Search Documents

Discussion of the paper of N. V. Hansell, presented at the Cleveland Meeting, October, 1912, and published in Bulletin No. 72, December, 1912, pp. 1497 to 1,517. C. Q. PAYNE, New York (communication to the Secretary*) :-Mr. Hansell has presented in his paper a very interesting and valuable summary of the various methods of enriching iron-ores which have been developed during recent years. Particularly striking in this connection is the high degree of enrichment of the concentrates from magnetic iron-ores which is now commercially feasible. Magnetic concentrates containing from 6 7 to 139 per cent. of metallic iron, showing an efficiency of 90 and even 95 per cent. in. their separation, are not now uncommon. Such results exceed those obtained by gravity methods of treatment of all copper-, lead-, and zinc-ores, and are only equaled in the cyaniding of gold-ores and in the flotation treatment of certain copper-ores. It is of interest to note that the-type of magnetic field which is employed in securing these results, in the Gröndal (wet) and the Ball & Norton (dry) systems of treatment is the same in each case : viz., a field of alternating north and south poles. The credit for developing this simple and useful field, which has found so wide an application both in this country and abroad, is due to two American inventors and engineers, Clinton M. Ball and Sheldon Norton. At the same time, it should be noted that part of the improvement in the grade of the magnetic concentrates, especially in the case of the wet treatment of finely mineralized ores, is due to a well-devised scheme of mill-treatment, whereby a rough concentrate is usually obtained as an intermediate product, which is then recrushed and reseparated in obtaining final clean products.

Jan 3, 1913

An "international gold conference" was held at Spokane, Wash., on Sept. 5, 1918, under the auspices of the Northwest Mining Association, which was attended by a large number of engineers, mine operators, and bankers, representing the northwestern states, as well as Alaska and British Columbia. The principal subject under consideration was the doleful condition of the gold-mining industry, gripped between the diminished purchasing value of its product, and the increased cost of its operation. Two resolutions were adopted by the meeting. The first approved the resolution adopted Aug. 12 by the American Gold Conference, a permanent organization formed at Reno, Nev., in which it is stated that relief by the United States to the gold producers of this country should he made to correspond with the increased cost of production, the extent of the relief to be fixed from time to time to Meet changing conditions. The second resolution, adopted after serious and long-continued discussion, was introduced by F. A. Ross, mining engineer, of Spokane, and a member of the Institute, and was as follows: WHEREAS, it is now clearly understood and agreed by the allied nations that national gold reserves must be augmented without delay if rapidly expanding credits are to be secured; and WHEREAS, at this time, the production of gold is daily decreasing to an alarming extent because of well known conditions that, render the mining of gold-bearing ores unprofitable; and WHEREAS there is no way by which the mining of gold-bearing ores may be made profitable except by the direct' aid and influence of the government; and WHEREAS the government has appealed to the mining industry for practical information and practicable suggestions upon this subject; therefore, be it

Jan 10, 1918

The primary purpose of the Institute is to advance those sciences embraced by it through interchange of knowledge This can best be done by the presentation and discussion of technical papers by its mem¬bers Short practical papers are especially welcome In any case the author should satisfy himself that his material is of a quality that will be a credit to him and to the Institute The preparation of a good paper frequently leads to a reorientation of the author's thoughts, which is extremely valuable, and pertinent dis¬cussion thereof contributes in no small way to the professional standing of the author Members are urged to submit papers presenting the results of their work Attention to the following suggestions will greatly further the prompt and efficient handling of manuscripts 1 Subjects: The subject must be within the field of the Institute Original work, the results of field, plant, laboratory or theoretical investigations, new views on old but important problems and occasion¬ally reviews of timely and important subjects of wide interest to our members may constitute the basis of a paper The mere fact that the work is original does not necessarily justify publication it must be of a substantial nature, of value to a reasonable number of our members and worthy of permanent record It is rarely desirable to subdivide the results of a single research for publication in a variety of journals Pre¬vious publication is a bar to acceptance 2 Construction : Papers should be clearly and concisely written in good English Care in this regard insures wider reading and the saving in space permits the Institute to publish more papers The terminology and units employed should be those current in the particular field An examination of Institute publications will afford useful guidance in such

