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PLANS are underway for the annual meeting of AIME, to be held in New York, February 17 to 21. The technical program includes meetings of all divisions of all three branches, Mining, Metals, and Petroleum. The bulk of the technical sessions will be held at the Statler Hotel, and the annual banquet will be held at the Waldorf-Astoria, Wednesday evening, February 20. The technical program of the Mining Branch activities is included in this issue. While it is not complete in every detail, it shows general interest groupings as well as subjects to be discussed. The program for each division is shown separately to facilitate following the activities of these special interest groups. Then, after a full scale and possibly somewhat strenuous technical meeting, a post-meeting feature will appeal to many of the members. A restful cruise to Bermuda and Nassau is offered at special rates to AIME members and friends. The schedule is a 3:00 pm departure from New York on the Queen of Bermuda on Saturday, February 23; arrival at Bermuda at 7:00 am Monday, February 25; arrival at Nassau at noon, Wednesday, February 27; and the trip ending again in New York at 9:00 am, Saturday, March 1. Rates begin at $202.10 per person, with higher rates depending upon accomodations desired. The base rate includes outside room with private bath and all meals, as well as Federal, Bermuda and Nassau taxes. Reservations for the trip should be made immediately through Leon V. Arnold, 36 Washington Square West, New York 11, who is in charge of arrangements.

Jan 1, 1952

LANS are underway for the annual meeting of AIME, to be held in New York, February 17 to 21. The technical program includes meetings of all divisions of all three branches, Mining, Metals, and Petroleum. The bulk of the technical sessions will be held at the Statler Hotel, and the annual banquet will be held at the Waldorf-Astoria, Wednesday evening, February 20. The technical program of the Mining Branch activities is included in this issue. While it is not complete in every detail, it shows general interest groupings as well as subjects to be discussed. The program for each division is shown separately to facilitate following the activities of these special interest groups. Then, after a full scale and possibly somewhat strenuous technical meeting, a post-meeting feature will appeal to many of the members. A restful cruise to Bermuda and Nassau is offered at special rates to AIME members and friends. The schedule is a 3:00 pm departure from New York on the Queen of Bermuda on Saturday, February 23; arrival at Bermuda at 7:00 am Monday, February 25; arrival at Nassau at noon, Wednesday, February 27; and the trip ending again in New York at 9:00 am, Saturday, March 1. Rates begin at $202.10 per person, with higher rates depending upon accomodations desired. The base rate includes outside room with private bath and all meals, as well as Federal, Bermuda and Nassau taxes. Reservations for the trip should be made immediately through Leon V. Arnold, 36 Washington Square West, New York 11, who is in charge of arrangements.

