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I. The Property. The Homestake Mining Co. has acquired through consolida tion the ground and equipment of the Father De Smet Con solidated Gold-Mining Co., the Deadwood-Terra Mining Go., the Caledonia Gold-Mining Co. and the Highland Mining Co., at and near Lead, Lawrence county, South Dakota, in the northern portion of the Black Hills. The company owns or controls 250 claims, comprising 2,616 acres and covering about 8,000 ft. along the strike of the lode. At the surface there are several veins, of which three have united in depth, where the main vein ranges from 300 to 500 ft. in width. The 1,100-ft. level is the lowest at present. The rock of both walls is, so far as known at present, carboniferous alate, and the country is penetrated by a system of porphyry dikes, and in some places capped with porphyry. The output of the company up to January, 1903, has been, approximately, $70,000,000. II. The Ore. The oxidized, open-cut ore is nearly all treated in the three mills on the northern part of the property, which are as follows : The Mineral Point (formerly the De Smet), of 100 stamps, the Monroe (formerly Caledonia), of 100 stamps, and the Pocahon tas (formerly the Deadwood-Terra), of 160 stamps. A cyanide plant, to treat the leachable portion of the tailings from these North End mills, has recently been installed and put into oper ation at Gayville, or Blacktail as it is now known. The Homestake lower-level ore, which comprises the greater part of that being milled at Lead, may be described as a horn blende, garnetiferous schist or slate, which has been crushed and infiltrated with free silica and pyrites, the latter being

Jan 1, 1904

By L. L. Wyman

IN order to clarify and amplify the existing data concerning the action of the cementing material in cemented tungsten carbide alloys, the authors have initiated this investigation of the entire range of cobalt-tungsten carbide alloys. Inasmuch as the ultimate objective is relative to what actually goes on during the sintering of cemented tungsten carbide materials, this work was necessarily restricted to heat treatments similar to those used in actual production of these materials. In the course of numerous experiments, the authors have noted several conditions that indicated that there was a solubility to be considered. Among these factors are the following: 1. Many of the alloys showed a much larger amount of binding constituent to be present than could possibly be accounted for by the cobalt content. 2. In many areas, grains of the carbide constituent are much larger than the particles of carbide originally added. In addition, these grains are of very regular contour. 2a. In samples of cemented tungsten carbide which had been fused in the atomic hydrogen torch in the presence of excess hinder constituent, immense grains are formed, and their shapes are very regular. This is also true when the cemented tungsten carbide of 13 per cent. Co content is fused alone in the atomic hydrogen torch. Contrary to general expectation, chemical analysis of this material, after fusion in the atomic hydrogen torch, checks the analysis of unfused material. 3. In making the cemented tungsten carbide materials by the process of exerting the pressure at the time of heating a certain portion of the contents squeezed out of the mold. Chemical analysis has shown that this material contains approximately 12 to 20 per cent. of tungsten. The microstructure shows a cored dendritic structure interlaced with eutectic network, and some graphite, as shown in Fig. 1. 4. Thermal analysis of these materials has consistently indicated an arrest point close to 1350° C.

Jan 1, 1930

By Blake M. Loring, Robert A. Colton

MELTING procedures for most metals and alloys usually include some provision for the control of oxygen, since this element frequently has some undesirable effect on the properties of the metal or alloy concerned. In the melting of the various bronzes, this is especially true, since oxygen can be introduced into the melt in a number of ways, most of which are difficult to control. In making bronzes from virgin materials, oxygen is usually present in the commercial grades of copper used; electrolytic he refined copper ingots usually contain from 0.02 to 0.05 per cent oxygen. When ingot metal or scrap bronze is used in the charge, oxides are almost always present to some degree. Under certain melting conditions and in certain types of melting equipment the atmosphere over the metal may be highly oxidizing. This, of course, may be desirable in the melting practice used, but is certain to introduce appreciable amounts of oxygen into the melt, and that may not be entirely desirable. From the foundry viewpoint oxygen may have several harmful effects on bronzes. The formation of excessive amounts of oxides may produce drossy metal, which, in turn, means dirty castings and a potentially high rejection rate. It is claimed, too, that oxides in the metal may combine with hydrogen to form steam and thereby produce porosity in certain of the bronzes. The presence of certain refractory oxides, such as SnO2, may be undesirable from the viewpoint of making machining difficult, or as possible stress-raisers in the metal matrix. It is often said that excessive oxide present in the liquid metal makes the metal run sluggishly. Since it appears impractical to try to control the amount of oxygen introduced into the metal beyond taking the economical limit of precaution about charging dirty scrap, it would seem that control of the oxygen content of the liquid metal offers the most promising approach to this problem. This might be done by using slags, or covers, or by the use of some element or compound added to the melt to remove oxygen preferentially. Most aspects of this problem have been considered and considerable work has been done along these lines. A reconsideration of the problem is indicated, however, by the controversial nature of the evidence at hand, especially on the possibility of using a chemical deoxidizer to control the oxygen content of bronzes. CHOICE OF DEOXIDIZER The choice of the chemical agent selected as a deoxidizer would naturally depend first on the alloy in which it is to be used; in this particular case the alloy is Navy gun metal. In Table I are listed a group of elements that might be considered as

