Search Documents

By L. W. Page

PREVIOUS to the introduction of the motor vehicle the broken stone or macadam road met the conditions of rural horse-drawn traffic better than any other type of road, but under fast motor traffic it has been proved to be quite unsatisfactory, and necessitates high maintenance charges. Such a road depends for its success upon the fact that the rock dust fills the voids between the stones and acts as a cement or binder. Under ideal conditions it should be constructed of rock so suited to the volume and character of horse traffic that only enough fine dust is worn from the stones of which the road is composed to take the place of that carried off by wind and rain; and when these conditions are met, the fine dust resulting from the wear. of traffic forms with the stone a smooth, impervious shell, shedding the surface water and protecting the foundation. With increase in the number and speed of motor vehicles, however, it was soon found that the cost of maintenance also increased, until at the present day highway engineers consider the old method of constructing and maintaining broken-stone roads increasingly inadequate, and are introducing every known type of binding material other than rock dust to cement the stone together. Among the most prominent types of products in use are those produced from our various petroleums. That the value of modern methods of road preservation was appre¬ciated in this country much earlier than we have been accustomed to believe is demonstrated by the recent revival of an old patent which was granted to one John Martineau, of Elbridge, N. Y., in 1834. Petroleum had, of course, not been discovered at that time, but he claims as his invention and improvement "The application of tar, turpentine, or any of that class of tenacious, cohesive substances, reduced before use to a fluid state, and that state used as a cement, to apply to, and combine with sand, gravel, pebbles, and pulverized stone, such as is used for a Mc-Adam road, or cobble stone, the interstices of coarser material being in all cases filled, as well as may be, with sand and gravel and cemented with tar or turpentine, to form the wearing face or surface of streets,

Jan 2, 1914

By W. F. Stowasser

A downdraft traveling grate process to agglomerate pelletized iron ore concentrates has been successfully demonstrated in a pilot plant at Carrollville, Wis. Work there followed several years of development in the Allis-Chalmers Mfg. Co. laboratories, and the pilot plant phase was carried out in co-operation with Arthur G. McKee & Co., consultants and engineers to the iron and steel industry. End result of the process is conversion of iron ore concentrates into a form which can easily be transported and smelted in the blast furnace.

Jan 5, 1955

By Mark E. Emerson

INTRODUCTION A long time has passed since geologists encountered encouraging mineralization in their regional exploration program for base metals deposits. Detailed drilling during the following two field seasons served to delineate the configuration of the deposit. Various statistical techniques were employed to provide confidence levels regarding the extent of the reserves and to categorize them according to whether proved, indicated or inferred. At this juncture, it appears that the company has an orebody. Time elapsed? - three years; money spent? - $2.5 million. Much remains to be done before the orebody becomes a mine. The company urgently needs to develop new orebodies to replace its existing mines which are being depleted. It therefore has expended sizable amounts in exploration, the life blood of the company. A staff of specialists is maintained to evaluate new projects and to conduct feasibility studies. The scale of new mining projects today is beyond the resources of most mining companies. Bank financing, therefore, is often vital if the company is to survive. The following scenario describes how a company goes about evaluating mine projects and what is needed to meet lender's criteria in securing the needed financing. MINE PLANNING Now that the company engineers have taken over the project, their concern is no longer with finding ore but in developing it. An exploration shaft has been put down and a tunnel driven into the orebody to verify, on a large scale, what has been seen so far only in pencil- like drill cores. A large tonnage bulk sample is mined and shipped off to an independent metallurgical process laboratory for beneficiation testing. The budget is expended to cover engineering studies. Preliminary capical and operating costs are developed in- house and profitability studies are made based or1 assumptions concerning the markets for the main product and the indicated gold, silver, and other by-products. Time elapsed? - four years; cost to date? - $3.5-$4.5 million. The staff prepares its own pre-feasibility study. After review, the Executive Committee authorizes management to proceed with full-scale studies. The task is to make preliminary designs and to develop definitive capital and operating cost estimates. Specialized consultants will be engaged to study slope stability for the open pit and rock strength if underground recovery proves more feasible. If it is near the sea, an oceanographic report might be commissioned to see if the tailings can be disposed of off shore. Environmental impact studies are commissioned from a firm familiar with government requirements and regulations in this important area. The company subscribes for an expensive multi-client study of the supply- demand-price outlook for the product to support its own long-range price forecast. Now all the numbers are available to make a definitive appraisal of the value of the project. Cash flow analyses and sensitivity studies follow. Reams of computer printouts are generated. Time elapsed: five years. Amount spent? - up to $9 million, depending on the size, complexity and attractiveness of the project. Marginal projects always take longer. Finally, an engineering and construction (E&C) company is given the task of integrating and compiling all the data into a feasibility study. The results of dozens of reports, memoranda, computer printouts, and charts are boiled down to one final summary report of a few hundred pages together with conclusions and recommendations. After thoughtful review at a board meeting, the directors authorize management to proceed with detailed engineering work - provided that