Jan 1, 1952

By C. F. Jenkins, G. V. Smith

Serrated plastic flow in stable austenitic alloys based on Fe/Ni has been shown to be related to the presence of carbon and/or chromium in the systems. Strength peaks and plateaus in the serrated-flow temperature region for a commercial alloy correlate with an increased dislocation content, arising, presumably, from enhanced multiplication as a result of a strong interaction between dislocations and solute atoms. The data generally support a mechanism controlled by migration of vacancies, with the energy for vacancy motion being modified by the presence of chromium. Chromium atom -dislocation interaction is responsible for effects above 500°C, whereas the defect interacting with dislocations between 200" and 500°C is suggested to be a carbon-vacancy Pair. ThE phenomenon of jerky flow, serrated flow, or the Portevin-le Chatelier (P-C) effect in austenitic stainless steels is usually attributed to substitutional at1,2 mospheres1,2 or to precipitates&apos;-4 which form at dislocations during plastic deformation. On the other hand, evidence exists which supports a direct inter-stitial-dislocation interaction mechanism for serrated flow in fcc Ni-C,5,6 Ni-H7-9 and in nickel-austenites containing carbon." The present work consists in a study of serrated plastic flow in stable austenitic al-loys. The effects of carbon and of chromium were investigated separately, and a commercial stainless steel with different levels of interstitial impurity concentration was studied in an attempt to delineate the combined effects of the alloying elements. EXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUES a) Materials and Fabrication. A commercial AISI 330 stainless steel and several specially prepared aus-tenitic alloys have been studied. The experimental alloys were prepared by arc melting the constituents under purified argon. Analyses of the materials are given in Table I. The commercial alloy was obtained as 5/8 in. bar stock and rolled to 0.092 in. sq, with several intermediate anneals. At this stage some of the material was annealed in Pd-purified hydrogen at 1100°C to establish different levels of interstitial content. All other heat treatments were in vacuum (10-5 torr). The "pure" alloy ingots were swaged to 0.120-in. rod and annealed in Pd-purified hydrogen at 1100°C. The analyses for these conditions are also contained in Table I. Following the above treatment, the final wire sizes Table I. Chemical Analyses of Test Materials Hrin Hydrogen at Cr, Ni, Alloy 1lOO°C wt pct wt pct C, ppm* N, ppm* Type 330 As-received 14.78 33.25 430 300 Type 330 64 14.78 33.25 40 50 Type 330 200 14.78 33.25 27 21 Fe/35 Ni 72 - 35.10 <10 62 Fe/35 Ni 200 35.10 <I0 44 Fe/35 Nil15 Cr 72 14.95 34.94 <I0 61 Fe/35 Ni/15Cr 200 14.95 34.94 <10 45 Fe/35 Ni/C $ 35.OM 380 *Sensitivity: N t 5 ppm Ct10ppm. f Nominal Ni content. % A master NiC alloy was used in preparation of this material; courtesy of D.E. Sonon. were obtained by either swaging or cold drawing. The test results did not vary with these techniques. b) Specimen Preparation. Two sizes of specimen and two gripping systems were used. i) 0.070-in. wire with a chemically milled gage section: 0.75 in. long, 0.060 in. in diam. These were fastened into grips containing tapped grooves. ii) 0.050 in. wire, gage length 1.5 in. Ball bearings were welded to the ends of the wires and the gage length was taken to include all material between the welds. Socket-type grips were used with these specimens. With specimens of type ii), joining was performed in a specially constructed brass jig, under argon, and automatic timing was utilized in the procedure. No adverse effects of welding were noted. Specimens were encapsulated and solution treated for 1 hr at temperatures selected to produce the same average grain size, -50 µ. Annealing twin boundaries as well as normal crystal boundaries were counted. The temperatures used are listed in Table 11. Table 11. Specimen Size. Temperature of Heat Treatment and Resulting Grain Diameters for Test Materials Recrystallization Resulting Material Condition Temperature Grain Sue AISI 330 Not H purified 0.070 120O°C 45 to 55µ in, wire AlSl 330 H , pure, 0.070 in. 1150°C 45to55µ wire Fc/35Nil15Cr Pure, 0.070 in. wire 1000°C 45tossp Fe/Ni Pure. 0.070 in. wire 775°C 45 to 55µ Fe/Ni/C Pure, 0.050 in. wire 850°C 10 to 20p AlSl 330 Not purified, 0.050 1150CC 45to55p in. wire AlSl 330 ti, pure, 0.050 in. 1150°C 45to55p wire

Jan 1, 1970

By Edmund J. Pryor

DURING the war years restrictions on travel, pressure of work, and the irregular arrival of technical literature from abroad combined to severely isolate Great Britain in a period of intense war expansion of the art and practice of mineral dressing. Many British technicians were fully occupied with the day-to-day problems of improvising substitutes as regular sources of supply failed. and with mastering the strange demands and working conditions of wartime. After a long day spent between ones laboratory and production work, the rest of the waking hours were often filled with fire watching or home guard patrol activities, substituting for a night-shift manager, or "resting" in a dugout while the bombs came down. There was no time for serious study of such technical literature as survived the Atlantic crossing.

