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By AIME AIME

TWO weeks ago the writer was lunching in the Engineers` Club in New York with a man who has perhaps the widest acquaintance among engineers of anyone in the country a member of another of the Founder engineering societies. "By the way," lie asked. "who have they nominated for your next president."' "Doctor Becket," I told him- "Oh. that's line," he replied, in a heartfelt tone that rang with sincerity. "I have come in contact with him occasionally and he is just the right type.' And that is the way Dr. Frederick M. Becket impresses everybody. The right type. Most Institute members of the western group of hard-rock minors do not know him, but then they meet him in his swing around the circle next year they will not require a long acquaintance to sense his kindly and outstanding personality, to realize that he is a gentleman in the bet meaning o1 that word, a man of wide sympathies and interests.

Jan 1, 1932

By Allan B. Bowman

Several years ago a wealthy Chinese business friend of mine purchased an interest in a pro- posed oil well to be drilled a great distance from his home. A few months later it came in as a producer and proved to be a huge success and materially added to his resources. I asked him why a man of his wealth should be so lucky in a venture outside his sphere of knowledge when most people of modest means never seemed to get ahead. His answer was, "Fat Hoy takes a chance." Even though this was his answer, I knew from my association with him that there were other tempering considerations which Mr. Hoy applied before making up his mind to enter any transaction. First, he was a cautious individual. He was also a great believer in details and insisted on knowing everything possible about a situation, and finally, he was what we call a very solid individual with good basic instincts and judgment. This philosophy of Mr. Hoy may be applied to most any business but especially to those engaged in a search for natural resources such as mining where great risks are involved. This article concerns events in the history and growth of Banner Mining Co., with which I have been associated for 27 years in capacities from mine surveyor to vice president. Mr. Hoy's philosophy has played a significant role in the exploration projects of this company over the years, but what is more important, the officers, directors, and controlling interests in Banner have been aggressive in their search for ore reserves.

Jan 6, 1963

By F. M. Drake

IN this paper I propose to describe a plant which I lately erected for the Mount Stewart Lead and Silver Mining Company of Leadville, New South Wales, Australia. I am indebted to Mr. W. F. Burrow, of the Roads and Bridges Department of New South Wales, for the drawings which I present herewith, he having reduced and assembled them from my working drawings. The works are situated on a sloping hillside, but sufficient fall mas not available to have the furnace as high as desired, and at the same time have a good slag-tip and sufficient depth on the ore-floor to store a supply of ore and flux. The ore is delivered on the ore-floor (which is of the full width of the furnace-building, and extends back into the hill a distance of seventy feet) by two overhead tramways (not shown in the drawings), one on each side. From these the ore-mixture is made up on one side, while it is being taken to the furnace from the other. The fuel also is delivered by these tramways. The fluxes are stored on a floor directly at the back of the boiler and engine room. The boiler is a Cornish one, 6 feet 6 inches in diameter by 25 feet long. Its flue is 3 feet in diameter and does not contain Galloway tubes. The working-pressure is 40 pounds per square inch. The engine is an old-fashioned one, with a cylinder 16 inches in diameter by 30 inches stroke. Both the engine and boiler had been part of the plant of a defunct gold-mining company. They were very extravagant in their consumption of fuel. The blast is supplied by a rotary pressure-blower, of the Baker pattern, made in England. It has a capacity of 60 cubic feet per revolution. The furnace, which has several novel points, is shown in detail in Figs. 1, 2 and 3. The jackets are of cast-iron, and are higher than those generally used. They are different, too, in that the feedwater inlet is through a hand-hole plate near the bottom. This plate is fastened to the jacket by stud-bolts, and is provided with a baffleplate, which prevents the cooling water from impinging against the inner plate. The outlet is by a goose-neck at the top, which dis-