Jan 1, 1985

By Frank W. Osterwald

Violent, spontaneous destruction of coal faces and ribs during, what are commonly called, bumps endangers and at times destroys life and property in mines of the Book Cliffs coalfield, Carbon County, Utah. Because these mines supply much of the coking coal for the West Coast steel industries, mining is necessary, although costs are high and operating conditions are very difficult at times. As operations continue, mining will go to greater depths, and the difficulties will increase. Whether or not mining can be continued successfully depends in part on whether or not incidence of bumps can be controlled successfully. For this reason, the U.S. Geological Survey, at the request of and in cooperation with the U.S. Bureau of Mines, undertook a study of the Sunnyside No. 1 mine to determine what geologic factors were related to the incidence of bumps. This report presents the preliminary results of that study and indicates that some observable geologic features in the mine may be related directly or indirectly to bumps, and that other features may be used to infer stress distribution around workings that will aid in design of roof support measures. Coal is mined in the Sunnyside No. 1 mine from depths as great as 2500 ft by room-and-pillar methods. The surface topography is rugged with many steep cliffs and deep canyons, hence the load on the coal varies greatly within short distances. Much of the Sunnyside coal is under high stress, and while being mined, it shatters continuously' and falls from the face. Continuous shattering (bumping) makes mining easy, but if the shattering is interrupted, greater stress is built up and violent bumps may result when the coal is mined.

Jan 4, 1962

By C. B. Foraker

THE Magma mine, of the Magma Copper Co., at Superior, Pinal County, Arizona, is 68 miles east of Phoenix and 21 miles west of Miami, Arizona, on highway U. S. 180. TEMPERATURES AND UNDERGROUND WATERS Surface Temperatures.-The average surface dry-bulb temperature at Superior is 72.4°; wet-bulb, 57.4°; with an indicated relative humidity of 38 per cent. The average yearly rainfall from 1921 to 1936, inclusive, was 18.74 in. The maximum condition of the atmosphere is in June, July and August, and the minimum is in January and February. The surface temperatures, of course, influence the temperatures of the down-cast shafts; however, the variation between winter and summer causes a difference of only 2° to 3° in the stopes and working places that are not close to the intake shafts. Average atmospheric conditions are shown in Fig. 1. Rock Temperatures.-Rock temperatures on the deeper levels of tile mine are as follows: LEVEL DEGREES LEVEL DEGREES 2000 109 3200 127 2250 112.5 3400 130 2550 116 3600 134 2800 120 3800 137 3000 124 4000 140 There appears to be no difference in rock temperature for any particu-lar horizon of the various formations or in the vein. Water encountered is always the same temperature as the rock from which it flows, and for this reason it is thought that the water is heated by the rock; not the rock by the water. The country rock apparently has been heated by the various intrusions, perhaps the vein itself, and has not yet had time to cool off. The geothermal gradient (Fig. 2) as indicated by the rock tem-peratures given above is 1 1/2 ° per 100 feet.