Jan 1, 1947

By David Russell, Courtland Lee

FOREWOHD-Americans have been able to create wealth from the nation&apos;s natural resources to an extent unprecedented in recorded history, thanks largely to the existence of a free market and of a rational body of laws. The General Mining Law of 1872, for instance, by establishing the rules of the game, was quite effective in channeling the ability of Americans to discover and develop mineral deposits. Another example was the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920 which made available the more easily discovered mineral deposits by spelling out the conditions and rules under which miners could obtain leases on federal lands.

Jan 5, 1977

By AIME AIME

PRESIDENT Edwin Ludlow and Secretary Bradley Stoughton made their first-trip of the year 1921 to visit Local Sections of the Institute, and talk over Institute interests and policies, during the early part of April. The main purpose of the trip, as usual, was to bring back to headquarters suggestions or comments on the Institute&apos;s work on the part of, members. The trip was made a brief, one by the necessity of remaining in New Fork until Apr. 1, and of the attendance of President Ludlow at a meeting of American Engineering Council and. the organization of a Philadelphia Section of the Institute in Philadelphia on Apr. 16.

Jan 1, 1921

By AIME AIME

TWO technical sessions, an excursion through the Midwest refinery and a smoker, marked the first day of the meeting of the Petroleum Division at Casper, Wyo., on Aug. 28. Ninety-nine members and guests registered and there was an excellent attendance at &apos;all functions. The -local committee under the general chairmanship of J. C. Lindsay, general manager of the Western Pipe Line Co., had made every possible arrangement for the convenience and comfort of the visiting members and the Program Committee under E. L. Estabrook, vice-chairman of the Petroleum Division, had brought together a most interesting series of technical, papers. The meeting centered mainly on the various features of the Salt Creek field but there were also contributions from the technology of production in California, the Mid-Continent, and the Texas fields. The opening session was called to order by Mr. Estabrook at the Townsend Hotel on Friday morning. The members and visitors were welcomed appropriately by Ex-Governor B. B. Brooks, president of the "Rocky Mountain Oil and Gas Association, who recalled the changes that had taken place as Casper, a frontier cow town, became a thriving oil metropolis. F. Julius Fobs, chairman &apos;of the Petroleum Division, responded and then took the chair. He introduced H. Foster Bain, Secretary of the Institute, who expressed the regret of those members members who found it impossible to stop over en route to Salt Lake City and his own pleasure at meeting with the Division in the field. Following these introductory ceremonies the technical session began with a "Sketch of the Geological Formations of Central Wyoming," presented by J. G. Bartram of the Midwest staff. It was brief and to the point and contributed greatly to the easy under¬standing of the succeeding papers by those unfamiliar with the region. The talk was illustrated by a large scale columnar section -and a copy of the excellent, geological map of the State recently issued by the U. S. Geological Survey.

Jan 1, 1925

By Thomas V. Falkie

These are exciting times for the coal mining community. Although the industry is in the middle of a healthy boom, there are strong forces tending to counteract or at least temper the rate of growth. There are many pushing and pulling factors of interest to mining people, and a few salient ones will be mentioned here. Primarily because of a tremendous demand for energy, a demand that can&apos;t be met by other fuels, the coal industry is in boomsville. Another contributing factor to this situation is the increased overseas demand for metallurgical coal. These demands are being counteracted by a lack of people, the lead-time required to develop new capacity and wildcat strikes, among other things.

Jan 1, 1971

By Cornelius F. Kelley

AT the Annual Meeting of the A.1.M.E. last February, Cornelius F. Kelley, chairman of the Anaconda Copper Mining Co., was presented with the Charles F. Rand Memorial Medal for "conspicuous success as administrative head of great enter- prises engaged in the production of nonferrous metals at home and abroad; for inspiring leadership of an organization that has trained able engineers for service wherever ores are mined and metals are recovered; and for enhancing the prestige of metal mining in the financial and industrial world." Mr. Kelley&apos;s acceptance speech follows: I am not unmindful of the fact that the distinction is not to be considered a personal one, but that by the language of the citation itself it is rather a recognition of the service that has been performed by the many trained men of an industrial organization that in the arts of mining and metallurgy and in the fabrication of metal products has performed a distinct service to the industry and to mankind. In that spirit, the award is accepted, and on behalf of the organization I represent and myself, I thank you and assure you that the honor is deeply appreciated.

