0.42 0.82 Aluminum.............................. 99.45 98.54

Jan 1, 1923

By E. H. Dix

All commercial aluminum contains small percentages of copper, iron, and silicon as unavoidable impurities. The purest metal obtainable commercially, special grade high purity ingot, contains a maximum of 0.50 per cent. impurities of which the usual minimum amount of copper is 0.01 per cent.; silicon, 0.12 per cent.; and iron, 0.20 per cent. This grade is too costly for most purposes. The two standard grades, Nos. 1 and 2, containing a minimum of 99.0 and 98.0 per cent. aluminum, respectively, are more generally used. Other grades of secondary aluminum often contain as high as 3 or 4 per cent. of impurities, which include 1 per cent., or more, of zinc. Specifications for high-grade aluminum-casting alloys generally allow a maximum of 1.7 per cent. for total impurities. The S. A. E. Specification No. 33, which is intended to cover alloys made from secondary aluminum ingot, gives the iron maximum as 1.5 per cent. and the maximum for silicon (including manganese and tin) as 0.75 per cent. The effect of even relatively small amounts of impurities on the physical properties of ingot aluminum is shown by the following cornparison of two lots of aluminum, which may be taken as representative of special grade and grade No. 2 ingot, respectively. AnalysEs Special Grade, Gbade No. 2, Per Cent. PeR CBnt. Copper................................. 0.01 0.32 Silicon................................. 0.12 0.32 Iron................................... 0.42 0.82 Aluminum.............................. 99.45 98.54

Jan 1, 1923

By H. M. Howe

THIS paper presents an experimental verification of some of the predictions made by one of us' concerning 'the influence of certain conditions of casting upon the size and position of the pipe', and the position of the segregate, in steel ingots. The predictions which we have been able to verify are the following A. That the pipe is shortened and the segregate raised 1. By slow casting; 2. By casting with the large end up instead of down; 3. By retarding the cooling of the top, e.g., by means of a sinking-head. B. That the pipe is shortened by slow cooling. C. That the pipe and segregate lie in the last freezing-part. Our procedure was to cast ingots of wax (commercially pure stearic acid) containing a little bright green copper oleate (usually 1.5 per cent.) under varying conditions; to saw each ingot open along a longitudinal plane passing through its axis ; and to examine the longitudinal section thus laid bare. In order to make the segregate or enriched part more distinct in color from the impoverished part, a very little red cerasine was added. An experiment which will be described later showed that the cerasine itself does not segregate markedly, if at all. Hence we may assume that the strong contrasts between the green and red shown in so many of our ingots are due, not to segregation of cerasine, but to that of the green oleate, in the wax which in itself is uniformly reddened with cerasine.

Jul 1, 1907

By E. T. Dumble

In the Bosquejo Geoldgico de Mexico, published in 1897 by the Secretaria de Fomento as Nos. 4, 5 and 6 of the Boletin del Institute Geologico de Mexico, the Director, Jose C. Aguilera, after a detailed account of the geological observations made by himself and his assistants on their several trips through the various districts of the Republic, gives in Part 2 a synopsis of the geology of Mexico, describing . al1 the formations recognized, the rocks comprised in them, their geographical distribution, disturbances, principal eruptions and economic features, as explanatory of the Geological Map of Mexico. In Part 3 Prof. Ordonez describes many of the interesting eruptive rocks of Mexico." This work brings together in a very satisfactory way about all of the published results of geological investigations in Mexico; and although the determinations of the authors with reference to some of the sedimentary deposits are very different from those of other writers, they seem to be based upon good paleontological grounds in each instance. From the map and the text of this paper it appears that the condition of knowledge in regard to the geology of the State of Sonora, at the time of its publication, was about as follows: The western portion of the State, lying between the coast line of the Gulf of California and the foot-hills of the Sierra Madre mountains, is largely Quaternary, interrupted by areas of Azoic rocks and of later eruptives, with two or three limited exposures of limestones of the Cretaceous; while the eastern or

Jan 1, 1900

By William Campbell

In the olden days the making of alloys was an art, and the secrete of the craft were jealously guarded. To-day it has become a science, though the old ideas in regard to the secrets and formulæ are dying hard. Modern progress may be attributed to scientific research and testing of materials, and the substitution of chemical analytical control for " cook-book " methods. We know to-day a great deal about the constitution of alloys, the reasons of the change in structure and physical properties by heat and mechanical treatment; and this new knowledge is due for the most part to the physical chemist and metallographist, who have shown us that alloys are simply solutions, and as such obey definite laws. The application of the theories of solutions and of the phase rule tells us what ought to happen when our alloys are in a state of equilibrium. The working-out of the temperature-composition diagram (thermal diagram) for numerous alloys has thrown a light on the structure and constitution which has dispelled most of the darkness in which we labored before the advent of metallography. The work began with the determination of the freezing-point curves, and here the research of Le Chatelier,' Gautier,2 Roberts-Austen,3 and the other pioneers broke the ground. Next the physical chemists, Tammann,4 Rooseboom,5 Bancroft,6 and their colleagues, showed us the complete thermal diagram and its meaning. Then the researches of Heycock and Neville7 on the Cu-Sn series and of Shepherd 8 on the