Jan 1, 1938

By Henry F. Cooper, Scott E. Blouin

Large jacking test procedures that have been applied to obtain static in-situ rock properties (Ref. 1) have shown that the in-situ rock modulus and strength can be considerably less than what would be obtained from laboratory tests on intact samples. This trend is also expected to be true for dynamic properties, but few dynamic in- situ rock property tests have been conducted. During the past several years, high explosive test procedures have been developed to simulate the airblast and direct induced ground motions (Ref. 2) produced by nuclear explosions . These test procedures load large volumes (up to 10 7 f t3) of the earth with stress levels sufficiently high to produc5 feet of particle displacement over surface areas up to l0 5 ft2. This paper discusses some of the data obtained, and the implications of these results for our understanding of the dynamic response of in-situ rock. DESCRIPTION OF TEST PROCEDURES As shown in Fig. 1, the High Explosive Simulation Technique (HEST) consists of a cavity of uniform height bounded on the sides by a soil berm, above by an overburden of uniform thickness, and below by the test bed on the earth's surface. Horizontal racks of detonating cord are placed in the cavity and detonated at one end of the test bed. This detonation produces an explosive wave that propagates across the test bed, loading the earth with an overpressure pulse that decays with time because of the compression and lifting of the overburden. Since 1964, there have been approximately 40 such tests on test bed areas ranging from a few hundred to l0 5 sq ft., simulating peak overpressure conditions between about 100 and 6000 psi and specific impulses between a few and over 100 psi-sec.

Jan 1, 1971

By Albert F. Hill

The manufacture of structural shapes in steel of uniform quality, which shall command the full confidence of the engineer, is a problem in practical metallurgy which is beginning to attract much attention in this country. The progress of the past fern years in the improvement of plant and processes has placed it within the power of the steel-maker to supply a material of such chemical composition as will meet the requirements; but this solves only in part the difficulties of the constractor. It is well understood that the influence of shop manipulations is a most decisive one upon the mechanical properties of the finished product; in many cases so great, in fact, as to cause an entire transformation in the character of the material, and to render it unfit for the service for which it was intended. On the other hand, mechanical treatment is frequently resorted to as an efficient corrective of certain undesirable properties, which may be due either to chemical composition or previous manipulation. This understood and accepted, it is evident that careful investigation of the effects of mechanical treatment is fully as necessary to the successful use of steel in engineering structures, as the investigation of the influence exerted by its chemical composition. All structural material has to undergo more or less mechanical treatment, such as shearing, punching, upsetting, etc. Each of these operations produces effects which are far more marked and decisive in steel than they are in iron, and means must therefore be adopted to counteract, or at least to modify, these effects before the material is permitted to enter the structure. The fact that both shearing and punching affect the tenacity and elasticity of steel has long been recognized; bat, through more recent investigations, it has been established that these effects are purely local, and are therefore susceptible of correction by other and simpler means than annealing. The importance of this discovery to the use of steel in structures is very great. The impracticability of

Jan 1, 1883

By Charles A. Ashburner

VERY little is known of the economical value of the cod-bells of the State of Texas. The first authentic statement in regard to their occurrence is that contained in the reports of the United States Exploratians for the Pacific Railroad, near the 32d parallel of latitude, published in 1863-55. Professor William P. Biake reports, "that a number of seams of bituininorls coal, varying in thickness from two to four feet, have been opened along the Brazos River, in Young County, about one hundred and fifty miles west of Fort Worth." Dr: Shurunrd also states, " that the claracteristic fossil fornis of the Carbeiferaas Era have been found with this coal, and considers the age of the formation established. Foesils obtained from the carboniteroas limestone remove all doubt of the age of these deposits."† In the spring of 1879, I was called upon by some Eastern capitalisets to make an examination of the Brazos coal-field, in order to obtain the thickness, extent., and value of the coal which could be mined and be'made merchantable fir stearn, heating, and metallurgical purposes. The demand for coal in this section of the country is great, and a fuel which in our Eastern markets might be considered of inferior quality, would here find a ready sale. It must be remernbered that the market value of a coal does not depen'd upon its absoltite purity, but upon its actual value in heat units which it is capable of prodwing. A poor coal which can be cheaply milled near the consuper, is infinitely more remunerative to a mining company than a superior coal whose cost to the consumer is greatly increased by high mining charges and railroad freights. The value of the Texan coals does not depend upon their purity but upon their low first cost and nearness to a market. A glance at a geological map of the United States, will show that the Brazos coal-field is the extreme southwestern extension of what may be called the Missourian, Fourth or Western, bituminous coal

Jan 1, 1881

By Hugh M. Roberts

In the spring of 1915, then a 30-year old geologist in the employ of the E. J. Longyear Co., of Minneapolis, Minn., I accompanied prospectors to ex- amine outcrops of supposed nickel ore situated a mile or two in from the shore of a lake in the Kenora district of northwestern Ontario. The deposit proved to be bog iron ore containing traces of nickel. We were stormbound there for three days, a circumstance which gave rise to a tale that was told at our fire one night. It seems that Sandy and Jock, two prospectors, were crossing the bay of a large lake in a canoe. They were bucking headwinds; the waves grew higher. Jock called out from the stern, "Sandy, can ye na pray a little." Sandy pressed his knees a little closer into the bow and, between strokes of his paddle, sought for words, which came haltingly, "Save us this time . . . Oh Lord . . . and we promise . . ." when Jock, peering through the spray sang out, "I would na commit yourself, Sandy, I think I see lond ahead."