Jan 1, 1937

By Charles G. Yale

A few years ago somebody connected with one of those self-constituted bodies of unofficial character, like a Chamber of Commerce, Board of Trade, or State Development Board, started a catch-phrase referring to California as a The Land of Sunshine, Fruit, and Flowers," and the railroad magazines and folders keep it steadily in use, working day and night. Yet it altogether ignores the substance which brought the State into the Union, which peopled it, and which made it famous thronghout the world. You ladies and gentlemen who have come from what wc here call "the East," have in your own States, no matter which one, sunshine, fruit, and flowers. But your Eastern States, having these things as we do, have not the gold that we do. Therefore, the old designation of " The Golden State," applied to California, should be revived, as being the most distinctive term. It is worthy of remembrance, too, that during the dark days of the civil war this State handed over $172,000,000 in yellow gold, and saved the credit of the nation. Gold-mining has been carried on in California since '' The days of old, The days of gold, The days of '49," and it still continues. Since that historic year, and up to the end of 1910, the State has produced, in gold alone, $1,530,214,468. Since 1792 the entire United States production of gold has been $3,261,573,500, so that the single State of California has, in that period, produced within $201,144,564 of one-half of all the gold from Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and the Southern and scattering States. In other words, all the other 25 States of the United States combined

Jan 1, 1912

All data about shipments from the present state of West Virginia, even when it was still a part of the "Old Dominion," are shown in Table 56 together with the source of information, and all other figures are estimated. While the earliest production was undoubtedly in the extreme northern part of the state, coal having been quite largely used in Pennsylvania before any is credited to West Virginia, the largest production in the early days of the industry was along the Kanawha River where the salt furnaces used tremendous quantities for years before shipments were made by river. When we take into consideration the economic conditions existing then, it is evident that the consumption of coal by the salt industry along the Kanawha and Kiskiminitas Rivers rivalled in importance that of any industry today. There were no canals built in this state, the shipments before railroads were built being by the Ohio and Kanawha Rivers, and production in the northern counties began after the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad was completed from Cumberland to Wheeling. For some years after this line was completed all locomotive fuel used on it was hauled from the Cumberland region. The movement of coal from Boone County by Coal River to the Kanawha and Ohio Rivers from 1857 to 1880 is rather unique in its size and the length of movement, nearly all the coal going at least as far as Cincinnati and much of it to New Orleans. Fayette County began shipping when the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad was completed and Mercer County, when the Norfolk & Western Railroad reached there in 1884; none of the other large producing counties in the southern part of the state began producing coal in the period under study.

Jan 1, 1942

By T. J. Woodside

A. E. LEE*—One question of the flue leading to the tube coolers. What gas velocity is maintained to prevent settling of the finely divided fume ? T. J. WOODSIDE (author's reply)— 30 fps. Of course some fume settles out, but is immediately carried away by the screw conveyors. H. R. BIANCO —How effective are the soot blowers ? Do you have to use any hand lancing? T. J. WOODSIDE Only one point, which is right at the top of the economizer and which the soot blowers do not reach, we occasionally hand lance. But everywhere else the soot blowers have been very effective and no hand lancing has been done. L. V. DAVIDSON*—Do you have considerable variation in the lead content of the fume collected if the lead is higher, and is there greater tendency for the fume to stick on the boiler tubes ? T. J. WOODSIDE—There is very little variation in the lead content. From 5 to 7 pct is the widest range variation we have had and we have noticed no difference in the behavior of the fume. C. R. KUZELL—Mr. Woodside has been quite generous with data pertaining to metal and fuel economics. I think he stated that the coal consumption of the furnace was 21/10 21/10 for a pound of zinc recovered. I take it that that is the gross coal input to the furnace. I wonder what the net fuel consumption in terms of coal might be after crediting the fuel equivalent of the waste heat steam recovered? T. J. WOODSIDE—The fuel value of the waste heat steam is approximately 42 pct of the heat input to the furnace. A very large part of the heat, of course, goes out in jacket water—44 pct. A. D. TERRELL*—I would like to know how much lead is in the deleaded material. T. J. WOODSIDE—It is a little less than 2 pct now.