Jan 1, 1946

By John Jermain Porter

In taking up this subject it is first necessary to define our terms. Efficiency, in its engineering usage, means the ratio between actual and theoretical results, and efficiency-records thus involve the use of scientifically determined standards with which all results are compared. Scientific management is the methods used in increasing efficiency, and includes the use of efficiency-records. Efficiencj-records do not alone constitute scientific management, but they are necessary to it, and any so-called system of management which is not based upon standards and standardization is fundamentally wrong. An efficient management and efficiency-methods in management are not the same thing. There are some people who have an instinctive genius for management and accomplish results without exactly knowing how they do it. Such a manager may obtain a very high efficiency without the aid of scientifically determined standards. On the other hand, it sometimes happens that poor results will accompany the use of efficiency-recorcis, due to a weak or indifferent management, which fails to make use of the information acquired. Efficiency-records are only a tool, and like other tools are worthless unless used. The ordinary cost-sheet and production-statement do not go far enough. They tell what has been done, but give no information as to how well it has been done. It is true that the man who is familiar with the industry and the plant in question may draw inferences and form a general idea of good work or bad work, but it can only be a very general and hazy idea. Comparisons with previous records or records of other plants are unsatisfactory, since there is nothing to show the cause of the differences. Efficiency-records supply this need. They compare actual

Jan 1, 1913

By J. L. Walter, W. R. Hibbard

A GREAT deal of work has been done on the rolling of single crystals of iron. Barrett and evensoon studied end orientations of heavily cold-rolled iron crystals and found that some crystals maintained a sharp single orientation during rolling. Others rotated into two or more orientations, and some fragmented and approached the entire polycrystalline texture depending on the original orientation of both the normal and rolling directions. Barrett, Ansel, and Mehl2 studied iron-silicon alloys and found that the addition of silicon to the iron had little effect on heavily rolled polycrystalline material. Dunn3 has extensively studied the cold-rolling and recrystallization of silicon-iron single crystals. Dunn found that for single crystals having initial orientation between (110) [001] and (111) [112], the principalcomponent of the cold-rolled texture is (111) [112]. Koh and Dunn4 studied the cold-rolled textures of single crystals having initial orientations in the range (001) [110] to (111) [IT01 and found that these are stable end orientations. They also found that all orientations having a [110] direction parallel to the transverse direction rotate to either the (001) [110] or the (111) [112] stable end orientation except for orientations near (112) [11], which divide and produce a final texture consisting of (001) [110]and (111) [112] components. Crystals having a (111) <112>-type texture re-crystallized to a (120) [001] or (110) [001]-type texture. Crystals having orientations with a range of (001) to (335) in the rolling plane and [110] in the rolling direction recrystallized5 to a wide spread of the initial orientations resulting from a multiplicity of 30-deg rotations about several (110) poles. The present study was undertaken to relate other orientations of crystals of silicon-iron to their cold-rolling and recrystallization textures, so that one might rationalize polycrystalline recrystallization data on the basis of the known deformation texture and the behavior of single crystals in these orientations. PROCEDURE Samples were obtained from a cylindrical ingot of 3 pct silicon iron prepared as follows: Armco iron was melted with high-purity silicon flakes under an atmosphere of argon to minimize oxidation. The alloy was poured into a special mold to form an ingot which consisted partially of large columnar crystals. Plates were cut from the columnar portions of the ingot with the longitudinal direction parallel to the columnar axes and ground to 0.040 in. thick. The plates were heavily etched to a thickness of 0.032 in. to remove the cold-worked surface. Orientations of seventeen crystals were determined by Laue back-reflection techniques keeping the mean columnar axis as the reference direction. The plate was then cut in two, parallel to the columnar axis. One portion of the plate was rolled at room temperature parallel to the columnar axis to a reduction in thickness of 84 pct. The remaining portion of the plate was rolled also at room temperature across the columnar axis to a reduction of 66 pct, at which point the crystals began to separate at the boundaries. After rolling, nine individual crystals were removed from the strip by cutting along the crystal boundaries with a jeweler&apos;s saw. Fig. 1 shows the original orientations of the six crystals that were straight-rolled and of the three crystals (4, 7, and 8) that were cross-rolled. Each rolled crystal was carefully etched to approximately 0.002 in. thick. Textures of the cold-rolled crystals were determined by use of the diffractometer with a non-integrating sample holder. The pole figures were made for the (200) poles using molybdenum Ka radiation and were plotted by an automatic stereographic projection recorder.&apos; Spurious poles were determined by rerunning portions of the pole figures using strontium oxide to filter out the Ka radiation. The central portions of the pole figures have not been determined. The pole figures were completed to about 55 deg from the periphery at which point the sample holder interfered with passage of the beam. Following the determination of the cold-rolled