Jan 1, 1893

Discussion of the paper of J. K. FURST, presented at the Pittsburgh meeting, October, 1914, and printed in" Bulletin No. 94, October, 1914, pp. 2493 to 2514. W..McA. JOHNSON, New York, N. Y.-On discussing this paper I am open to the criticism of "bringing coals to Newcastle," as I, a zinc man, am bringing new ideas on steel to Pittsburgh. But still the view of an outsider can be valuable to the insider. Any multistage process, where each apparatus operates on its particular part of the work at a high efficiency, constitutes an advance in the state of art. But in multiplicity there can be complication and ensuing loss and inefficiency. The duplex steel process is not the pronounced success which was predicted for it by its adherents, for several of such plants have reverted to plain open-hearth methods. If we regard broadly refining processes, such as the Bessemer, open-hearth, puddling, copper refining, lead cupelling, nickel refining, we find that in general refining processes are intermittent and 'concentration processes are continuous. (This generalization I believe to be original with me; it was communicated to Dr. E. F. Roeber, editor, and appeared as an editorial in Metallurgical and Chemical Engineering, March, 1905.) Where we desire primarily quality in a metallurgical operation we must put a batch of metal in the furnace, work on it until we get it to the required purity, test it, and take it out; whereas, if we desire primarily quantity we shove ore into a furnace and smelt it as fast as possible, allowing conditions to make a non-uniform product provided only we get tonnage. From general commercial principles, I believe that the weak point of the duplex process is that the operation is not a money maker unless the plant is kept at. 90 to 95 per cent. of its rated capacity, or unless the Bessemerizing is done so often that it is practically continuous. For in some manner the operation should be made continuous and the control on the tonnage should be commercially flexible. The commercial rigidity of having to control purity exactly increases operating costs without a corresponding gain. Conversely, the chief reason for failure of "steel from ore direct" is that it makes a final operation continuous, which should be naturally intermittent.

Jan 4, 1915

By T. H. Alden

T. H. Alden (General Electric Research Laboratory)—This paper as well as earlier ones of Dr. Wood represent an important contribution to the experimental description of fatigue fracture. The mechanism of fracture proposed by the authors, however, is not established by this data nor supported by other data existing in the literature. Although taper section metallography provides a rather detailed picture of fatigue crack geometry, photographs so obtained must be interpreted with care. The narrow bands revealed by etching, frequently associated with surface notches, are labeled by the authors "fissures". Measurement shows, taking into account the 20 to 1 taper magnification, that the depth of these structures is at most 2 to 3 times the width. This distinction is important in the conception of a mechanism of crack formation. It is difficult, for example, to imagine a deep, narrow fissure arising from a "ratchet slip" model. A surface notch, on the other hand, may form easily by this mechanism. The notches observed in the present work are the subsurface evidence of the surface slip bands or striations in which fatigue cracks are known to originate.4-6 It is clear that an understanding of the structure of these slip bands is of key importance in understanding the mechanism of fracture. The evidence presented shows that these regions etch preferentially, possibly because they contain a high density of lattice defects, or as the authors state equivalently, because they are "abnormally distorted." However, it is not possible to conclude that the distortion consists of a high density of vacant lattice sites. The fact of a high total shear strain in itself does not assure a predominance of point defects as opposed to other defects, for example, dislocations. Other evidence in the literature which suggests unusual densities of point defects formed by fatigue7-' refers not to the striations or fissures, but to the material between fissures (the "matrix"). If a choice must be made, the preferential etching would seem to be evidence for a high dislocation density, since dislocations are known to encourage chemical attack in copper;g no such effect is known for the case of point defects. A third alternative is that the slip bands are actually cracked, but that near its tip the crack is too narrow to be detected by the authors' metal-lographic technique. In this case the rapid etching can be readily understood in terms of the increased chemical activity of surface atoms. Unless a vacancy mechanism is operative, the motion of dislocations to-and-fro on single slip planes will not lead to crack growth. Point defect or dislocation loop generation are the principal non-reversible effects predicted by this model. In any case, the nonuniform roughening of the surface in a slip band6 requires a flexibility of dislocation motion which is not a part of the to-and-fro fine slip idea. The same is probably true of crack growth by a shear mechanism. Either some dislocations must change their slip planes near the end of the band and return on different planes,'0 or dislocations of opposite sign annihilate." The mechanism by which these processes occur in copper at room temperature or below is that of cross slip. Thus cross slip appears to be essential to fatigue crack growth.6'10"12 The fact that a tensile stress opens the slip bands into broad cracks does not indicate the structure of the bands or the mechanism by which cracks form. The charactersitic concentration of slip into bands during fatigue shows a low resistance to shear strain in these regions. (This fact in itself may be inconsistent with a high concentration of vacancies.) The authors contend also that continuing shear produces an additional mechanical weakening so that the bands fracture easily (are pulled apart) under the influence of the superimposed tensile stress. It is equally possible that the only weakness is a weakness in shear, that the crack propagates by a shear mechanism, and that subsequently the tensile stress pulls the crack apart. Even the direct observation of bands opened by a tensile stress would not be conclusive since, as argued above, they may be fine cracks. The same argument applies to internal cracks, their existence in the presence of a tensile stress not indicating the mechanism of formation. Internal cracks originating in regions of heavy shear have also been seen following tensile deformation of OFHC copper,13 so that this mode of fracture is not unique to combined tensile and fatigue straining. The authors point out in their companion report14 that 90 pct of the cracks formed during pure tor-sional strain were within 8 deg of the normal to the specimen axis. If the tensile stress were an important factor in crack propagation, it is surprising that the cracks cluster about the plane in which the normal stress vanishes. Similarly, a study of zinc single crystals showed that for various orientations the life correlated well with the resolved shear stress on the basal plane,'= and was not dependent on the normal stress across this plane. W. A. Wood and H. M. Bendler (Authors' reply) -Dr. Alden's discussion emphasizes the essential point in the relation of slip band structure to