Jan 1, 1944

The Industrial Minerals div. has been forging ahead in formulating a program for the February Annual Meeting in Los Angeles. Several papers have been listed and more are being worked into the program. For the cement, lime and gypsum part of the sessions, papers on Gypsum in the Aircraft Industry, Geology of San Marcos Island Gypsum Deposit, and Status of New Dry Rotary Blast Hole Drills, are expected. The Chemical Raw Materials sessions will feature a symposium on potash, with 13 papers as the anticipated number to be presented. Airborne and Ground Magnetometer Work has been suggested. Eight papers have been set for Mining Geology, Four papers, Mining Phosphate Rock, Idaho Phosphorous, and Geology of Carlsbad Potash and Geology of Pearlite will be on the program. Sessions on Dimension stone and slate have been tentatively worked out with papers on Geologic Factors Affecting the Dimension Stone Industry of California, A Quarter Century of Granite Quarrying in Massachusetts, Rock Bursting and Other Geologic Problems in the Granite Quarries of Barre, Vt., Quarry Practices in the Indiana Building Stone Industry, Stratigraphy and Composition of the Salem Limestone, and Dimension Stone in the U. S. in 1952. The Rare Minerals Committee is aiming for six papers with two papers now definitely on the program.

Jan 1, 1952

By H. E. Criner, M. G. Driessen

Maurice Rey—The influence of cyclone diameter upon the fineness of separation is an important point which, however, cannot be discussed adequately if the injection pressure or the rate of flow are not specified. Perhaps some light can be thrown on the matter by using the formulas derived by Dahlstrom. Let us consider several geometrically similar cyclones where the apertures e and b are equal and proportional to the diameter D and which are operated with the same pressure drop. Eq 8 of Dahlstrom&apos;s paper can be written: Q Q = K D&apos;. " or. if F is constant: Q = K D18 K is a constant of proportionality. Introducing this value of Q in eq 13 gives elimination efficiency = K D ,41 Elimination efficiency, in the terminology of Dahl-strom, means the diameter of particles, in microns, which divide equally between the underflow and the overflow. This denomination is regrettable and it would be preferable to call it diameter of separation or characteristic size or any other name connoting a size rather than an efficiency. Whatever the name used, the above equation shows a slow increase in the fineness of separation when the diameter of the cyclone decreases. For example, if a 14-in. cyclone gives a 400-mesh separation (37 microns), geometrically similar cyclones, having the same pressure drop will give separations at the sizes shown below.

Jan 1, 1951

By M. G. Driessen, H. E. Criner

Maurice Rey—The influence of cyclone diameter upon the fineness of separation is an important point which, however, cannot be discussed adequately if the injection pressure or the rate of flow are not specified. Perhaps some light can be thrown on the matter by using the formulas derived by Dahlstrom. Let us consider several geometrically similar cyclones where the apertures e and b are equal and proportional to the diameter D and which are operated with the same pressure drop. Eq 8 of Dahlstrom&apos;s paper can be written: Q Q = K D&apos;. " or. if F is constant: Q = K D18 K is a constant of proportionality. Introducing this value of Q in eq 13 gives elimination efficiency = K D ,41 Elimination efficiency, in the terminology of Dahl-strom, means the diameter of particles, in microns, which divide equally between the underflow and the overflow. This denomination is regrettable and it would be preferable to call it diameter of separation or characteristic size or any other name connoting a size rather than an efficiency. Whatever the name used, the above equation shows a slow increase in the fineness of separation when the diameter of the cyclone decreases. For example, if a 14-in. cyclone gives a 400-mesh separation (37 microns), geometrically similar cyclones, having the same pressure drop will give separations at the sizes shown below.

