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CHARGING of an open-hearth heat is begun as soon as possible after the previous heat has been tapped. Ordinarily, about 40 min. is required to drain and dress the furnace hearth, make up the tap hole, and perform routine repairs of the banks. Repairs to the upper back wall and to the front wall and jambs can ordinarily be done while the first scrap charge is being heated and are therefore allowed to wait in order to save furnace time. Any major repairs required on the hearth or other parts of the furnace necessitate longer delays, because such repairs must be made while the furnace is empty. Although charging practice varies considerably in detail with the type and proportions of scrap and iron used, many factors are common to all varieties of' charge. Such general considerations are dealt with first. GENERAL CHARGING PRACTICE Charge materials are discussed in detail in Chapter IV; the present chapter is concerned with the charging, melting, and proportioning of the raw materials in the various types of furnace practice. Charging Equipment and Stock Handling. The physical equipment available for loading and weighing the stock, transporting it to the furnace, and charging it may have a major effect on charging practice. Limestone, scrap, and all other solid melting stock are charged mechanically by means of equipment described in Chapter I (see also Fig. 18, page 33). It is generally desirable to charge the scrap about as fast as the physical volume can be got into the furnace. A limiting factor may be the height to which the scrap may be piled in the furnace without deflecting the flame to such an extent that it will impinge on the roof or walls and thus damage the refractories, but light scrap may often be piled up near the roof since the flame usually "cuts it down" rapidly before impingement on any roof area can persist long enough to do appreciable harm. When the nature of the scrap and the handling facilities are adequate to meet the aim of rapid charging, little thought is given to this feature of operation. Unfortunately, at times

Jan 1, 1944

By A. E. Gorum, J. Washburn, E. R. Parker

Experimental evidence was obtained in support of the idea that cleavage fracture can be initiated by dislocation pile-up. The high ductility of MgO crystals when tested in bending comPared to their relative brittleness in tension was explained on the basis that large pile-ups are more likely in a tension specimen. CLEAVAGE fractures have been a problem of major concern for many years. A number of large steel structures have failed in a brittle manner, usually suddenly and without warning; often the failures occurred for no obvious reason and at nominal stress levels well within the generally accepted range. A great deal of data have been collected about factors that contribute to failures,1 but the physics of the fracture process has never been revealed. cottrel12 has recently developed a theory of brittle fracture in ductile materials which was based upon the concept that dislocations moving on two intersecting planes can unite to form a crack nucleus. This theory accounts for the known effect of grain size and for the effect of testing temperature. There has, as yet, been no experimental evidence published that would substantiate this or the earlier theories based on stress concentrations due to piled-up dislocations. The study reported herein was conducted to obtain information that would either substantiate or disprove the

Jan 1, 1960

By F. G. Cottrell

About a year and a half ago, at the San Francisco meeting of the American Chemical Society, in connection with the excursions to local smelting-works, I had occasion to show some lantern-slides illustrating the recent commercial development of electrical methods for precipitating the suspended matter from smelter-smoke, the underlying phenomena of which were clearly brought to the attention of the technical public by Sir Oliver Lodge as long ago as 1884. In the .Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, August, 1911, most of these views were reproduced, together with an account of the work from its beginning up to July, 1911. To-day I wish particularly to show you some of the further developments of the work since that time; but in order to make these clear they will be prefaced by a brief abstract of the article above referred to. The removal of suspended particles, from gases, by the aid of electric discharges is by no means a new idea. As early as 1824 we find it suggested by Hohlfeld ' as a means of suppressing ordinary smoke, and again a quarter of a century later by Guitard.2 These suggestions, which do not seem to have stimulated any practical study of the question, were soon entirely forgotten, and only brought to light again by Sir Oliver Lodge: many years after he himself had independently rediscovered the same phenomena and brought them to public attention4 in a lecture before the Liverpool Section of the So-