Jan 1, 1963

By H. M. Howe

PART I. INTRODUCTORY. § 24. INTRODUCTION.-This paper discusses the chief existing data as to the temperature, in iron-carbon alloys, of Ae.3, the upper limit of the transformation range when in equilibrium, as distinguished from Ac3, the temperature at which the end of the transformation is noted in heating up, and from Ar3, that at which its beginning is noted in cooling down. The former is in fact carried above Ae3 and the latter below Ae3 by lag. I touch incidentally on the influence of manganese on Ae3 (§ 29, p. 1102). The sections, tables, and illustrations, are numbered consecutively with those in the accompanying papers by Howe and Levy on Determination of, the Position of Ae3 in Carbon-Iron Alloys, and by Burgess, Crowe, and Rawdon on Thermal and Microscopical Examination of Professor Howe's Standard Commercial Steels, to which the present paper forms a sequel. § 25. The contradictoriness of our present evidence is shown by grouping it together in Fig. 14. For instance, both Goerens and Meyer (Series 2) and Meuthen (Series 12) used practically stationary temperature, and thus reduced the influence of lag very greatly; yet Ae3 for 0.32 carbon steel according to the former investigators is 894°, but according to Meuthen it is at or below 770°, a discrepancy of 124° or more. In view of our ability to measure these high temperatures within a few degrees, the existence of such a discrepancy is as unwelcome as it seems needless. I attack the thankless task of bringing some order out of this chaos.