Jan 1, 1913

By Sidney A. Swensrud

The 24-in. crude-oil line. and- the 20-in. petroleum-products line, built as a war emergency by the United States Government and running from points in Texas to the New York-New Jersey-Philadelphia area, were constructed only because of the inability during the war to continue nor-inal ocean tanker movements from the Gulf Coast to the East Coast. The postwar disposition of these lines may be considered as one of the important problems of the postwar readjustments in the oil industry, if not the most important one. In the first place there appear to be many complications in keeping the lines in crude-oil or petroleum-products service. This conclusion was reached also in a study by T. E. Swigart, President of Shell Pipeline Corporation.' Since the lines are too largc for any one company to utilize, and since it appears likely that a surplus rather than a deficiency of tankers will exist after the war, most companies probably will feel that they can achieve lower costs and more satisfactoiy results from the resumption of tanker movements to the East Coast rather than by endeavoring to take over or utilize the capacity in the large pipe lines under some tariff-rate structure. As for using the lines for making deliveries to the middle west or central eastern areas, it would appear that when the war is over and normal transportation arrangements can be resumed, there will be no need of any extra capacity for such deliveries. Therefore, the War Emergency lines could be utilized for this purpose only if privately owned pipe lines and other transportation facilities were to be displaced. Against this rather unprepossessing prospect for use in petroleum or product service is the fact that at or near the source of the lines lie the greatest developed gas reserves in the world, for much of which there is at present no satisfactory market outlet; and at the other end of the lines lies one of the greatest concentrations of population in the world, which is not now served by natural gas. These who have been fortunate enough to use natural gas can have little doubt of its desirability as a domestic fuel. An analysis of the market potentialities and comparison with other areas where natural gas is being distributed, and where it has displaced manufactured gas, makes it seem clear beyond question that the full capacity of both of the large-diameter lines could be fully utilized in this service, and this without creating any undue drain upon the gas reserves of the nation. On the basis of an estimated capacity of roo to 120 billion cubic feet per year, the gas that might be marketed through these lines would amount to only 3 to 4 per cent of the total con-

Jan 1, 1944

By Sidney A. Swensrud

The 24-in. crude-oil line. and- the 20-in. petroleum-products line, built as a war emergency by the United States Government and running from points in Texas to the New York-New Jersey-Philadelphia area, were constructed only because of the inability during the war to continue nor-inal ocean tanker movements from the Gulf Coast to the East Coast. The postwar disposition of these lines may be considered as one of the important problems of the postwar readjustments in the oil industry, if not the most important one. In the first place there appear to be many complications in keeping the lines in crude-oil or petroleum-products service. This conclusion was reached also in a study by T. E. Swigart, President of Shell Pipeline Corporation.' Since the lines are too largc for any one company to utilize, and since it appears likely that a surplus rather than a deficiency of tankers will exist after the war, most companies probably will feel that they can achieve lower costs and more satisfactoiy results from the resumption of tanker movements to the East Coast rather than by endeavoring to take over or utilize the capacity in the large pipe lines under some tariff-rate structure. As for using the lines for making deliveries to the middle west or central eastern areas, it would appear that when the war is over and normal transportation arrangements can be resumed, there will be no need of any extra capacity for such deliveries. Therefore, the War Emergency lines could be utilized for this purpose only if privately owned pipe lines and other transportation facilities were to be displaced. Against this rather unprepossessing prospect for use in petroleum or product service is the fact that at or near the source of the lines lie the greatest developed gas reserves in the world, for much of which there is at present no satisfactory market outlet; and at the other end of the lines lies one of the greatest concentrations of population in the world, which is not now served by natural gas. These who have been fortunate enough to use natural gas can have little doubt of its desirability as a domestic fuel. An analysis of the market potentialities and comparison with other areas where natural gas is being distributed, and where it has displaced manufactured gas, makes it seem clear beyond question that the full capacity of both of the large-diameter lines could be fully utilized in this service, and this without creating any undue drain upon the gas reserves of the nation. On the basis of an estimated capacity of roo to 120 billion cubic feet per year, the gas that might be marketed through these lines would amount to only 3 to 4 per cent of the total con-

Jan 1, 1944

By Thomas T. Read

THE fact that certain types of ore-deposits have attained their present condition through the action of descending surface waters was, perhaps, first clearly pointed out by Posepny.1 The oxidizing effects of such waters were discussed by Penrose,2 and many papers dealing with this phase of the subject have subsequently appeared. That secondary enrichment of sulphide ores, however, might be produced by descending surface waters was not clearly understood until after the copper-bearing veins of the Butte district, Mont., had been carefully studied by the geologists of the U. S. Geological Survey, al¬though De Launay3 had suggested that sulphides might be transported from point to point and re-deposited in the zone above the level of ground-water. As a result of the study of the Butte district, two papers by geologists engaged in the work appeared within a short interval. The first by Weed,4 dealing with the enrichment of veins by later metallic sulphides: and the second by Ernmons,5 treating of the secondary enrichment of ore-deposits in general. In the latter paper it was pointed out that a typical vein of sulphide ores which has been subjected to the action of descending surface waters exhibits four zones,-an upper or surface zone, in which the changes have been mainly of removal, the products being typically oxides; a second zone of oxide enrichment, in which the less soluble metals brought from above have been precipitated as carbonates or oxides; a third zone of sulphide enrichment,

Mar 1, 1906