Jan 1, 1913

By J. H. Fletcher

ALTHOUGH some mines have been completely mechanized, on the whole mechanical equipment has made slow progress in the coal fields. Coal mining is particularly well adapted to hand labor. The skillful hand miner can keep his working place safe under difficult roof conditions, remove impurities from the coal at the point of origin, and produce a maximum percentage of large-size coal, so as to command the highest price on the market. Hand mining has also the advantage of low capital investment per ton of production and moderate carrying charge when the mine is idle. Though animal haulage gave way to electric locomo-tives and hand cutting to mining machines, beyond these concessions most of the tonnage is still produced by manual labor. But factors over which producers have no control are speeding the change to mechanical mining. The additional investment in underground equipment and surface preparation plant must be offset by a great increase in tons per man-day, and to do this the employees should be able to utilize as much of their time as possible on production. In the installation of mechanical mining, the only change in method usually has been to add loading machines to a mine already developed for hand loading. Because of a lack of suitable equipment, few mobile loading machines have been installed in seams of coal less than 4 ft. thick; the mechanization in the thinner seams has been confined largely to shaking conveyors and hand loading onto chain conveyors. Mechanical mining requires an organization that is prepared to study its particular problem from production territory to market in recognition of the changed factors arising from the use of loading machines at the working face, and other causes, such as safety of men and property; high wage scale on hourly basis; concentrated working territory and rapid extraction from a given area; change in the percentage of sizes of coal produced and effect of this on average realization. There are also the coal-cleaning problem; increased capital investment, maintenance, obsolescence, and the relation of all these to the spread between realiza-tion and production cost. If coal seams were uniform, the answer would

Jan 1, 1939

By J. M. Callow

H. A. MEGRAW, New York, N.,Y.-One interesting thing that might be brought out in this connection is the cost of making sulphide gas. I had a communication the other day which suggested that, in view of the high cost of oil, sulphur and sodium sulphide, we might make use of a well-known chemical reaction to form this sulphide gas by the use of aluminum sulphide. It is difficult to see any advantage in this, however, since aluminum has been affected just as much as any other commodity by the rise in prices, due, to war conditions. RUDOLF GAHL, Miami, Ariz. (communication td the Secretary*) Mr. Callow refers to my paper, History of Flotation at Inspiration, which was presented at the Arizona meeting of the Institute. These notes of Mr. Callow's contain much valuable information on flotation practice, as is to be expected from an article written by an author of Mr. Callow's experience in this branch of metallurgy. Nevertheless, I cannot help contradicting a number of the statements made in the references to my paper. In passing, I will also say a word about the reference in Mr. Callow's paper to the article by Messrs. Laist and Wiggin entitled "Flotation Concentration at Anaconda, Mont." Mr. Callow calls attention to the fact that evidently Callow flotation machines are not very sensitive, inasmuch as one man per shift handles four 800-ton sections of Callow machines or 3,200 tons per day at the Inspiration plant. While-it has been the experience of the Inspiration company that the four sections of Callow machines in the Inspiration concentrator are easily handled by one American operator per shift, it is only fair to state that each man operating four sections is assisted by two Mexican helpers who constantly clean the bottoms of the machines. The tonnage per section, by the way, whether equipped with Callow,, Inspiration or Minerals Separation machines, is considerably in excess 4 800 tons.. Mr. Callow further says that local opinion at Inspiration is that, two 800-ton sections consisting of two 10-compartment and four 6-compartment Minerals Separation machines (these machines are of the Hebbard type) is the limit that one man can properly attend. I do not hesitate to say that I consider it perfectly feasible to have four such sections operated by one man, perhaps assisted by "one helper. The Minerals Separation machines of this type have undoubtedly an advantage as far as easiness of operation is concerned,

Jan 4, 1917

By A. H. Cottrel

SINCE metallurgy exists to provide strong, tough, engineering materials it must inevitably be perpetually concerned with the problem of brittle-ness. The steel-making industry was created because chemically unrefined iron is brittle. The steel-working and alloy-steel industries exist partly because hardness and ductility are mutually exclusive qualities in structurally unrefined steel. Yet, in spite of these immense industries, the brittle failure of steel ships hulls, bridges, pressure vessels, and pipelines, is still a contemporary problem. In fact, brittleness is a normal property of most solids, including metals and alloys, at low temperatures. Only face-centred cubic metals are commonly ductile at the lowest temperatures, and even here exceptions are known.'," Expensive are-melting processes. under inert gases or vacuum, have been developed to overcome brittleness in titanium, zirconium, columbium. and molybdenum. Polycrystal-line zinc, magnesium, and uranium have little ductility at room temperature. Beryllium, chromium, and tungsten have even less; similarly for antimony, bismuth, germanium, silicon, intermetallic compounds, and metallic carbides, nitrides, silicides, and borides. Oxides and other ceramics would be ideal creep-resistant materials but for their extreme brittleness when cold, and great efforts have been made to overcome this problem by mixing ceramics with metals. In fact, the traditional use of the name metallurgy for what is really the science of engineering materials is a recognition that most non-metallic solids have so far been precluded, by their extreme brittleness, from use as major structural materials in mechanical engineering. Most of what we know about brittleness in metals has come from studies of structural steel, and it is this material that shall mainly be considered. The things we have learned from it have a wider application, at least to other body-centred cubic transition metals, although the extent to which similar ideas can be applied to hexagonal metals and other materials is not yet clear. Fracture and Plastic Deformation The theoretical breaking strength of an ideal solid, about E/10 where E is Young's modulus, has been approached reasonably closely in experiments on fibres. But large specimens break at much lower stresses. For example, brittle cracks in large structural steel assemblies have been observed to spread catastrophically at speeds of 6000 ft per sec under stresses of about 10,000 psi, i.e. about E/3000. There are two sources of weakness; stress concentrations, and chemical agents in grain boundaries or on crack faces that lower the surface energy y of the material. Although we shall deal mainly only with the first of these, much of the discussion is also applicable to the second when different values of y are used. Griffith's well-known formula p = [ 2Ey/p(1 - v2)c]1/2 [1] gives the smallest tensile stress p able to propagate an atomically sharp surface crack of length c or interior crack of length 2c through a thick plate (compared with c) of elastically isotropic material of