Jan 1, 1959

IT is certainly fitting and proper that the shortage of engineers should be the topic of frequent editorials in the professional magazine of mining engineers, but many of you are directly concerned with another shortage; namely, the shortage of skilled miners. It is often said that the military organization is built around the noncommissioned officer and it is similarly true that the mining organization depends for its production on the skilled miner-the NCO of the mining industry.

Jan 10, 1951

By Stuart M. Buck

The term "splint" seems to have been adopted to describe the fracture of the hard bituminous coals of West Virginia. It is not a scientific name, but rather a trade term, and does not indicate a correspondence with English splint. At present it is a popular word, and is very loosely applied to coals of various qualities, in the desire & improve their sale. The Kanawha splint is distinguished by its hardness, dull lustre, coarse fibrous structure, its purity, and especially its resistance to atmospheric influence. It kindles very readily, burns with a bright flame, but does not cake, so that a lump when half consumed, may be broken by a slight blow in its plane of cleavage, though it will resist a strong blow in any other direction. I have seen pieces that have been exposed to frost and sun

Jan 1, 1882

By J. E. Clennell

It is a common observation that the improvements introduced in practice since the first announcement of the cyanide process have been almost entirely mechanical. Although .a good deal of study land research has been devoted to the chemical problems [involved, the results obtained appear trifling in comparison. Few of the suggested modifications in the chemical treatment have come into practical use and those only in limited fields. Nevertheless, if we study the recent history of the cyanogen compounds from a somewhat broader standpoint, we shall find that considerable additions have been made, not only to our knowledge of their chemical properties, but also to their applications for industrial purposes. The present review of these advances naturally falls into two divisions: (1) processes involved in the treatment of ores; (2) manufacture of cyanides and other related compounds. Part I. Advances in the Chemistry of Ore Treatment by Cyanide In the attempt to extend the scope of the process, various ores have been encountered which contain gold and silver in such forms that they will not yield satisfactorily to ordinary methods of cyanide treatment. In some cases the difficulty is due to the excessive action on the solution of base metals present in the ore; in others, to the occurrence of minerals such as dyscrasite (the native alloy of antimony and silver), or a supposed oxidized manganese compound containing silver, which are either altogether insoluble in or very slightly attacked by cyanide. A particularly troublesome case is that of the so-called "graphitic" ores, containing carbon in some form which has the property of precipitating gold and silver already dissolved. Other efforts have been directed to improving extraction by electrolysis of working solutions, and by addition of various chemicals with or without electrolysis; to the diminution of cyanide consumption by "re-

Jan 1, 1916

By B. W. Frazier

AT a recent meeting of the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers, during a discussion upon the compression of air, attention was called to an apparent anomaly in the phenomena attending the compression. At a subsequent meeting this apparent anomaly was explained by Prof. Herschel, and all the facts observed shown to be strictly in accordance with the laws of thermodynamics. Upon reading the report of the discussion in the published transactions of the society, it occurred to me that an attempt to determine mathematically the amounts of energy (whether in the form of heat or of work) expended and absorbed in compressing air, and causing it to perform work by expansion, might prove of use to some who have not access to any treatise upon the application of the laws of thermodynamics to the compression of air, and who have not the time or the inclination to make such application for themselves. The apparent anomaly noticed was this: If air be compressed, and at the same time, by the sufficient application of a cooling medium, kept at a constant temperature, the indicator diagrams in the