Jan 1, 1950

By Daniel W. Kappes

The 1.8 million tonne Itos tailings deposit is the result of sever­al years of processing by Comibol of the San Jose and ltos Mine ores at Oruro Bolivia. The historic flowsheet consisted of a flotation circuit in which silver-bearing galena and stibnite were concentrated. Approximately half the silver in the ore was not recovered, and the existing tailings contain slightly over 200 grams silver per tonne, in the form of complex sulfides of silver, antimony, lead, and other metals coating grains of pyrite. An extensive laboratory program was conducted to exam­ine conventional processing l)lethods such as cyanide leaching and regrinding followed by flotation. However, the silver-bear­ing sulfides are in intimate contact with the pyrite and the pyrite comprises 30% of the total tailings weight. Cyanide leaching recovers only 40% of the silver and the cyanide consumption is uneconomically high. Flotation produces an upgraded, but still uneconomic, concentrate. For this reason, chloride leaching had been evaluated by Comibol, and in the mid 1980's Comibol undertook an innova­tive test consisting of two 300 tonne field heap leaches using a cold chloride solution. The tests were partially successful, but could not be applied to the bulk of the tailings which are already ground to 50% minus 200 mesh. In 1992, Kappes, Cassiday & Associates undertook to develop a hot agitated chloride leach flowsheet, and is current­ly constructing a treatment plant under a turnkey contract from a Bolivian company, Baremsa, S.A. Using this process, 85% of the remaining silver can be recovered, with significant by-prod­uct credits from antimony and lead. The project features hot, agitated acidic chloride leaching, filtration, crystallization of lead chloride, and precipitation of metals using iron scrap. Arsenic is removed from the precipitate by caustic leaching, and minor metals by furnace refining. Antimony is recovered as the oxide by cupelation, and silver is poured as <lore from the cupel. Production rate will be 600 tonnes per day. Startup is scheduled for late 1995.

Jan 1, 1996

By Terry McNulty

There are many potential pitfalls in the commercialization of innovative technology. The failures often are remembered longer than the successes, thereby serving as deterrents to subsequent attempts. The mineral industry&apos;s future depends on effective innovation. So it is essential that the causes of failure are understood. Innovation can be examined equally well in the context of geophysics, geology or mining. However the author&apos;s experience has been in mineral processing and chemical engineering. So the following discussion is limited to processes and/or plants for producing mineral concentrates, metals or inorganic chemicals. More of what follows has to do with underachievement or failure than success. But this article demonstrates that there is a strong element of predictability in the former. Furthermore, it is a credit to the minerals industry and to the engineering profession that a very high percentage of projects succeed in achieving design capacity and forecast operating costs. Innovation means the introduction of something new. In this article, the words "innovative technology" are used broadly. They include new processes and novel combinations of established unit operations, as well as novel types of processing equipment or largest-ever equipment models. The discussion of project outcomes is based on personal experience or on published information. Citations are given for technical publications that provide either project information or insights into the methodology used to analyze project performance. However, specific projects have not been identified due to the rather negative connotations of some of the conclusions drawn about the less favorable outcomes.

Jan 1, 1998

By John Fritz

Gentlemen of the American Institute of Mining Engineers : I desire to thank you sincerely for the distinguished honor you have conferred upon me by electing me to the presidency of this society, a position which in the past has been filled by some of our most distinguished and ablest members, men eminently qualified by education, practical training and a business ability which has enabled them not only to fill the position with credit to themselves, but as well with honor to the society. In deference to a custom long established, by which the presidentelect is expected to read a paper on some subject with which he is more or less familiar, I have thought that a brief review of the methods employed in the manufacture of iron, as witnessed by myself, and reaching back to 1838, would interest some of our older members and give our younger ones a glimpse into the trials and difficulties encountered in those early days by the pioneers in this great industry. In 1840, 12 to 20 tons of pig-iron was the make of a furnace per week—at this time from 1200 to 2000 gross tons. In 1840, 3 to 4 tons No. 4 wire rods per turn. They have lately made 176 gross tons in 11 hours. In 1840 I have not the quantity of puddled iron made; but it was