Jan 1, 1959

By C. D. Woodward

The Anaconda Copper Mining Co. purchases 25,000 kw. of electric power for its mining operations at Butte, Mont. This power is delivered, over duplicate feeders, in the form of 60-cycle, 2400-volt, three-phase current, to five compressor plants, where most of the energy is used for driving air compressors. At the compressor plants are located the switching apparatus for controlling the 2400-volt power and distributing it to the various mines. At these points, also, there are a number of motor-generator sets for converting the alternating current to 275-volt direct current for the haulage systems. Pole lines convey the powcr from the compressor plants to outdoor transformer substations at most of the mines. When it is not economical to distribute the power at the lower voltages in the mines, transformers and motor-generator sets are placed at strategic points underground. All power is purchased on a maximum-demand basis; therefore there is installed at one of the compressor plants an eight-element totalizing graphic wattmeter. This instrument records simultaneously the value of all power taken at the numerous points of delivery, which not only climinates the diversity factor but permits load dispatching between compressor and pumping plants, and thus materially reduces the maximum demand from the power system. As most of the mine hoisting is done by 90-lb. compressed-air winding engines, the air-compressor equipment for the winding engines and mining operations is quite extensive. The standard air compressor has a rating of 7500 cu. ft. per min. of free air, and most of the compressors are directly connected to synchronous motors. The synchronous motors are designed for 80 per cent. loading power factor, thus facilitating power-factor correction of total mine load. Consequently by cooperation with the power company, the voltage of the power received at the compressor plants is constant. In the mines there are installed an induction motor load of approxi-mately 10,000 hp., and 4500 kv.-a,, in transformer capacity. It is the practice to install 2200-volt motors in the mincs, except those rated below 50 hp, hence there are in operation underground about 5000 hp., in the

Jan 1, 1923

By E. F. La Vigne

On Aug. 10, 1884, the Retsof Mining Co. began the sinking of an 18 by 12-ft. shaft at Retsof, N. Y. Rock salt was reached in 1885, in September, at 1008 ft. below the surface. The first salt was shipped in the fall of 1885. A timber breaker was built in 1886. In July, 1895, there was a consolidation of the Retsof Mining Co., the Greigsville Salt & Mining Co., the Livonia Salt Co., and the Lehigh Salt & Mining Co. These consolidated salt companies are now known as the Retsof Mining Co., a subsidiary of the International Salt Go. Eventually all of the mines were closed except the mine of the Retsof Mining Co., at Retsof, Livingston County, New York. On July 6, 1921, about 1/2 mile south of the original shaft arid plant of the Retsof Mining Co., a new 9 by 28-ft. concrete-liried shaft was started. The shaft is 1063 ft. deep from the top of the shaft collar to the bottom of the salt bed. At the same time a reinforced-concrete breaker and other buildings were erccted. This new plant began operations on Dee. 15, 1923. It was designed for a capacity of 3000 tons in 8 hours. Geology The workable rock-salt bed is 1063 ft. below the surface and 326 ft. below sea level, and varies in thickness from 9 to 10 ft. The total thickness is greater than that but is contaminated with shale above and below the pure mineral. The characteristics of the formation are shown in Tables 1 and 2. The bed dips uniformly 0.87 per cent to the south. Prospecting As the salt deposil in New York State is known, very little prospecting has been necessary. Before the sinking of the Retsof No. 1 shaft, a well was drilled to prove the existence of salt. No. 1 shaft was sunk where the well was located. The several salt wells drilled in Livingston Courlty proved generally the existence of salt throughout the county. (See U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 669: Salt Resources of the U. S.)