Jan 1, 1965

By A. F. Giamei, E. J. Freise

A discussion of the various factors affecting the accuracy of volume fraction determination by the direct comparison X-ray diffraction method is presented. To minimize errors introduced by nonrandomization effects such as preferred orientation and large grain size, as well as errors introduced by statistical effects, an iterative mathematical analysis is introduced. This analysis is applied to all observable diffractio~ spectra from a given specimen by means of computer techniques and is statistically superior to the standard direct comparison technique which utilizes only one or tm sets of intensity spectra. The computer program also presents a graphical interpretation of- the results which enables the investigator to visualize and readily assess the scatter in volume fraction estimates caused by deviations from randomness. Finally, the iterative analysis is applied to experimental data collected from a series of plain carbon steels in both the as-received and spheroidized conditions to determine the volume fraction of cemen-tite present in each case. The results show markedly good agreement with chemical analyses for all spheroidized specimens. In theory, quantitative X-ray diffraction is a power-ful analytical technique for precise determination of the volume fractions of various phases present in a multiphase poly crystalline aggregate. There are two generally used methods; both utilize the fact that the intensity of a diffraction line of a particular phase is a function of volume fraction of that phase present in the aggregate. The more common method is the so-called internal standard technique where a known amount of standard substance is mixed with the aggregate containing the unknown. The resulting ratio of the intensity of a particular diffraction line of the unknown to the intensity of a diffraction line from the standard is used to find the weight fraction of unknown material by reference to the intensity data obtained from a previously prepared set of standards containing the same amount of standard material. The details of this technique are outlined in standard works on X-ray diffraction.' The disadvantages of the technique are that it requires the use of powder specimens and that the powder mixture must be homogeneous near the surface to the maximum effective beam depth. The alternative technique is the direct comparison method in which the ratio of the intensity of a diffraction line of a phase in the aggregate to the intensity of a second-phase diffraction line yields the ratio of the volume fractions of each phase present. This method has been applied most extensively to the determination of the percentage of retained austenite in martensitic steels and to determining the amounts of hcp and fcc allotropic modifications in pure cobalt5 and the amounts of hexagonal and rhombohedra1 modifications in graphite.8 This method is applicable to bulk as well as powder aggregates and is the technique which will be considered in the following text. It is the purpose of the present communication to show that by combining the results of X-ray diffrac-tometry with the use of high-speed digital computers the results of the direct comparison quantitative X-ray analysis technique can be optimized by using all of the data available on a diffraction pattern. THEORETICAL DISCUSSION In optimizing any quantitative X-ray diffraction experiment, the problem of accuracy vs time to collect and analyze the experimental data arises. For any method to be practical, it is required that both experimental and analytical procedures are reasonably short. In most of the previous work performed by the direct comparison method, intensity data from only one or two sets of peaks were used to calculate the volume fraction of phases present in the aggregate. Consequently, rather long-time experimental measurements are required to assure that the intensity data are sufficiently accurate to justify the use of one or two sets of data. By using computer techniques to analyze the experimental data it becomes feasible to use all of the available data on a diffraction pattern. By so doing, the time spent in measuring any one diffraction maxima can be appreciably reduced. Although this results in poor counting statistics for any one maxima, the number of data points available for analysis is greatly increased. Based on the above discussion, it will be assumed that a continuous scanning counter-diffractometer technique will be used to collect intensity data from a two-phase mixture. The integrated intensity of the ith diffraction line from the a phase in the aggregate is given by:'" where is the volume fraction of the a phase, The various quantities in Eq. [la] are angular independent while those in [lb] depend on the hkl spectrum of a particular phase. The meaning of the individual quantities in Eqs. [la] and [lb] are given in Appendix 1. It is convenient at this point to outline briefly the factors which will affect the measured intensity of any one hkl spectrum. a) Extinction effects arise from two independent experimental conditions. Primary extinction arises from a high degree of crystal perfection and results in spectra having lower intensity than predicted by Eq. [I]. Any treatment, such as powdering, which reduces