Jan 1, 1874

By Frank Drake

Manganese-ores are known to exist in the Caucasus in a number of localities, viz., in the government of Kutais, near the village of Chiaturi; in the same goverilment near the Choruk river, southward from Batum; and in the governments of Erivan and Tiflis. In smaller quantities they are found in various other places also. The first-mentioned deposits are by far the most important; the others being not only less extensive, but remote from present means of communication, and, from their character, expensive to work, although in some cases the ore is of a superior quality. All the manganese-ore now known in the market as a Caucasian " ore comes from Chiaturi, no other deposits in the Caucasus having been worked commercially; movements have been made, however, towards the exploitat,ion of some of those on the Choruk river. The Manganese-Ore District of Chiaturi. General Remarks, Statistics, Etc.—No other known deposit of manganese-ore can approach that of Chiaturi in capacity for producing large quantities of high-grade ore at a low cost. The deposit is said to have been discovered in 1848, by the geologist Abich, but the first shipments were not made until 1879, when 871 tons* were produced. Since that time, the production has steadily increased, until now the world relies on this deposit for about one-half its supply of manganese-ore. The industry is also of great importance locally, and aftords a livelihood to a considerable proportion of the population of the district in which the deposit is situated.

Jan 1, 1899

By Bennett Bates

NOWHERE in the world has cone classification in closed-circuit grinding with tube mills reached as high a state of development as on the Witwatersrand. In the development of the Far East section the necessity of fine grinding to obtain. satisfactory residues gave rise to a situation with which the cone could cope only at a great sacrifice in efficiency of tube-mill grinding. H., A. White1 recognized the limitation of the cone in his study of the theory of tube milling as early as 1915, but it was not until Ewing, Davis and. Willey2 carried out their tests at Springs Mines during 1920 that the advantages of mechanical classifiers&apos; were demonstrated. During the fall of 1924 the writer supervised a series of tests with Dorr classifiers undertaken by Mr. White, Consulting Metallurgist, at the mill of the Geduld Proprietary Mines, Ltd., Dersley, Transvaal (Far East Rand). The importance of classification to obtain efficient tube-mill grinding was thoroughly demonstrated. The installation of classifiers of the above type that followed the test, confirmed the results of the experimental work.

Jan 2, 1926

By Michael E. Zellars

The environment for deposition of marine phosphorite is controlled by the relationship of prevailing climatic, oceanographic, structural, and sedimentary conditions. The set, or sets, of conditions that has evoked the accumulation of economic concentrations of phosphorite has been the subject of a number of previous works. Phosphorite presently considered ore is generally in excess of 10% P205 with an extractable phosphate product in excess of 30% P2O5. The concentration of the product in the ore, its amenability to state-of-the-art extraction, and thickness of the overburden are major controlling factors in determining its mineability. A recent survey of phosphorite deposits in the south-eastern United States included a review of the depositional and structural setting for the major areas of occurrence. The application of previous work regarding phosphorogenesis has led to the establishment of a general depositional model for most mid-Miocene primary phosphorites, and, is also possibly applicable to the Bone Valley (Pliocene-Miocene) district of central Florida.

Jan 12, 1978

By C. M. Young

This is an attempt to bring together some of the knowledge of the coal-forming conditions obtaining during the Pennsylvanian period in the Western Interior Coal Province, to sketch briefly the present extent and character of the coals produced, and to show the beginning of correlation of beds over wide areas. Coals of later age than the Pennsylvanian are not included and, for reasons that will appear later, little attempt is made to cover the districts of eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas, and northern Texas is omitted entirely. Geological Conditions The conditions that made possible the formation of large coal beds in the United States were most favorable in the Pennsylvanian period, formerly known as the Upper Carboniferous. The geological conditions can be determined from the records, but not the reasons for them. Preceding the Pennsylvanian was the Mississippian, formerly known as the lower Carboniferous and still later as the sub-Carboniferous. During this time, large bodies of limestone were deposited and at the close of the Mississippian they were warped upward and for a long period were eroded. Then there began a period of subsidence, more or less interrupted at times, during which the Pennsylvanian strata were deposited (see table on next page). These consist of sandstones, limestones and shales, with occasional coal beds. At the beginning of the Pennsylvanian there was subsidence, which allowed the sea to extend over the eroded Mississippian surface to the north and east. It passed over eastern and central Texas, a large part of Oklahoma, with a projection into Arkansas, over Kansas and part of Nebraska, all the northern and western part of Missouri, a large part of Iowa except a strip in the north, most of Illinois, practically all of Kentucky, northern Tennessee, most of Indiana, all of the eastern part of Ohio, practically all of West Virginia, western Maryland, the west end of Virginia, and a large part of Pennsylvania. The Ozarks were already up and separated the main body of this sea, which covered the northern