Jan 1, 1938

By George E. Cole

While many parts of Canada's pre-Cambrian shield are well served by railway, it is frequently necessary for prospecting purposes to proceed farther into areas inaccessible by rail. To such areas in summer the canoe was at one time the accepted means of travel for the prospector while the dog team was much used in winter. Although summer travel was much improved by the development of the outboard motor, the lack of facilities for cheap transportation has been a serious hindrance to the employment of capital in opening up the distant fields. The pre-Cambrian surface of Manitoba, like that of Ontario, is hummocky, with rounded hills and ridges of rock alternating with basinlike depressions and valleys occupied by lakes and rivers Or by many low-lying portions covered with muskeg' Routes to the mines have not usually been direct or easy and seasonal vagaries have presented problems in themselves. In summer, water transportation may be the cheapest method for the longer distances but it is not every water route that will satisfy the conditions of loading freight on to a boat or scow and of conveying it without interruption to its destination. By its location, a mine may require a large program of boat transportation in summer Over part of its route, to be followed by winter freighting for the remainder. In order to carry on development and produc- tion over a long period, it may be necessary to haul large quantities of supplies during the winter. This seasonal problem, particularly for the out-of-the-way properties, is SO important and demanding as to make it a major operation in the life of the mine. The -use of the tractor during winter months for heavy machinery and bulk supplies, and the use of the airplane throughout the year for the transportation of personnel and for emergency requirements, have greatly improved transportation to places that are inaccessible by rail. Canada has pioneered in both these methods. Development oF Transportation Twenty-two years have seen a marked change in transportation methods in Canada's mining country. Horse-drawn sleighs have given way to the tractor and that to some extent has been supplanted by the airplane. One of the earliest ventures involving transportation of considerable magnitude was that of the Mandy mine, on Schist at in northern Manitoba. According to accounts of early mining activities in Manitoba, the Mandy mine, beginning December 1916, had 3300 tons of ore hauled 40 miles by sleigh to Saskatchewan River and in summer this was conveyed by barge to The Pas, 130 miles, and then by railroad to Trail, British Columbia, 1200 miles. The mine shipped 6000 tons of ore in 1918 and 15,000 tons in 1919. In winter of the latter year, as many as 300 teams of horses were used on the 40-mile stretch to

Jan 1, 1943

By G. A. Moore, D. W. Williams, C. E. Sims

During the past several years the steel casting industry has made studies of heavy castings in which the test bar has been taken from heavy sections rather than from attached or separately cast coupons. It has been noted that the ductility properties of these heavy sections are often lower than those normally expected. Such lowered ductility is usually accompanied by a spotty test bar fracture and the ductility values often can be greatly improved if a low-temperature aging treatment is given to the casting. A loss of ductility of this type is considered "abnormal," since it is not accompanied by an increase of tensile strength or hardness, and "temporary" when the ductility can be restored by aging, The cure of such an abnormal condition represents a real improvement in the quality of the steel. Some hundreds of previous investigations, largely qualitative in nature, have established beyond reasonable doubt that hydrogen is normally present in newly manufactured steel and that this gas, in small amounts, can cause a temporary ab- normal loss of ductility. The commonly observed association of high gas content and low ductility has given strong evidence for the presumption that hydrogen, possibly assisted by other gases, is the primary cause of the low ductility observed. Accordingly, the Steel Founders' Society of America has, since Nov. I, 1944, sponsored investigations at Battelle Memorial Institute whose primary objective is to obtain quantitative information on the relation of the amount of hydrogen and nitrogen in steel, together with associated methods of steelmaking and treatment, to low-ductility effects and porosity. In order that these investigations might proceed on a quantitative basis, hydrogen analyses of a precision considerably higher than any previously reported in the literature were necessary. 'The method chosen was selected entirely on the basis that it had the highest probability of freedom from uncontrollable errors and will be described in detail in another publication.' Briefly, the method used consisted of the hot extraction of solid pieces of steel weighing from 45 to 50 g in a highly evacuated quartz tube maintained at 1050°C (1925°F) for a period of approximately 40 hr. The greatest precautions were taken to eliminate blanks and insure a sound gas-collection system. vacuum and temperature conditions were maintained automatically. Mercury-filled risers were used for the introduction of samples in order that the System could be degassed thoroughly in