Jan 1, 1968

By Herbert Hoover

THE time has arrived in our national development when we must have- a definite national- program in the development of our great engineering problems. Our rail and water transport, our water supplies for irrigation, our reclamation, the provision of future' fuel resources, the development and distribution of electrical power, all 'cry out for some broad-visioned national guidance. We must create a national engineering sense of provision for the nation as a whole. If we are to develop this national sense of engineering wand its relations to our great human problems, it must receive the advocacy of such institutions as this. We, together with our sister engineering societies, represent the engineers of the United States. It is our duty as citizens to give voice to those critical matters of national policy which our daily contact with this, the fundamentally constructive profession, illuminates to us. Just as our medical associations voice the necessity of -safeguards to national health; as the bar associations of safeguards to our judiciary, so the engineers should exert themselves in our national engineering policies. We have none; but we need some, or the next generation will face a lower instead of a higher standard of living than ours.

Jan 1, 1920

By Breaux B. Castleman

The ultimate test of a business strategy is whether it achieves the owner's objectives. Most shareholders are interested in growth and profits, and share values on stock exchanges are very often closely correlated with profit growth and profitability measured as return on equity (ROE). Strategic management, then, involves managing investments or resource allocations to optimize long-term growth and real return on equity, within reasonable limits of risk. Figure 1 shows a plot of the five year, weighted average ROE of a number of communications companies against their stock market valuations in 1983, measured as a ratio of market value to book value. The principal explanation of the differences in the relative valuations of the individual stocks is historical ROE, weighted toward the most recent years. Further analysis demonstrates the added importance of growth in explaining the differences in stock market to book ratios. [ ] Research conducted by Booz Allen and others in recent years suggests that the relationships between ROE and market to book multiples hold true in industry after industry. Furthermore, we have found that in assessing business strategies for companies in these industries, the analyses should focus on whether proposed strategies are likely to lead to consistent long-term growth in real ROE, without excessive leverage. Our research also reveals, however, that these approaches to strategy assessment are not consistently applicable in the natural resource extractive industries. Figure 2 shows a similar comparison of market to book values against five year average ROE for a group of nine mining companies in 1983. Market value of the shares shows little correlation with ROE. [ ] Analysis of the data for other extractive industries indicates a similar pattern; that is, low correlation between share values and

Jan 1, 1985

By D. T. MacRoberts

This paper embodies the results of theoretical studies concerning gas reservoirs, especially the effect of drilling programs of various intensities upon pressure depletion and ultimate recoveries. The primary objective has been to determine the net quantity of recoverable gas that could be obtained as a result of each additional well, in comparison with the gas . that might be secured from a single well ideally placed with respect to both acreage and geological structure. No method is yet known whereby the relative merits of intensive and sparse drilling can be compared experimentally; a reservoir must either be drilled closely or developed with wide spacing, but both programs cannot be conducted simultaneously. Hence, the analytical method seems to be the only approach to the problem. While the present state of our theoretical knowledge does not offer a precise solution to the problem of gas flow in sand bodies, it takes such appropriate cognizance of the limitations of the methods used as to restrict any answer obtained to the realm of engineering accuracy. In solving the problem for the average gas field, it was found that practically the same answers resulted as to pressure distribution, regardless of the size of the drainage radius, even though the latter was assumed to vary from a few feet as a minimum to that of the entire reservoir as a maximum. Such limits represent extreme possibilities; therefore, the practical conditions that are associated with normal development programs, in which wells are placed in the center of tracts varying in size from 40 to 640 acres, will of necessity result in less extreme variations than those indicated in the tables accompanying this paper. Stated more concisely, the amount of gas unrecovered at abandonment (of the particular field used for illustrative purposes) will lie somewhere between 4.6 and 6 per cent of the total original content, no matter how intensively the field is drilled. Gas reservoirs may be divided into two general types, those in which the energy is intrinsic, and those of which the energy is extrinsic. † The first type contains energy in the form of a compressed gas, which expands

Jan 1, 1938

New equipment for seabed sampling, presently at the prototype stage, operates on the principle of diamond core drilling with wire line core barrels and is designed to drill cores from the seabed at depths down to 200 m with a continuous recovery of cores from an attendant vessel. The machine operates on the seabed by remote control from a console on the vessel. Neither installation nor operation requires the use of divers. Principal Applications Principal areas of application for the drill which is dubbed Maricor include investigation drilling in the continental shelf, mapping geological conditions before large drilling platforms are installed and exploring proposed undersea tunnel routes.