Jan 6, 1913

By J. E. Warren

In their analysis of Eqs. 29 and 30, the authors correctly deduce the following behavior limits for the "differential capacitance model". 1. When the rate group a is sufficiently large, the model reduces to that implied by Eq. 1, i.e., the simple convection-diffusion model. 2. When the rate group a is sufficiently small, the model reduces to that implied by Eq. 1 with 1 replaced by 1, i.e., the simple convection-diffusion model with a total pore volume equal to that occupied by the mobile fluid in the original model. Unfortunately, the authors' solution, Eq. C-1, to the transformed versions of Eqs. 29 and 30 does not exhibit the same limiting behavior. For example, as a approaches zero, Eq. C-1 reduces to the solution to Eq. 1 or, equivalently, the solution to Eqs. 29 and 30 for sufficiently large values of a. Therefore, it can be concluded that Eq. C-1 is not a general solution to Eqs. 29 and 30; this conclusion can be easily verified by substitution. I suggest that the correct form of Eq. C-1 is the following: It is generally realized that accounting for dispersion effects is an extremely tricky business; therefore no one should criticize the pragmatic approach of Coats and Smith who proceeded by accessible theory, made use of some available phenomenology, and who then took the trouble to check the consequences, against their own carefully undertaken experimental results. Here I should like to defend three assertions: (1) Coats and Smith copy the error of previous authors in the formulation of the so-called simple diffusion model (which error is then retained in their differential capacitance model); (2) improving the fit between data and the predictions of an arbitrary model by increasing the number of parameters is a triviality unless the parameters are disposable by being independently determined; and (3) existing experimental procedures lack sufficient resolution to clarify some current theoretical uncertainties. Taking first the view that all theoretical approaches (whether constructed by statistical, finite difference, or continuum arguments) tend to reduce to the same model form as fixed by the number and nature of the disposable parameters, one notices that the "finite-stage" model of Deans1 is equivalent to the Coats and Smith so-called differential capacitance model for the pertinent case where a

Jan 1, 1965

By J. B. Austin

It is now well established, chiefly through the work of Davenport and Bain,' that the influence of temperature upon the rate of transformation of austenite to ferrite at constant temperature is represented by a curve of the type shown in Fig. 5 on page 295 and the reasons for this general shape have been discussed by them in a qualitative way. Thus, the upper part, or nose, of the curve is the resultant of two factors of which the rate of change with temperature is not the same, and by analogy with other like cases it is almost certain that these factors are: (1) the chemical potential, or driving force, of the transformation, which is zero at the equilibrium temperature and increases rapidly as the temperature falls below this point; and (2) a factor analogous to viscosity, or resistance of the crystal lattice to a change in structure, which also increases as the temperature is lowered. Just below the equilibrium temperature this virtual "viscosity" of the metal is relatively low—that is, the metal offers little resistance to a change in lattice—but the driving force is also small, and the net result is that the reaction proceeds slowly. As the temperature is lowered the magnitude of both factors increases; but at first the driving force increases more rapidly than the resistance and the reaction is observed to proceed more rapidly. At lower temperatures, however, the resistance begins to increase faster than the driving force, and eventually, at the nose of the curve, overbalances it, causing the reaction to proceed more and more slowly thereafter. This concept is somewhat, though not completely, analogous to that employed in certain electrical cases where the precise factors are known and are separately measurable. The current I (in amperes or coulombs per second) flowing through a given wire is proportional to the impressed potential, or driving force E, and is inversely proportional to the resistance R of the wire; that is, I = E/R. Stated in a slightly different way, the time required for one coulomb to pass a given point (1/I) is equal to R/E. If the temperature of the whole circuit is changed, the resultant change in 1/I will depend on the relative rates of change of R and of E,

Jan 1, 1935

By J. B. Austin

It is now well established, chiefly through the work of Davenport and Bain,' that the influence of temperature upon the rate of transformation of austenite to ferrite at constant temperature is represented by a curve of the type shown in Fig. 5 on page 295 and the reasons for this general shape have been discussed by them in a qualitative way. Thus, the upper part, or nose, of the curve is the resultant of two factors of which the rate of change with temperature is not the same, and by analogy with other like cases it is almost certain that these factors are: (1) the chemical potential, or driving force, of the transformation, which is zero at the equilibrium temperature and increases rapidly as the temperature falls below this point; and (2) a factor analogous to viscosity, or resistance of the crystal lattice to a change in structure, which also increases as the temperature is lowered. Just below the equilibrium temperature this virtual "viscosity" of the metal is relatively low—that is, the metal offers little resistance to a change in lattice—but the driving force is also small, and the net result is that the reaction proceeds slowly. As the temperature is lowered the magnitude of both factors increases; but at first the driving force increases more rapidly than the resistance and the reaction is observed to proceed more rapidly. At lower temperatures, however, the resistance begins to increase faster than the driving force, and eventually, at the nose of the curve, overbalances it, causing the reaction to proceed more and more slowly thereafter. This concept is somewhat, though not completely, analogous to that employed in certain electrical cases where the precise factors are known and are separately measurable. The current I (in amperes or coulombs per second) flowing through a given wire is proportional to the impressed potential, or driving force E, and is inversely proportional to the resistance R of the wire; that is, I = E/R. Stated in a slightly different way, the time required for one coulomb to pass a given point (1/I) is equal to R/E. If the temperature of the whole circuit is changed, the resultant change in 1/I will depend on the relative rates of change of R and of E,