Jan 1, 1949

By T. R. Graham, R. G. Feustel, J. R. Long, R. S. Dean

The comprehensive study of the copper-manganese-zinc alloy system in the Bureau of Mines Laboratories has so far been principally concerned with alloys that lie within the alpha solid solution field of the system. Two regions, one centering about 65 per cent copper, 10 manganese and 25 zinc, and the other centering about 70 per cent copper, 20 manganese, 10 zinc, have been carefully examined. These have indicated that when the alloys are made with electrolytic manganese considerable amounts may be readily introduced and that the strength and hardness are increased without excessive losses in ductility. In the course of the work of establishing the limits of the alpha solid solution range,3 enough of certain of the alloys was prepared to permit determination of their- physical properties at a future date. The 60 per cent copper alloys concerned here are part of that series. They cross through the alpha field and into the adjacent alpha plus beta and alpha plus X fields, and are of interest because they offer some information on the effects of manganese on alloys lying in these fields. Composition and Fabrication of Alloys The chemical composition of the alloys involved is given in Table I. They were intended to contain 60 per cent copper with manganese increasing from 5 to 25 per cent in 5 per cent steps and zinc decreasing from 35 to 15 per cent. The analyses are so close to the intended composition that the alloys mill be referred to hereafter by their norninal compositions. They were finished into sheet by cold-rolling and intermediate annealing procedurzs calculated to produce sheet $i6 in. thick, cold-reduced by 20, qo, 60, and 80 per cent in thickness. Physical properties were determined on standard flat tensile specimens with 4-in. gauge length, although the test gauge section used was 2 in. The properties were obtained on cold-worked material and on material annealed at temperatures ranging from 700' to r500°F. after 60 per cent cold reduction. Since an annealing temperature of 1200°F.

Jan 1, 1946

By A. S. Appleton, M. B. Bever, G. E. Dieter

A gold-silver alloy was deformed by explosive loading at shock pressures up to 510 kbars. The stored energy and hardness increased over the whole range of pressures; the largest rates of increase were observed between 120 and 150 kbars. In this range, markings rkavacteristic of defornation twins first appeared; higher pressures produced markings in all grains. These effects are compared with those of conventional deformation processes and are discussed in relation to probable structural changes. In recent years, increasing efforts have been devoted to the investigation of the effects produced in metals by the passage of high-intensity shock waves of explosive origin. By properly utilizing the energy released by the detonation of a high explosive, it is possible to generate pressure pulses of the order of 500 kbars and higher. (One kbar equals l0 9 dynes per sq cm or approximately 1000 atm.) The passage of a shock wave through a metal occurs at pressures which are very much greater than the yield strength. As the shock front passes a point in the metal, the pressure rises almost instantaneously, and continues to act at the point for a few microseconds. Thus, metals subjected to explosive shock loading experience a nearly instantaneous increase in pressure, and a subsequent release of pressure, which is almost as rapid. Under these conditions mechanical twinning and shear transformations occur readily. smith1 has investigated the metallurgical changes in copper and iron resulting from exposure to explosive shock waves. He found an appreciable increase in hardness in both metals. In copper, a hardness greater than that resulting from 95 pct reduction in thickness by rolling was obtained, yet in the explosive deformation, the thickness of the specimen decreased only a few percent. After explosive loading, the micro-structure of copper showed markings characteristic of mechanical twins. The amount of stored energy resulting from explosive loading is of interest. Measurements of the stored energy of cold work as a function of strain, temperature, strain rate, and composition have been made with gold-silyer alloys deforyed by rolling, orthogonal cutting,3 drilling,4 filing, wire drawing, and torsion. The investigation reported here was also carried out with a gold-silver alloy and its results can be compared with those for the deformation of this alloy by more conventional methods. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES An alloy containing 82.6 wt pct Au and 17.4 pct Ag was purchased in several batches from Handy and Harman Co., New York, as annealed rod 1/4 in. dim. The rod was cold-rolled to a sheet approximately