Jan 11, 1973

By AIME AIME

Council.* PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL. ROBERT W. HUNT CHICAGO, ILL. (Term expires February, 1907.) VICE-PRESIDENTS OF THE COUNCIL. WILLIAM P. BLAKE TUCSON, ARIZ. THOMAS F. COLE DULUTH, MINN. IRVING A. STEARNS WILKES-BARRE, PA. (Term expires February, 1907.) HENRY AL HOWE NEW YORK, N. Y. J. B. GRANT DENVER, COLO. JAMES D. HAGUE NEW YORK, N. Y. (Term expires February, 1909.)

Nov 1, 1906

By J. O. CHESLEY

CURRENT widespread applications of aluminum in such industries as transportation, mining, and construction would have amazed the early proponents of its use, including Napoleon III, French Emperor Batik ill the middle nineteenth century, when aluminum was a precious metal, Napoleon had visions of making his army light and mobile through the use of aluminum for gun carriages, helmets, canteens, sabers, and similar articles. Whereas the emperor failed in his objectives, the modern Napoleons of industry have .been successful, and today aluminum finds its greatest applications wherever there is mass ill motion. Its lightness has made possible such modern marvels as the Union Pacific streamline trains, the Boeing and Douglas giant airships, and up-to-date mining equipment such as the new Calumet and Hecla mine skips.

Jan 1, 1938

By John J. Secretary Egan

The present list of problems relating to the physical chemistry of steelmaking has been prepared by the Committee on the Physical Chemistry of Steelmaking, from answers to a questionnaire submitted to a number of metallurgists engaged in both industrial and educational work throughout the United States. The purpose of the project is to make available to research laboratories a list of problems, all reduced to their simplest terms, the solution of which would aid in creating a better understanding of the steelmaking process. It is not intended to restrict the problems to practical steelmaking. The list also includes the study of the properties, and their correlation, as well as the physical and chemical reactions, of all substances that occur or that may be in any way associated with steelmaking operations, such as metallic substances, refractories, nonmetallic inclusions, and the constituents of slags. Many of the problems can be carried out in university or other research laboratories. Others may be most successfully attacked by cooperation of the research men with the operating personnel. It is the Committee's earnest wish that this cooperation be fostered. It is requested that investigators who are working on any of the problems listed and who anticipate future publication of their results, notify the Secretary of the Committee that such investigation is in progress. Suggested additions to the present list are also requested. The Committee is undertaking to act as a clearing house for information regarding the topics in this field that are being actually studied. Interested persons are invited to correspond with the Secretary. I. Data involved in the state of equilibrium for the various systems (laboratory work, almost entirely). A. Specific heats, heats of formation, entropies and free energies of various PURE ELEMENTS OR COMPOUNDS; ALSO CERTAIN TYPICAL SLAGS AND REFRACTORIES I. Determination of specific heats and entropies of oxides, sulphides, nitrides, etc, over a wide temperature range. 2. Determination of free energies of oxides, sulphides, nitrides, etc., over a wide temperature range. 3. Determination of the heats of formation of the oxides, sulphides, nitrides, etc. 4. Determination of the thermodynamic properties of the more important mineral-ogical constituents of the basic open-hearth slags such as calcium silicates, calcium phosphates, calcium ferrites, manganese silicates, FeO and Fe2O3. 5. Determination of the specific heats of open-hearth slags, including liquid silicates, if possible.