Jan 1, 1951

By John E. Murphy, Ernest L. Ohle

Hematite-magnetite ore bodies at Iron Mountain, Missouri, have produced nearly 9 million tons of iron ore concentrates since 1844. The ore minerals occur principally as open-space filling in fractured and brecciated andesite porphyry with very minor replacement of the wall rocks. The enclosing rocks are Precambrian in age and consist of a series of dacite, rhyolite, and andesite flows aggregating about 2000 feet in thickness. All of the ore is in andesite and the mineralization is Precambrian in age. The shape of the ore bodies, the breccia character of the ore, and the gangue mineralogy are believed to be unique. One of the two main ore bodies is crudely dome-shaped with a tendency for development of concentric mineralized shells; the other is an elongated lense in plan but hook-shaped in cross section. Both have strong linear elements striking northeast, east-west, or northwest. Various modes of origin for the structures and for the tension breccias have been suggested, but none is completely satisfactory. Hematite is the main ore mineral; magnetite is subordinate. Important gangue minerals are andradite, quartz, calcite, actinolite, apatite, epidote, and chlorite. Although some evidence favors injection of an iron-rich melt, other evidence suggests ore formation by a high temperature, water-rich solution.

Jan 1, 1968

By A. B. Kinzel

IT has often been stated that the steel industry did no research or development work in the decades preceding 1920. If restricted to organized research on the quality and field of application of structural and engineering steels, this statement may be true. But the industry did conduct a vast amount of process research during this period, although some of the projects were not carried out as separate organized research programs. Securing a low cost of tonnage production was the sole problem receiving serious attention from the industry prior to 1920, and today this is still the major problem. Those in the industry deserve much commendation for the important increase in production capacity per dollar invested and for the markedly lowered cost of production. In recent years, a distinct change may be noted in the attitude of the steel industry toward research involving its product. With the advent of high-speed machinery both in the manufacturing and transportation industries, steel as a quality engineering material has come to the fore. In the past, high-quality carbon steels and alloy steels have been introduced over a period of years, largely at the insistence of the consumer and partly prompted by research carried out by those interested in the use of the alloys. The commercial introduction of these materials made slow progress.

Jan 1, 1935

By Harold Margolin

The Ti-Al system certainly merits the investigative attention it has been receiving and this latest contribution by Blackburn is therefore to be welcomed. The titanium-rich end of the phase diagram shown here, as well as the diagram by crossley,17 Clark et a1.,18 and Tsujimoto and Adachi,29 reveal no other intermediate phase than Ti3A1, although a previous work by Ence and Margolin20 had reported an additional intermediate phase. Since then, Buerger Precession pictures of single crystals of 10.5, 11.5, and 12.5 wt pct A1 were made at New York university21 and the extinctions were found to be typical of a D6h a Ti structure. Some superlat-tice spots and/or streaks suggesting the presence of an Mg3Cd structure, i.e., Ti3Al, were also found. Since these specimens had been quenched from the y region20 and had revealed a Ti, it was concludedz1 that y does not exist and the structures interpreted as m + y could not be so considered. The absence of normal two-phase behavior in these structures had been indicated in the paper. Accordingly, the two-phase region y + 6 becomes a + Ti3Al and there is some agreement between the results of Blackburn and of Ence and Margolin20 as to both shape and existence above 900°C of an a + Ti3Al field. Crossley 17 proposed that Ti3Al is a line compound which decomposes congruently at 900°C. It is difficult to discount entirely the fact that clear two-phase structures, varying in amount with position in the two-phase field, could be detected above 900°C by Ence and Margolin.20 Precipitation during quenching could not have been so regular and the twin-phase syndrome17 does not apply. The heat treatment and quenching technique was essentially the same as was used by Crossley, whereas Blackburn, who used a rapid quenching procedure, also showed a two-phase a + Ti3A1 field above 900°C. If the two-phase field exists above 900° C, it is easy to picture a two-phase field which could account for the data of Crossley below 900°C without invoking a line compound existence of Ti3A1. All that would be necessary would be an 0 + Ti3Al/Ti3Al boundary which curved sharply to higher aluminum contents below 900° C. It is clear that the controversy must be solved by techniques which obtain data at elevated temperatures without quenching. It is conceivable that the difference in width of the a + Ti3N fields reported by Blackburn and by Ence and Margolin is due to the longer annealing times used by the latter investigators. The criterion for establishment of equilibrium in our work20 was the