Jan 1, 1962

NORTH AMERICA ALASKA Anchorage.-Culver, H. W. Geehan, R. W. Strandberg, H. Chicagof.-Russell, J. C. Tracy, Q. S. College.-Dorsh, J. B. Fox, E. F. Joesting, H. R. Smith, M. C. Wilcox, H. G. Douglas.-Cahill. W. E. Fairbanks.-Adams, J. M. Barber, R. J. Beistline, E. H. Crawford, J. D. Doheny, L. C. Earling. R. B. Greves, J. H. Harris. Q. P., Jr. Henton. H. M. Herbert, C. F. Nester, W. B. Hopkins, J. E. CANADA ALBERTA Calgary.-Allen, R. E. deHart, J. B. Dunn, W. Gray, J. G. Johnson. R. V. Link, T. A. Slipper. S. E. Soul, N. Thorne, B. L. Thorne, H. L. Edmonton.-Ball, M. W. Lilge, E. O. Pitcher, N. C. Nordegg.-Shanks, J. Turner Valley.¬MacKenzie, W. D. C.

Jan 1, 1941

By George E. Cole

While many parts of Canada's pre-Cambrian shield are well served by railway, it is frequently necessary for prospecting purposes to proceed farther into areas inaccessible by rail. To such areas in summer the canoe was at one time the accepted means of travel for the prospector while the dog team was much used in winter. Although summer travel was much improved by the development of the outboard motor, the lack of facilities for cheap transportation has been a serious hindrance to the employment of capital in opening up the distant fields. The pre-Cambrian surface of Manitoba, like that of Ontario, is hummocky, with rounded hills and ridges of rock alternating with basinlike depressions and valleys occupied by lakes and rivers Or by many low-lying portions covered with muskeg' Routes to the mines have not usually been direct or easy and seasonal vagaries have presented problems in themselves. In summer, water transportation may be the cheapest method for the longer distances but it is not every water route that will satisfy the conditions of loading freight on to a boat or scow and of conveying it without interruption to its destination. By its location, a mine may require a large program of boat transportation in summer Over part of its route, to be followed by winter freighting for the remainder. In order to carry on development and produc- tion over a long period, it may be necessary to haul large quantities of supplies during the winter. This seasonal problem, particularly for the out-of-the-way properties, is SO important and demanding as to make it a major operation in the life of the mine. The -use of the tractor during winter months for heavy machinery and bulk supplies, and the use of the airplane throughout the year for the transportation of personnel and for emergency requirements, have greatly improved transportation to places that are inaccessible by rail. Canada has pioneered in both these methods. Development oF Transportation Twenty-two years have seen a marked change in transportation methods in Canada's mining country. Horse-drawn sleighs have given way to the tractor and that to some extent has been supplanted by the airplane. One of the earliest ventures involving transportation of considerable magnitude was that of the Mandy mine, on Schist at in northern Manitoba. According to accounts of early mining activities in Manitoba, the Mandy mine, beginning December 1916, had 3300 tons of ore hauled 40 miles by sleigh to Saskatchewan River and in summer this was conveyed by barge to The Pas, 130 miles, and then by railroad to Trail, British Columbia, 1200 miles. The mine shipped 6000 tons of ore in 1918 and 15,000 tons in 1919. In winter of the latter year, as many as 300 teams of horses were used on the 40-mile stretch to

Jan 1, 1943

By E. F. La Vigne

On Aug. 10, 1884, the Retsof Mining Co. began the sinking of an 18 by 12-ft. shaft at Retsof, N. Y. Rock salt was reached in 1885, in September, at 1008 ft. below the surface. The first salt was shipped in the fall of 1885. A timber breaker was built in 1886. In July, 1895, there was a consolidation of the Retsof Mining Co., the Greigsville Salt & Mining Co., the Livonia Salt Co., and the Lehigh Salt & Mining Co. These consolidated salt companies are now known as the Retsof Mining Co., a subsidiary of the International Salt Go. Eventually all of the mines were closed except the mine of the Retsof Mining Co., at Retsof, Livingston County, New York. On July 6, 1921, about 1/2 mile south of the original shaft arid plant of the Retsof Mining Co., a new 9 by 28-ft. concrete-liried shaft was started. The shaft is 1063 ft. deep from the top of the shaft collar to the bottom of the salt bed. At the same time a reinforced-concrete breaker and other buildings were erccted. This new plant began operations on Dee. 15, 1923. It was designed for a capacity of 3000 tons in 8 hours. Geology The workable rock-salt bed is 1063 ft. below the surface and 326 ft. below sea level, and varies in thickness from 9 to 10 ft. The total thickness is greater than that but is contaminated with shale above and below the pure mineral. The characteristics of the formation are shown in Tables 1 and 2. The bed dips uniformly 0.87 per cent to the south. Prospecting As the salt deposil in New York State is known, very little prospecting has been necessary. Before the sinking of the Retsof No. 1 shaft, a well was drilled to prove the existence of salt. No. 1 shaft was sunk where the well was located. The several salt wells drilled in Livingston Courlty proved generally the existence of salt throughout the county. (See U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 669: Salt Resources of the U. S.)