Jan 1, 1935

By Henry M. Howe

In discussing the classification of iron to-day, we are to leave out of consideration the general division into non-malleable or cast iron and malleable iron, as to the adequacy of which no question has been raised; and to confine ourselves to the subdivisions of malleable iron. This has been classified, according to the extent to which the properties imparted by carbon are present (viz., resilience, hardness,strength, and, above all, the capacity for being hardened by sudden cooling from a high temperature), into (1) wrought iron which cannot be hardened, and (2) steel which can be hardened; and this classification I shall, for briefness, term the carbon classification. Until within a few years all authorities, both metallurgical and general, have concurred in explicitly recognizing the carbon-given qualities, and preeminently the capacity for being hardened, as the essential qualities of steel; this is laid down with clearness by every writer on the subject. For several years this old classification has not been sufficient to meet all our needs, since the genius of Bessemer, Siemens, and, I may add, Holley, has produced wrought iron which has been perfectly melted, and thus freed from certain mechanical adhering impurities. This causes what we call homogeneousness for want of a better word, and gives rise to many important qualities which the old wrought iron had not; qualities universally recognized, though not readily described. I shall, for briefness, style them the fusion qualities, and a classification based on them, a fusion classification. These qualities render the new product so vastly superior, for most purposes, to the wrought iron formerly known, that it is neces-

By James R. Finlay

At first blush one is tempted to say that iron-mines are like any other mines, and that principles governing miniug-property in general will apply to them. But there are certain considerations which seem to repay reflection. Gold and copper are more or less independent of transportation. The proof of this is that those metals are profitably mined and shipped from the remotest corners of the earth. Their value is determined by the cost of production on the ground. This is quite true of gold, not quite so true of copper, not at all true of iron. If New York were a. fishing-village and Chicago a swamp, Calumet & Hecla might still be a bonanza. The main element of its value is the 60 lb. of fine copper per ton which it produced for years. But the Mesabi Range is absolutely dependent upon the industrial activity in the United States. Iron-manu-facture in Europe would give it no value whatever. If Chicago and New York had a population of Peruvians or Hindus, the Hull-Rust mine would be as worthless a bit of landscape as any tundra in Alaska. I have discussed these facts more or less casually and dimly in my book on the cost of mining and in my report to the Tax Commissioners of Michigan.1 I shall try here to bring them out in more detail. I have already referred to some differences in the problem of mining as between the more precious metals, e.g., gold, and the less precious and more abundant minerals, like iron and coal; but it is interesting to note that the literature of the eco-

Jan 1, 1914

By Major William R. King U. S. Engineer

My attention was drawn to this subject just twenty years ago this month, when I was detailed to rebuild one of the bridges in Richmond that had been burned during the evacuation. We took pos