Jan 1, 1969

By Charles H. Fulton

(Cleveland Meeting, October, 1912.) I. INTRODUCTION. THERE are comparatively few accurate data on the melting-or the freezing-point temperature of metallurgical slays, or on related physical phenomena, such as fluidity near the melting-point, specific heat, latent heat, etc. With the exception of the work of H. 0. Hoffman,1 and some older work by R. Akerman, P. Gredt, and H. M. Howe, no information is available that is of direct interest to the metallurgist. Hofman&apos;s valuable work is the only one that refers to slags produced in the metallurgy of copper and lead. The classic work of J. H. L. Vogt,2 who views slays from the standpoint of physical mixtures (solutions in which the entities are minerals), has opened up a. new field in the study of slags, and has placed the investigation of such properties as melting-temperatures, etc., on a rational basis. The recent work of A. L. Day, E. T. Allen, and W. P. White, of the Carnegie Institution, at Washington, and of European investigators 3 on certain systems of silicate minerals confirms the value of the investigation of silicate series from this standpoint, and it is my aim to apply this method to metallurgical slaws, in order to gain exact data of value in metallurgy. The work recorded in the present paper is the result of an investigation of reverberatory-furnace slags made for a Western smelting company to determine exactly the influence of change in composition, within comparatively narrow limits, on the melting-point. For a general discussion concerning the mineralogical character of slaws and the principles on which this investigation is based, reference should be made to other work,4 for the subject is too large to be stated in this paper, except very briefly in the following outline 1 Trans., xxix., 682 (1899). 2 Die Silikatschmelzlösungen; I. Ueber die Mineralbildung in Silikatschmelzlösungen; II Ueber die Schmelzpunkt-Erniedrigung der Silikatschmelzlösungen (Christiania, 1903-04). 3 Doelter, Handbuch der Mlineralehevu:e (1911) 4 C. H. Fulton, Principles (of Metallurgy. Chapter viii., on Slags, p. 24.5 (1910).

Dec 1, 1912

By S. W. Zehr, G. S. Murty, W. A. Backofen

AN observation by Squires, Weiner, and phillipsl has stimulated interest in a mechanism of deformation at high temperature (above -0.5 of the absolute melting point) that is not usually thought to be involved in the creep of metals. They found precipitate-free or "denuded" zones along grain boundaries normal to the stress axis in tensile specimens of a hydrided Mg-1/2 wt pct Zr alloy after slow straining at 450° and 500°C. Their suggestion that the zones were a result of directional diffusion of magnesium atoms was supported with calculations from Harris and Jones2 which also tended to identify the process as Nabarro-Herring (N-H) creep3,4—a process that is characterized by Newtonian viscosity, with stress (o) directly proportional to strain rate (C), and one that proceeds by lattice diffusion. Material transport by diffusion along grain boundaries is an alternative basis for Newtonian viscosity, as demonstrated by Coble,5 and is favored over N-H creep for fine grain size and lower temperature.6 In either case, the strain rate sensitivity of flow stress, defined as m = d log o/d log E (which commonly appears in the empirical a = KEW), is unity. The experiments to be described here gave metallo-graphic indications of diffusional creep which were no less clear than those just cited, but the associated m (as measured by the method of Ref. 7) was much more like that of a Bingham material. For true Bingham behavior, (a — ao) E, where oo is an initial yield stress. Therefore, even if flow after yielding should occur by diffusional transport, m must increase from 0 as < is raised to reach unity only in the limit as One result is that the resistance to tensile necking conferred by Newtonian viscosity is lost, which would become increasingly apparent through the formation of more sharply defined necks as 6 is lowered. That trend appeared in these experiments. Most of the work was done on an extremely finegrained alloy of magnesium with -6 wt pct Zn and ½ wt pct Zr (Mg ZK60); the initial mean-intercept grain diameter, L, was 0.55 µ. Shown in Fig. l(a) is a germanium-shadowed carbon replica of the surface of a specimen that was coated with silicone oil,* heated to 270°C under a helium atmosphere, and then stretched locally -200 pct at an initial E = 3.3 x 10-5 sec-1. Under