Jan 1, 1938

By W. N. Logan

WHAT is mineral wool? This question is frequently asked by those unacquainted with its manufacture. The word "mineral" suggests that it is of mineral origin; the word "wool" suggests that it is of animal origin; but the only similarities it has to wool are its fibrous character and its white fleecyness. Mineral wool is a fiber produced by melting rock to a glasslike condition and blowing the glass into fine white, wool-like threads. A -number of the products fabricated from-mineral wool are used for some form of insulation, but mineral wool is adaptable to many other uses. It is used in the manufacture-of pipe covering designed to with; stand the high temperatures produced in steam pipes. In a similar form of insulation it is used to cover boilers and furnaces. It is used in ,the fabrication of upholstery tow for sofas and car seats: In acoustics it has many uses, such as acoustifibroblock, which is used in floors to destroy sound and vibration, and acoustic mat, which is used under carpets to destroy sound. In the insulation of houses, loose wool and granulated wool are used beneath attic floors and between the studding in frame buildings to prevent the escape of heat in winter and the entrance of heat in summer. Mineral wool is used also in fabrication of linofelt, which is a quilted form of insulation; in fibrofelt, which is an insulating board; in the fabrication of lith, which is an insulating block; in anti-fibroblock ,which is used in insulation and refrigeration; in flexfelt; in loose wool; in pressed block; in heavy oiled wool; in dark oiled block; and for many other purposes. The materials used in the manufacture of mineral wool are of two kinds. The first is a rock which contains silt, clay and silica, with smaller amounts of lime and magnesia. The second is a more highly calcareous rock which may carry a small amount of magnesia. The latter is used as flux to assist in the melting of the former. The relative proportion of the alumina-iron-silica content to the lime-magnesia content is normally as fifty to fifty but a considerable range is possible.

Jan 1, 1932

By Thomas MacFarlane

I. INTRODUCTION. AMONG the industrial enterprises which have, from time to time, been undertaken in our Dominion, few have been more uniformly unsuccessful than those which have had for their object the development of our mineral resources. These resources have not been regarded as insignificant. On the contrary, it is supposed that we possess in our ore deposits something more than mere points of mineralogical interest. Some people are enthusiastic enough to believe that our mineral wealth will yet occasion the establishment in our backwoods of happy and industrious communities, causing, in fact, our wilderness to blossom as the rose. These enthusiasts do not shut their eyes to the serious obstacles which at every stage interfere with the carrying out of mining enterprises in this country, and which tempt one to believe that no such enterprise can ever be conducted to a desirable end, but they entertain the conviction that as our capitalists, miners, and technologists reach the years of discretion, and handle our mines in an economical, vigorous, and judicious manner, and as our statesmen become alive to the necessity of fostering, without extremely protecting, our metallurgical industries, mines and furnaces will gradually prosper, and so develop as to become a tower of strength to our agricultural, manufacturing, and mercantile interests. The fact that our past experience does not generally justify such glowing anticipations makes one all the more anxious to put on record the history of a successful mine, such as the Silver Islet has, on the whole, been. My connection with its discovery and early development was a very intimate one, and I propose in this paper to sketch its history and character, and sum up the amount of silver it has so far yielded. An additional reason for the appearance of this paper is that the Transactions of the Institute contain only a few references to the Silver Islet Mine. Although this mine is reported successful, we have, of course, no guarantee that it will not fall a victim to the same influences which have