Jan 1, 1936

By C. M. Young

This is an attempt to bring together some of the knowledge of the coal-forming conditions obtaining during the Pennsylvanian period in the Western Interior Coal Province, to sketch briefly the present extent and character of the coals produced, and to show the beginning of correlation of beds over wide areas. Coals of later age than the Pennsylvanian are not included and, for reasons that will appear later, little attempt is made to cover the districts of eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas, and northern Texas is omitted entirely. Geological Conditions The conditions that made possible the formation of large coal beds in the United States were most favorable in the Pennsylvanian period, formerly known as the Upper Carboniferous. The geological conditions can be determined from the records, but not the reasons for them. Preceding the Pennsylvanian was the Mississippian, formerly known as the lower Carboniferous and still later as the sub-Carboniferous. During this time, large bodies of limestone were deposited and at the close of the Mississippian they were warped upward and for a long period were eroded. Then there began a period of subsidence, more or less interrupted at times, during which the Pennsylvanian strata were deposited (see table on next page). These consist of sandstones, limestones and shales, with occasional coal beds. At the beginning of the Pennsylvanian there was subsidence, which allowed the sea to extend over the eroded Mississippian surface to the north and east. It passed over eastern and central Texas, a large part of Oklahoma, with a projection into Arkansas, over Kansas and part of Nebraska, all the northern and western part of Missouri, a large part of Iowa except a strip in the north, most of Illinois, practically all of Kentucky, northern Tennessee, most of Indiana, all of the eastern part of Ohio, practically all of West Virginia, western Maryland, the west end of Virginia, and a large part of Pennsylvania. The Ozarks were already up and separated the main body of this sea, which covered the northern

Jan 1, 1936

By C. L. Thornburg

FLANKING the Valley of Mexico on the northeast is a mountain range known as the Sierra de Pachuca. This northwesterly-trending range is about 30 miles long and 5 miles wide, its summit attaining an elevation of more than 10,000 feet above sea level, or 2000 feet above the valley floor. Pachuca, a town of 50,000 inhabitants, lies nestled at the southwest base of the range, 60 miles northeast of Mexico City. Three miles to the east, just over the summit and on the northeasterly slope, is the mountain town of Real del Monte with a population of about 20,000. These are the two principal towns in a 40-sq mile area whose yield has brought the district to its high rank among the world&apos;s silver producers. Total production probably exceeds 1.25 billion ounces of silver and 4.5 million ounces of gold. Exploitation by the Spanish was under way by 1530. As the mines were deepened operations became handicapped by the inadequate method of handling water with horse whims and bull skins. To offset this disadvantage a two-mile drainage tunnel was started in 1749 and completed ten years later. John Taylor of London acquired the mines from the third Count of Regla in 1824 and formed the Compania de Real del Monte y Pachuca. Two years later Cornish pumps were brought from England. A Mexican company purchased the British interest in 1848 and within a few years resumed an old project of driving a second, lower three-mile drainage tunnel, completing it in 1857. After American interests acquired control of the property in 1906 operations expanded to an unprecedented scale, despite periods of political strife, unstable prices, labor problems, and a growing burden of taxation. An idea of the scale of operations may be gained from records of the last two decades prior to 1947, the last year for which production information is at hand, during which time production ranged from 1.4 million to 1.1 million tons per year, and the combined development and exploration, exclusive of diamond drilling, amounted to about 18 miles annually. Pachuca differs from Zacatecas and some other Mexican silver vein districts that flourished and declined in earlier centuries in that a substantial part of its total production was made after 1900. While the district&apos;s accelerated activity in this century was largely due to the successful application of the cyanide process to the treatment of the ores, improved pumping methods, and new mechanical equipment, it was at the same time stimulated by the opening up of important new orebodies as a result of active and extensive exploration of the vein system. Some of these orebodies were found on veins which terminate upward far below the surface, and though these particular veins do not crop out, they show relationship with a type of alteration which may be their surface expression. The district has been studied by many able geologists, and a large store of information has been accumulated, much of which is recorded in published as well as private papers. Wall Rocks Extrusive Rocks: The Sierra de Pachuca is a thick accumulation of Tertiary eruptive rocks consisting mainly of flows, breccias, and tuffs. Numerous recognizable volcanic vents within the range itself manifest that the range was built up by material ejected from these vents. The maximum thickness of the volcanic pile is not known, but from deep exploration and from relationship with Mesozoic sediments to the north and east it is inferred that the average thickness in the main part of the district may be at least 6000 ft. The extrusive rocks comprise four general types, which in ascending order of age are: andesite, rhyolite, dacite, and basalt. The veins are confined largely to the andesite, the dominant rock of the region. Characteristically this rock is augite andesite, but it includes comparatively acidic as well as basic layers, the acidic strata being