Jan 1, 1969

By John Griffen

This paper records over twenty years&apos; experience with the use of the Rheolaveur system in the United States, showing its ability to meet changing conditions caused by the dirtier mine output of present-day mechanical mining methods. Data are given on size ranges handled, number and capacity of units installed, maintenance experience, and operating results on two-product and three-product separations. IT is not the purpose of this paper to discuss the principles employed in the Rheolaveur system of fine-coal cleaning as these have been fully covered in the technical literature of the Institute."2 Rather, our purpose will be to record the highlights of over 20 years&apos; experience in the United States with Rheolaveur fine-coal launders, which will indicate their capabilities and costs of cleaning and their adaptability to meet the changing conditions caused by present-day mechanical mining methods. Rheolaveur fine-coal launders are used in the United States to treat a wide variety of size ranges of fine coal, the coarsest being 1/2 in. to 0 and the finest about 1/8 in. to 0. In Europe feeds as coarse as 5/8 in. and as small as 1/2 mm (28-mesh) to 0 are being cleaned. The size ranges usually handled in this country are 3/8 to 1/4-in. round to 0. Thirty five units with a combined hourly feed capacity of 3200 tph have been installed in the United States. Individual units are cleaning as little as 25 tph, while others are cleaning as much as 200 tph. Rheolaveur fine-coal launders offer cleaning units of high capacity and are outstanding in requiring a minimum of building space per ton of input. Experience has shown that maintenance costs are low. Several installations were made in the Pittsburgh district from 1928 to 1930, and since that time operation has been largely two shifts per day. Minor repairs to liner plates and Rheo boxes have been required during the intervening years, but no major replacement of launders was required until 1947 and 1948. At one of these plants, launders operated for 17 years before they were replaced and during that period over 26,000,000 tons of —5/16-in. coal were cleaned. The effect of the much dirtier raw coal produced by mechanical loading of the Pittsburgh seam is shown by the following tests. The data in table I summarize the performance of a Rheo fine-coal unit when cleaning hand-loaded raw coal. The —4-in. raw coal fed to the cleaning plant analyzed only 8.16 pct ash and 1.31 pct sulphur and contained 4.6 pct sink, 1.55 sp gr. Two years later, in 1945, mechanically-loaded coal from the same mine was cleaned in the same plant. The feed, —4 in., then analyzed 20.10 pct ash and 1.53 pct sulphur and contained 20.2 pct sink, 1.55 sp gr. The performance of the Rheo fine-coal unit when cleaning this coal is given in table 11. It will be noted that the +48-mesh coal is cleaned almost as thoroughly as in table I. The large amount of high-ash slimes produced from the dirtier feed are responsible for the higher ash of —--48-mesh washed coal in table 11. In this plant the Rheo fine-coal unit did not get the full load of refuse resulting from mechanical