Jan 1, 1880

By Persifor Frazer

The '(author's edition" of the following paper, "subject to re vision," was received by him, and copies sent to Professor Geikie and others about two weeks before the date of the meeting at which it was to be read. A telegram, and subsequently a letter (both of which unfortunately arrived too late), apprised the present writer that the Director General objected to certain views ascribed to him as the reverse of those which he really held. These views, however interesting, had no very important bearing on the object of the fol lowing notes, which, as must be evident, are devoted to the conside ration of the close analogies between the Welsh and American rocks. Without being able, therefore, to account for the circumstance which Professor Geikie has mentioned, it is thought better in the present revised edition to omit all allusion to Professor Geikie, or Mr. Peach, or their views, except in this place, where I desire to thank them for their courtesy during the time which I had the pleasure of spending in their society. It appears sufficiently throughout the body of the paper that the writer had not the slightest intention of entering the controversy, which was about to commence, concerning the proper horizons of the St. David's rocks, for many reasons; and amongst others because he did not feel that a sojourn of a few days in a difficult region, which had been already studied by many of the foremost geologists of England, would warrant him in adding to the literature on the sub ject. The discussion of the analogies between these rocks and those of the Eastern Appalachians, which he has studied for twelve years, of which eight were spent in the service of the Second Geological Survey of Pennsylvania, was much more to his taste as it was more within his ability, and if he has added anything to the evidence of these analogies, the paper, however imperfect, will not have been written entirely in vain. Right or wrong, he assumes the entire responsibility of what follows.

Jan 1, 1883

By C. D. Woodward

The Anaconda Copper Mining Co. purchases 25,000 kw. of electric power for its mining operations at Butte, Mont. This power is delivered, over duplicate feeders, in the form of 60-cycle, 2400-volt, three-phase current, to five compressor plants, where most of the energy is used for driving air compressors. At the compressor plants are located the switching apparatus for controlling the 2400-volt power and distributing it to the various mines. At these points, also, there are a number of motor-generator sets for converting the alternating current to 275-volt direct current for the haulage systems. Pole lines convey the powcr from the compressor plants to outdoor transformer substations at most of the mines. When it is not economical to distribute the power at the lower voltages in the mines, transformers and motor-generator sets are placed at strategic points underground. All power is purchased on a maximum-demand basis; therefore there is installed at one of the compressor plants an eight-element totalizing graphic wattmeter. This instrument records simultaneously the value of all power taken at the numerous points of delivery, which not only climinates the diversity factor but permits load dispatching between compressor and pumping plants, and thus materially reduces the maximum demand from the power system. As most of the mine hoisting is done by 90-lb. compressed-air winding engines, the air-compressor equipment for the winding engines and mining operations is quite extensive. The standard air compressor has a rating of 7500 cu. ft. per min. of free air, and most of the compressors are directly connected to synchronous motors. The synchronous motors are designed for 80 per cent. loading power factor, thus facilitating power-factor correction of total mine load. Consequently by cooperation with the power company, the voltage of the power received at the compressor plants is constant. In the mines there are installed an induction motor load of approxi-mately 10,000 hp., and 4500 kv.-a,, in transformer capacity. It is the practice to install 2200-volt motors in the mincs, except those rated below 50 hp, hence there are in operation underground about 5000 hp., in the

Jan 1, 1923

By J. R. Long, T. R. Graham, R. G. Feustel, R. S. Dean

The comprehensive study of the copper-manganese-zinc alloy system in the Bureau of Mines Laboratories has so far been principally concerned with alloys that lie within the alpha solid solution field of the system. Two regions, one centering about 65 per cent copper, 10 manganese and 25 zinc, and the other centering about 70 per cent copper, 20 manganese, 10 zinc, have been carefully examined. These have indicated that when the alloys are made with electrolytic manganese considerable amounts may be readily introduced and that the strength and hardness are increased without excessive losses in ductility. In the course of the work of establishing the limits of the alpha solid solution range,3 enough of certain of the alloys was prepared to permit determination of their- physical properties at a future date. The 60 per cent copper alloys concerned here are part of that series. They cross through the alpha field and into the adjacent alpha plus beta and alpha plus X fields, and are of interest because they offer some information on the effects of manganese on alloys lying in these fields. Composition and Fabrication of Alloys The chemical composition of the alloys involved is given in Table I. They were intended to contain 60 per cent copper with manganese increasing from 5 to 25 per cent in 5 per cent steps and zinc decreasing from 35 to 15 per cent. The analyses are so close to the intended composition that the alloys mill be referred to hereafter by their norninal compositions. They were finished into sheet by cold-rolling and intermediate annealing procedurzs calculated to produce sheet $i6 in. thick, cold-reduced by 20, qo, 60, and 80 per cent in thickness. Physical properties were determined on standard flat tensile specimens with 4-in. gauge length, although the test gauge section used was 2 in. The properties were obtained on cold-worked material and on material annealed at temperatures ranging from 700' to r500°F. after 60 per cent cold reduction. Since an annealing temperature of 1200°F.

Jan 1, 1946