Jan 1, 1895

By Harold A. Taylor

The first use of graphite is lost in the mists of time. It was used by primitive man to make drawings on the walls of caves and by the Egyptians to decorate pottery. As early as 1400 AD graphite crucibles were being made in the Haffnerzell District of Bavaria. Through the Middle Ages graphite was confused with other minerals, especially galena and molybdenite. Two common names that are still being used for the mineral are plumbago, meaning lead-silver, and black lead. The latter name implied that graphite is either composed of lead or at least contains a large percentage of it. Gessner is credited with having recognized it as a separate mineral in 1565, but its composition was not determined until 1779, when Scheele demonstrated that graphite oxidized to carbon dioxide, thus proving its carbon constitution. In 1789, Werner named it graphite from the Greek word graphein, meaning to write. The United States has long relied on foreign countries for its graphite supplies. This reliance has been due more to the lack of suitable domestic graphites than to any particular preference for buying minerals overseas. Sri Lankan graphites were imported as early as 1820, and Madagascar graphites have been imported since the properties on that island were opened up about a hundred years later. Mexico has long supplied the United States with most of its requirements for amorphous graphite.

Jan 1, 1994

Unnamed early prospectors panned gold from creeks drain- ing the Great Dividing Range in the early part of 1851. The first publicised discovery was credited to Edward Hargraves near Bathurst in New South Wales later in 1851 and during the ensu- ing gold rush, prospectors rapidly made discoveries elsewhere in New South Wales and later across the border in Victoria. Reference to the attached graphs of gold production indicates that for much of the first 100 years, gold production came from the easily worked and readily discovered shallow alluvial deposits, many of which were located in the creeks draining mountainous regions of Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland (Fig. 1 and 2). As these deposits were exhausted, prospectors turned their attention to outcrop lode deposits which led to the development of underground mining techniques and a significant boost in over- all gold production. With the discovery of the rich Golden Mile lodes in Kalgoorlie in 1893, gold production increased signifi- cantly and peaked around the turn of the century. At that time, the enormous potential of the great Witwatersrand deposits in South Africa had only just been appreciated and for a few years, Australia led the world in gold production (1855-1863 and again in 1903). Underground mining continued in the Eastern Goldfields area of Western Australia, the Bendigo-Ballarat region of Victoria and in northeast Queensland. Very few of these operations continued beyond the Second World War, except the larger producers in the Kalgoorlie region where recovered grade had dropped to about 6 g/t Au. By the early 1970s with the gold price fixed at US$35 per ounce, most of the operations were shut down as labour costs escalated, with only the low cost bulk mining operation at Mt. Charlotte and the high grade reefs at Norseman continuing in Production.

Jan 1, 1988

By Charles R. Keyes, D. F. Riddell

For a period of several years, and in a large number of oases, the Metallurgical Laboratories of the New Mexico School of Mines were employed in umpire work. During this time many important local problems mere solved. Against the results of careful chemical analyses of ores, assay-returns mere often checked. In many cases the assay-methods of mine and custom-smelter were compared, and both often found faulty for the ore concerned. A wide range of ores was covered. Many of the chemical analyses and assays were made by Dr. F. C. Lincoln, Professor of Metallurgy, now of the Montana State School of Mines. A varied series of instructive assays was prepared by Prof. R. B. Brinsmade, now of the West Virginia State University. Single assays and given series of tests were undertaken by H. T. Goodjohn, now chief chemist to the Cia. Metalurgica de Torreon, Coahuila, Mexico; by H. J. Hub-bard, now superintendent of the Butters Divisadero Mines, Jocoro, San Salvador, C. A.; by E. D. Morton, now superintendent of the Arizona & Nevada Copper Mining Co., at Lunning, Nev.; and by A. W. Edelen, now superintendent of the Angangueo Unit of the American Smelting & Refining Co., in Michoacan, Mexico. A critical comparison of assay-methods that were found to be followed in the case of certain gouge-ores mined in the Mimbres range in New Mexico, and about which there had been much controversy, was made by D. F. Riddell, then Acting Professor of Assaying, and now superintendent of the Providentia Mines Co. of Parral, in Chihuahua, Mexico. To him is due the credit of much that is contained in the following notes, which he has generously permitted to be used in advance of the publication of the complete results.