Jan 1, 1952

By John Mathews

SOMEONE has divided mankind into two groups: (1) those who have the willingness and imagination to weigh the future gain over against a present indulgence, and (2) those who cannot do so. The former have self-control, patience, foresight and a capacity for sustained effort. Those having these homely virtues become the, possessors of capital and hence employers of others. Those lacking these qualities and owning no capital must seek it from those of the first class, and therefore are employed by others. The human qualities, which divide men into two classes-employers and employed-are, however, capable of change by education, training, environment and by all agencies which tend to develop character. These words of the economist have stuck in my mind for many years and the more I see of men in my business contacts the more firmly I am convinced of their truth. The earth in some respects resembles its inhabitants. When we stroll over the fields and hills we are impressed by the unorganized masses of sand and rock which make up the ground beneath our feet. When by chance we come upon a bit of mineral matter in crystalline form we are impressed by its beauty and symmetry and probably have it polished and call it a gem. Gems constitute a minute portion of the earth&apos;s crust, and those intellectual gems, worthy of polish, who brilliantly reflect the incident rays of education and experience that have fallen upon them are few among the masses of mankind.

Jan 1, 1931

A PROSPECTOR stood atop a Venezuelan mountain called El Florero just 25 years ago, and shouted to the world that he had found a large, rich new source of iron ore. But his words were lost in the big green South American jungles and besides, the world had more iron ore than it could handle. There were no crises in 1926, no major wars on the horizon, no worries about mineral supplies. In the U. S., the populace was "keeping cool with Coolidge," and the solid foundation of the economy-the steel industry-rested on a still firmer basis, the Lake Superior iron ores.

Jan 5, 1951

By A. Haas, L. Bubenicek

The Lorraine deposit of minette iron ore has been mined for more than a century. During this time, the economic conditions have changed frequently, and especially during the past decade. Thus, it has become economically prudent to proceed to new iron ore reserves with consideration of many and varied parameters. In the past, only traditional mining parameters were considered. Today, the quantity of information that must be taken into account is of such magnitude that the only practical means of data processing is by use of a digital computer and a mathematical model. One such model, based on geostatistics, was developed by G. Matheron. Much of the required input information, such as the petrology of ores, has been generated through IRSID investigations. This paper deals with several aspects of data processing in mining including information recording, reserves calculation, and stages of shrinking data in the calculation of mining iron beds, variograms, kriging, and tonnages.

Jan 1, 1969

By J. S. Harris

AS a result of the study of social problems to which so much thought has been given in this country and Europe in the last half century, many employers of labor have come to think that some provision should be made for their workingmen in case of injury. There has been a growing tendency so to administer the laws governing industrial pursuits in these countries as to add self-interest on the part of capitalists, to the plea urged by humanity, that every possible care should be taken to guard the workers from accident; but as no care can guarantee immunity, there is a necessity to supplement these precautions by some method of providing pecuniary aid that shall be available when disabling accidents do occur. It was once a favorite idea of theorists on political economy, that in the ideal state of society every man should take care of himself, and that the less care or control there was assumed by any man over others&apos; private affairs, the better; but this gospel of selfishness has had its day, and it is now generally recognized that in the existing state of affairs the stronger and richer cannot escape the duty of being to some extent, the keepers of their less fortunate brethren ; and, on the other hand, that an assumption of care for them involving to some extent an exercise of authority, is not a thing to he necessarily and always resisted. Out of these convictions, many efforts for the amelioration of the condition of workingmen have grown—which or one result have produced various plans which combine the con-