Jan 1, 1951

By John Griffen

This paper records over twenty years&apos; experience with the use of the Rheolaveur system in the United States, showing its ability to meet changing conditions caused by the dirtier mine output of present-day mechanical mining methods. Data are given on size ranges handled, number and capacity of units installed, maintenance experience, and operating results on two-product and three-product separations. IT is not the purpose of this paper to discuss the principles employed in the Rheolaveur system of fine-coal cleaning as these have been fully covered in the technical literature of the Institute."2 Rather, our purpose will be to record the highlights of over 20 years&apos; experience in the United States with Rheolaveur fine-coal launders, which will indicate their capabilities and costs of cleaning and their adaptability to meet the changing conditions caused by present-day mechanical mining methods. Rheolaveur fine-coal launders are used in the United States to treat a wide variety of size ranges of fine coal, the coarsest being 1/2 in. to 0 and the finest about 1/8 in. to 0. In Europe feeds as coarse as 5/8 in. and as small as 1/2 mm (28-mesh) to 0 are being cleaned. The size ranges usually handled in this country are 3/8 to 1/4-in. round to 0. Thirty five units with a combined hourly feed capacity of 3200 tph have been installed in the United States. Individual units are cleaning as little as 25 tph, while others are cleaning as much as 200 tph. Rheolaveur fine-coal launders offer cleaning units of high capacity and are outstanding in requiring a minimum of building space per ton of input. Experience has shown that maintenance costs are low. Several installations were made in the Pittsburgh district from 1928 to 1930, and since that time operation has been largely two shifts per day. Minor repairs to liner plates and Rheo boxes have been required during the intervening years, but no major replacement of launders was required until 1947 and 1948. At one of these plants, launders operated for 17 years before they were replaced and during that period over 26,000,000 tons of —5/16-in. coal were cleaned. The effect of the much dirtier raw coal produced by mechanical loading of the Pittsburgh seam is shown by the following tests. The data in table I summarize the performance of a Rheo fine-coal unit when cleaning hand-loaded raw coal. The —4-in. raw coal fed to the cleaning plant analyzed only 8.16 pct ash and 1.31 pct sulphur and contained 4.6 pct sink, 1.55 sp gr. Two years later, in 1945, mechanically-loaded coal from the same mine was cleaned in the same plant. The feed, —4 in., then analyzed 20.10 pct ash and 1.53 pct sulphur and contained 20.2 pct sink, 1.55 sp gr. The performance of the Rheo fine-coal unit when cleaning this coal is given in table 11. It will be noted that the +48-mesh coal is cleaned almost as thoroughly as in table I. The large amount of high-ash slimes produced from the dirtier feed are responsible for the higher ash of —--48-mesh washed coal in table 11. In this plant the Rheo fine-coal unit did not get the full load of refuse resulting from mechanical

Jan 1, 1951

By Frank C. Smith

The following article covers the history of a metallurgical campaign, commenced in March, 1905, at the mines of the Socorro Bold Co., in the so-called desert region of Yuma county, Arizona. The results obtained were simply a function of necessity, as will be seen from the description of the local economic conditions and the character of the ores treated. The mines and mill of the Socorro Gold Co. are located near the small village of Harrisburg, about 60 miles from Congress Junction, Ariz., which, at the time this work was undertaken, was the nearest railroad station, and from which all supplies were brought by wagon through the desert, at a cost varying from $10 to $15 per ton in addition to the railroad freights. Wood, the only available fuel, cost $7 per cord. Water for all purposes was pumped to the plant from a well in the valley about 4 miles away. Under the Arizona law, a working-shift is 8 hr. Wages were $6 per day for foremen and mill-men, $4 per day for blacksmiths and engineers, $3.50 per day for miners, and $3 per day for shovelers and trammers. The ore consisted of quartz, in which, above the 250-ft. level, the iron-minerale were largely oxidized and some free gold was visible; below that level few traces of oxidation occurred, and pyrite constituted the principal mineralizer in the quartz, together with occasional pockets of galena and a few eccentric specks of covellite. The 20-stamp mill was equipped with plates for amalgamation, and three Standard tables for concentration. The tails from the tables mere elevated by a centrifugal pump to a launder, by which they were conveyed to a 60-ton cyanide-mill for further treatment. The cyanide-mill was erected at so great a distance from the stamp-mill that a separate crew of workers and a separate power-plant were necessary. No arrangement had been made for the treatment of the concen-

Jan 1, 1907