Jan 1, 1912

By Joseph Jensen

FROM Aug. 31, 1937, until Apr. 30, 1939, there were 40,872,610 bbl. of oil run to storage in California; from Apr. 30, 1939, to Aug. 31 of the same year 5,512,912 bbl. were withdrawn from storage. But from Aug. 31, 1937, to Aug. 31, 1939, the number of producing wells in the state has increased from 17,706, with a potential production of 1,323,202 bbl., to 18,910, with a potential of 2,302,282 bbl. Thus, in a period of two years, during the first 20 months stocks increased over 1/3 and during the following four months stocks decreased 1/30. In the same two years the number of productive wells increased 1/15 and potential increased 3/4. Undoubtedly, the large increase in stocks created the pressure that caused the reduction in stocks that followed; yet this has come about in spite of the larger number of wells and higher potential. Cause of the change was the adoption on May 17, 1939, by the Central Committee of California Oil Producers of a uniform method of oil curtail-ment for all wells throughout the state. Acceptance of the method in the four months following adoption by practically all fields in California indicates that producers generally are convinced of its merit and fairness. True, some operators still overproduce, but the restraint practiced by the remainder of the industry has been sufficient to turn a situation headed for chaos into one of reasonable stability. Credit for this change goes to the industry itself, because it has all been accomplished under voluntary oil curtailment.

Jan 1, 1940

By G. N. Maniar

G. W. Healy (union Carbide Metals Co.)-The author&apos;s paper is a useful contribution to the store of maps of chemical activities of oxides in multi-component slag systems. It is also a good example of the utility of the Gibbs-Schuhmann technique for calculating activities in a system where that of one of the components has been measured. This paper Koh and Caugherty. This plot is reproduced by alor in X-ray Metallography. Because of this nonlinearity, preparation cf suitable standards and/or correction for absorption and enhancement are essential in microanalysis. However, our objection is not the conclusion that Dr. Aaronson has arrived at nor the technique he has used; but only to the foot-note credited to V. Macres. The level of chromium that he was concerned with (less than 3 pet) is so low that the deviation of uncorrected Cr-curve will be negligible. Besides Dr. Aaronson has used chromium intensity from martensite and set it equal the bulk chromium content of the alloy. Using this chromium-intensity as a reference, he has calculated the amount of chromium in the ferrite. This amounts to the same as using an internal standard. Since the chromium content in austenite and ferrite are almost the same, enhancement due to iron in both will be the same and therefore does not need to be corrected. together with the author&apos;s recently published one1 on the CaO-FeO-Fezo3 system will be most helpful to others learning to apply Schuhmann&apos;s method, which merits a far wider application than it has received to date and should greatly aid our understanding of equilibria between metal and oxide phases. As shown by okcen" its use may even be extended to sections of systems with any number of oxides. I have some questions as to the selection of equilibrium constants made by Dr. Turkdogan. He has chosen one for the formation of Fe2O3 from FeO and oxygen which gives Fea3 activities 50 pct higher

Jan 1, 1963

Cyril w. Knight, Toronto, Ont., Canada (communication to the Secretary*).—Mr. Hore&apos;s paper presents an interesting summary of our knowledge of this important mineral field ; and is therefore acceptable as giving information which our Transactions did not already contain, although it presents little or nothing not made known by other writers before 1906, when Mr. Hore began work in the field as a student assistant. Contributions of this kind, however, should be made completely valuable by such references to previous work as will enable the reader to follow to their original sources the theories or conelusions stated by the author. It is quite natural, and even excusable, that a new observer should find novelty in his on observations—especially if he is not acquainted with the work of predecessors in the same field. Moreover, the independent repetition of an observation or conclusion has a distinct value as a confirmation, though it may have none as a discovery. But the publication of it, without reference to its predecessors, may place the author in an unfavorable light as either ignorant of the history of his subject, or willing to claim credit to which he is not entitled. Of the latter fault, I do not accuse Mr. Hore ; but I cannot wholly acquit him of the former. Without disparaging his intelligent work, I must point out that his paper, as it stands, might easily give the impression that he claims originality for many statements which are by no means new, and that he emphasizes unduly his own publications. Thus, his remark (p. 481) "I have described the silver-fields in a general way in my paper " (not yet published), should have been accompanied with reference to some of the numerous papers, already published, which describe these fields. Again, on p. 486, he refers to four papers of his own on the Porcupine gold-area, but neither in the text nor in the appended