Jan 1, 1941

By A. E. Bellis

THE CHAIRMAN (ALBERT SAUVEUR, Cambridge, Mass.).-Any information likely to throw light on the constitution and proper treatment of high-speed steel in order to obtain maximum results, should surely he welcomed. All users of high-speed steel, I believe, will agree with the authors that, in order to obtain satisfactory results, it is not sufficient to heat all brands of high-speed steel to one and the same temperature; apparently very slight differences of chemical composition seem to call for marked differences in temperature. I think that all of us agree that a properly treated piece of high-speed steel should have a fine austenitic or polyhedral structure and that an appreciable quantity of free carbide may be present in the case of very high tungsten steels. What we seem to lack is a satisfactory method, quick and reliable, of ascertaining when the proper structure has been obtained. I think Mr. Bellis' paper is a step in the right direction. To the untrained eye, however, it is not an easy matter to select from some of his photomicrographs the one representing the best structure; for instance, in the case of steel A, we wonder why temperatures of 2,250 and 2,300 do not yield the same results, seeing that both structures are apparently alike, and the same might apply to some of the other samples. I have no doubt, however, that the experienced observer is capable of detecting structural differences that are not made plain here and by which he is able to select the proper quenching temperature. COLIN G. FINK, East Orange, N. J.-On page 68 the authors say that the use of a barium chloride bath to eliminate this difficulty has the disadvantage that the surface of the tool becomes decarbonized." I would like to ask whether they actually found that the surface was decarbonized, or whether they base this conclusion on softening alone? A. E. BELLIS, Springfield, Mass.-No, we have never demonstrated that it was a decarbonization, it is just the softening of the steel. The addition of ferrocyanide to the ferrochloride bath has been suggested. I think that is not altogether satisfactory, because the ferrocyanide bath changes composition very rapidly at these high temperatures, and it would be just a question of luck whether or not it had too much or too little ferrocyanide in the bath giving equilibrium with the carbon content.

Jan 4, 1917

By John J. Secretary Egan

The present list of problems relating to the physical chemistry of steelmaking has been prepared by the Committee on the Physical Chemistry of Steelmaking, from answers to a questionnaire submitted to a number of metallurgists engaged in both industrial and educational work throughout the United States. The purpose of the project is to make available to research laboratories a list of problems, all reduced to their simplest terms, the solution of which would aid in creating a better understanding of the steelmaking process. It is not intended to restrict the problems to practical steelmaking. The list also includes the study of the properties, and their correlation, as well as the physical and chemical reactions, of all substances that occur or that may be in any way associated with steelmaking operations, such as metallic substances, refractories, nonmetallic inclusions, and the constituents of slags. Many of the problems can be carried out in university or other research laboratories. Others may be most successfully attacked by cooperation of the research men with the operating personnel. It is the Committee's earnest wish that this cooperation be fostered. It is requested that investigators who are working on any of the problems listed and who anticipate future publication of their results, notify the Secretary of the Committee that such investigation is in progress. Suggested additions to the present list are also requested. The Committee is undertaking to act as a clearing house for information regarding the topics in this field that are being actually studied. Interested persons are invited to correspond with the Secretary. I. Data involved in the state of equilibrium for the various systems (laboratory work, almost entirely). A. Specific heats, heats of formation, entropies and free energies of various PURE ELEMENTS OR COMPOUNDS; ALSO CERTAIN TYPICAL SLAGS AND REFRACTORIES I. Determination of specific heats and entropies of oxides, sulphides, nitrides, etc, over a wide temperature range. 2. Determination of free energies of oxides, sulphides, nitrides, etc., over a wide temperature range. 3. Determination of the heats of formation of the oxides, sulphides, nitrides, etc. 4. Determination of the thermodynamic properties of the more important mineral-ogical constituents of the basic open-hearth slags such as calcium silicates, calcium phosphates, calcium ferrites, manganese silicates, FeO and Fe2O3. 5. Determination of the specific heats of open-hearth slags, including liquid silicates, if possible.

Jan 1, 1941

By JOHN R. SUMAN

OVERWHELMING proof of the importance of oil in a modern national economy is afforded by the present European War. Treat¬ies and national boundaries have been cynically violated to secure greater supplies of the precious fuel. Petroleum substitutes have been desperately, and far from successfully, sought. The whole German military theory of the drang nach Osten, the drive to the East, is directed at cutting the British supply of oil and securing a supply for Germany. This is a war of machines, and the machines of war feed hungrily on oil. In view of this fact, it is surely comforting to know that we are living today in a nation which has surpassed all the rest of the world not merely in unearthing the raw supplies of petroleum which lie beneath its surface but also in every phase of the industry in mining, refining, processing, production, and distribution.

Jan 1, 1941