Jan 1, 1884

By H. R. Page, A. E. Jr Lee

From the inception of zinc retorting on a commercial scale in the United States in 1890,&apos; the retort employed has undergone wide variations in its composition and manufacture, facilitating in part equally remarkable improvements in furnace capacities. The early day hand made clay retort was charged with carbonates or silicates or with coarse dead roasted concentrates mixed with a large proportion of charge fuel resulting in a relatively low zinc burden and fired 24 hr in direct coal fired furnaces. Its modern counterpart is fabricated in hydraulic presses from clay mixtures containing sizeable amounts of either silicon carbide or silica flour, charged with sintered flotation concentrates to more than three times the early day zinc burden and fired 24 to 48 hr in gas fired furnaces. This paper does not attempt to describe in detail the early day clay retort practice as it is well outlined in treatises by Ingalls,2 Lodin,3 Liehig,4 Hofman5 and others. A brief review of clay retort practice is presented together with a description of the major developments since 1912. Clay Retorts The Belgian type retort, both in the circular and elliptical forms, has been used almost exclusively. Typical dimensions of press made clay retorts around 1910 are shown in Table 1. Variations in these dimensions were used at different plants according to local conditions to a maximum inside diameter of 9 in. and inside length of 54 in. However, the effective heat penetration in a 24 hr firing cycle and the tendency of the retort to bend limited the retort size. Use of the elliptical vessel was an attempt to present a stronger cross-section resisting the tendency to bend and to increase the burden without increasing the depth of heat penetration. One exception to the 48-54 in. length was the 60 in. retort used as early as 1905 at Palmerton by means of supporting the last 12 in. at the butt end with a specially designed furnace back-wall. This backwall construction with the 60 in. retort had been developed and used at Bethlehem by G. G. Con-vers and A. B. DeSaulles. An attempt was made at Blende, Colo. to use even larger retorts of the Rhenish type based on European practice and requiring much higher furnace temperatures. Satisfactory plastic clays capable of withstanding these temperatures were not available, and the plant never operated successfully. PREPARATION OF BATCH Composition of the clay retort by weight was 40 to 50 pct raw clay and the balance "grog." Generally speaking the mix consisted of 7 parts plastic clay to 9 parts grog by volume. Principal source of the clay used was the Cheltenham vein—sometimes referred to as "St. Louis city clay." A typical analysis was A12O3-31.0 pct, SiO2-50.0 pct, Fe2O3-2.5 pct, MgO-0.3 pct, CaO-1.5 pct and loss on ignition 14.0 pct. At the smelter the clay was weathered whenever possible and then crushed to 0.08 in. or finer. Grog consisted of calcined adobies, cleaned retort scrap and cleaned refuse fire brick such as old furnace brick, blast furnace linings, and others. Saggers from ceramic plants and calcined flint clay were later used. The grog materials were ground to 0.12 m. or finer. Occasionally coke dust up to 10 pct of the mix was substituted for a part of the grog following European practice.² Particle size of the grog has a major influence on the retort properties—the larger the grain, the better can the retort withstand thermal shocks, resist bending at furnace temperatures and resist corrosion from slag; the smaller the grain, the lower the loss of zinc vapor through the retort walls. Grog forms the skeleton of the retort, and the clay shrinks around its grains to act as a binder. In the drying process, the grog has a stabilizing effect on the drying rate, decreasing shrinkage and giving up previously absorbed water to the surrounding clay to minimize the danger of cracking or checking.² Grog and clay were mixed through a horizontal pug mill with 10 to 20 pct water added, depending on whether the retort was to be formed by hand or mechanically, more water being required for the hand process. The batch or "mud" extruded from the pug mill was cut in convenient lengths for handling, stacked in piles or in special rooms, covered with wet burlap and allowed to "rot" or age from 1 to 8 weeks to increase plasticity. HAND MOLDING If the retort was to be molded by hand, the mud was repugged after the rotting period and given to the molders. Their molds consisted of 3 sheet iron or wood cylinders, each one third the retort length and defining the outer shape of the retort. Beginning with the bottom section, mud was placed in the form and tamped with a rammer

Jan 1, 1950