Jan 1, 1912

David H. Browne was born June 8, 1864; at Hollymount, County Mayo, Ireland. At the age of 16, after going through the Londonderry Academy; he came to this country, and entered the University of Michigan, where he was graduated in 1885. He began his scientific practice as chemist, under F. A. Emmerton, in the laboratory of the Joliet Steel Co., after which he served some time as chemist at the Ludington mine, Iron Mountain, Mich. But in 1888 he went back for a year to his alma mater as instructor in inorganic analysis. Those who knew him feel sure that he would have been an efficient and popular professor; but his ardent temperament could not brook the rnonotony and confinement of the class- room; and in 1899 he went to work at the Andrews and Hitchcock blast-furnaces, at Hubbard, Ohio, where he remained until 1891, when he entered as chemist the service of the newly organized Canadian Copper Co., operating in the Sudbury district, Canada. This was the beginning of his special professional life-work. For twenty-six years he devoted himself to the numerous and complex problems successively arising in connection with the metallurgical treatment of the nickel-copper ores of Sudbury. One of his notable achievements was the development of an electro-lytic process for the separation of nickel and copper in the ores referred to. This method was successfully employed for several years; but when the Canadian Copper Co. was absorbed by the International Nickel Co., the cheaper Orford process owned by the latter was substituted. . A still more permanently important piece of metallurgical progress credited to Mr. Browne was the successful firing of reverberatory smelting-furnaces with powdered coal-a measure which had been desired, dreamed and attempted by others, but which he was acknowledged as first to put in practice on a large scale. The Engineering and Mining Journal of April 7, 1917, says editorially of this improvement:

Jan 6, 1917

By George R. Mansfield

INTEREST in the reserves of phosphate rock in the United States and their proper conservation has recently been aroused by hearings held in different parts of the country by the "Joint Committee to investigate the adequacy and use of phosphate resources of the United States." This committee was appointed within a few days after a Presidential message to Congress on the same subject, dated May 20, 1938, and began to function almost immediately. Hearings were held in Washington, D. C., Pocatello, Ida., Wilson Dam, Ala., Knoxville, Tenn., and Lakeland, Fla. The resulting testimony, when published, comprised a volume of 1182 pages.1 At the earlier hearings held in Washington and Idaho the seeming disparity between the great reserves of the West and the smaller reserves in the East led to some suggestions as to the desirability of curtailing or even prohibiting the exportation of phosphate rock so that eastern producers, becoming alarmed, cooperated in making available for the use of the committee information hitherto closely guarded. This information has provided an opportunity for new studies by official agencies, for a restatement of the reserves of Florida and Tennessee, and for some modification of figures for the Western States. The writer, representing the Federal Geological Survey, was given free access to the Florida material and has prepared for publication a report,2 some features of which are summarized in this paper. The Tennessee material was studied by Dr. G. I. Whitlatch,3 of the Tennessee Division of Geology. Prof. J. Stewart Williams,4 of the Utah State Agricultural College at Logan, has published a recent study of the phosphate resources of Utah and the writer has given some further study to reserves of western phosphate from the viewpoint of including material of lower grade than that hitherto considered. Technologic advances in the phosphate industry must be credited with a large share in the expansion of reserves by making available for

Jan 1, 1940

By Richard Moldenke

AmonG the things that will always remain to the credit of the foundry-industry is the circumstance that nearly all the research-work of practical value in daily routine was done by active foundrymen, and the results were freely given by them to the world. Moreover, while consumers felt that to them was due a more systematic and exact method of work, the foundry-men again were the first to act in the establishment of specifications under which their product should be sold. To come to more recent times, the American Foundrymen&apos;s Association has not only made an elaborate series of tests on cast-iron, and adopted tentative specifications based upon them, but, in addition, it has urged the International Association for Testing Materials, through its American representatives, to make the testing and specification of cast-iron a distinct issue. The half-hearted support first granted was greatly augmented by the rapidly-growing recognition accorded to the enormous iron-casting industry; and when the president of the American Society for Testing Materials was instructed to ask for a special commission for this purpose, Europe was ready to cooperate. During the Buda-Pesth congress, at, which America was represented by Prof. Howe, Mr. Wood and myself, it was decided to add five members to the general committee on steel and iron, whose special duty should be to conserve the interests of the cast-iron branch of the industry. America took up the work at once, and enlarged its committee to 67 members, all of whom were actively concerned in the manufacture or study of cast-iron in all of its branches. At the organization-meeting in Philadelphia, April 25, 1903, Mr. Walter Wood was elected chairman, and myself secretary; and, within a week thereafter, the sub-committees were appointed and became active at once. The scope of the work was naturally limited to those branches of the iron-casting in-

Jan 1, 1905

By Advisory Editorial Board

FOR many years there has been no book that adequately represented the present state of the art of coal preparation-an art that has been rapidly changing during the passing years, and particularly during the last ten or fifteen years. In fact, changes of preparation have been so rapid that no book could keep abreast of their progress, and even the Proceedings of the technical societies have not been able to do so. It has been the intention of this committee and of the editor to make this book as nearly up to date as possible and to make it one that would appeal primarily to operating men, while at the same time adequately showing the theory back of the many processes used. The start of the war and the increased calls upon the time of the authors selected for the various chapters have slightly dimmed the brightness of the ideal intended, but the result undoubtedly brings the practice of preparation and its literature closer together than they ever have been before. It is the hope of the committee that this book will be useful both to those whose daily work is concerned with preparation and to consumers who use the product produced at the many fine and up-to-date coal plants throughout the country, which are now producing, as they always have done, all the coal needed by this country in its greatest crisis. While the committee has exercised a general supervision over the preparation of the various chapters, all of the correspondence and edi¬torial work have been done by Prof. David R. Mitchell, and it has been his untiring interest and devotion that have made the book possible-the credit is all his. Advisory Editorial Board, B. M. Bird Cadwallader Evans, Jr. Thomas Fraser W. H. Lesser William C. Mcciilloch J. B. Morrow H. S. Salmon Raymond E. Salvati Kenneth A. Spencer H. F. Yancey Howard N. Eavenson, Chairman.

Jan 1, 1943

By John Hall

THE recently announced run of three years, nine months and eleven days made by a. crucible steel melting furnace of the Columbia Tool Steel Co., which is claimed as a. world&apos;s record, brings forcibly to our attention the great improvements that have been made in the design, construction and operation of the Siemen&apos;s regenerative crucible- melting furnace since its introduction in this country. Credit for this advance should be given to the furnace designer, the manufacturer of refractories, and the operators of the furnaces, whose persistent efforts and intelligent co-operation in attacking the problem have resulted so satisfactorily. There are three factors that determine the life of a crucible furnace, or any other furnace for that matter : Design, nature of refractories and conditions of operation; (including the nature of steel melted) and to some extent these factors are interdependent. Thus, for instance, if a crucible furnace is to lie operated single turn and allowed to cool off considerably at night, in order to save fuel, the use of clay-brick melting holes may be advisable, since silica brick is not well adapted to endure rep eated heating and cooling. But the total life of a clay-brick melting hole is necessarily short. Again, if local conditions such as danger of flood make necessary the building of the furnace largely above ground, so that the radiation of beat is promoted, the cooling down of the furnace over the week ends, when no steel is melted, will be considerable-and the contraction of the furnace that results tends to wrack it to pieces. The character of the metal being melted affects the life of the furnace to a great extent. Low-carbon steels and steels made from iron and charcoal require higher temperatures and much longer melting tune than high-carbon steel or steel made largely from scrap; the life of the furnace will be shorter, and the number of heats melted will be much less, when such materials are melted.

Jan 9, 1913