Jan 1, 1886

By Max Roesler

W. L. CUMINGS,* Bethlehem, Pa. (communication to the Secretary+). -In this discussion of Mr. Roesler's paper, I shall follow Kemp in using the term "granite" to refer to the acid rock called syenite by Kimball. Diorite, as I understand it, is the dark basic rock invariably closely associated with the orebodies. The types of rock of intermediate composition, mainly intrusives, are not under discussion. It is difficult for me to conceive that this granite is the ore-bearing agent, for the following reasons: 1. No isolated orebodies in the granite are known. It would seem that if this rock is the mineralizer, some small bodies, or at least patches and small masses of ore so situated would exist. 2. In 1909 the writer conducted explorations on the Pequena and Grande claims about 1 mile north of West Mine No. 5. This work was done after a very careful magnetic survey had shown a large and uniform area of attraction. As exploration progressed, it became evident that in this case the magnetic attraction was due to disseminated magnetite. Much ore of 40 per cent. Fe was found, but very little commercial ore was shown up. This ore was entirely in the diorite and no granite outcrops are near. The occurrence could easily have been described as "ore formation but very little ore." I cannot conceive how a remote granite intrusion could impregnate a diorite mountain with 40 per cent. of Fe, and prefer to believe that this 40 per cent. of iron was in its real home, rather than in a sort of dioritic "boarding house" after having been evicted by granitic parents. 3. The Ocaña mine, which has produced nearly 500,000 tons, shows no evidence that the granite is the mineralizer. This is admitted by Mr. Roesler on p. 1827. 4. I believe it will not be disputed that all the iron-ore deposits extending along the south coast for 60 or 70 miles are of a similar origin. Evidence available at other points might properly be referred to in discussing the article under review. At the La Plata mines, about 60 miles west of Santiago, the writer has also made explorations. No granite is in evidence. At one point in the bed of a creek is a small body of magnetite about 10 ft. long, entirely surrounded by a hard fresh diorite. To me

Jan 3, 1917

By Maxwell Adams

OLIVER C. RALSTON, Salt Lake City, Utah.-We are indebted to these two gentlemen for the work which they have done with the oils derived from sage brush. Their work should not be confused, however, as the work of Mr. Adams deals with steam-distilled oils and that of Mr. Clevenger with destructively distilled oil, largely. In other words, Mr. Adams' oil is probably the original essential oil that existed' in the brush before distillation while Mr. Clevenger's oil not only contained this essential oil but also some products of destructive distillation of the wood constituents. I had noticed the work of Mr. Adams on attempting to separate the various constituents in the oils of some of the Western conifers and had sent to him to ask if he could send me small samples of some of. these pure products. This he very kindly did, and with them included some samples of oil from the common sage brush, whose characteristics he has here described, as well as a sample of oil from the common "rabbit brush." Only the sage brush oil proved of much value for flotation, but it, was very powerful, and I so informed Mr. Adams. Even in amounts as small or smaller than 1/10 lb. per ton of ore, it gave very quick and positive flotation of many ores, with high-grade concentrates and good extractions. It proved to be especially desirable for the flotation of carbonates of lead and of copper which had received an artificial coating of sulphide by treatment with a solution of a soluble sulphide. I also received a sample of crude pyroligneous acid from sage brush prepared by Dr. W. C. Ebaugh, of Salt Lake City. It did not do very good work in flotation, but it is possible that by concentration of this product to obtain the residual tar a good flotation oil might result. This has not been done as yet and I am sorry to see that Mr. Clevenger has not done this. It might be that the dissolved tar, added to the settled tar, would make a total yield of flotation oil higher than the 4 per cent. which Mr. Clevenger feels is a safe estimate. The importance of this point will be seen in the following discussion of the possible costs of sage brush oils for flotation.

Jan 10, 1916

By H. E. Howe, A. A. Smith

The creep properties of lead alloys have been studied by a number of investigators but most of the work has been done on extruded material and the amount of data available on rolled alloys is surprisingly limited. Greenwood1 and his collaborators investigated various rolled commercial leads containing relatively small amounts of impurities, Phillips2 likewise studied rolled commercial leads, although he did include a few alloys— such as tellurium lead and one per cent antimonial lead. But as far as the authors are aware no data on the creep properties of so-called "hard leads"-—i.e., containing from 4 to 8 per cent antimony—have been published. In this paper some data are presented on a few antimonial lead alloys and compared with a copper-bearing lead. Preparation OF Specimens All the alloys used in this investigation were cast at a temperature of 400°C. into an open cast-iron mold preheated to Ioo°C., the resultant casting being % by I by 10 in. The copper-bearing alloy was cold-rolled by 10 per cent passes to a thickness of 0.100 in. Creep specimens 16 in. long were prepared by clamping the strips between wooden blocks and machining the edges of the strips parallel by means of a plane. Careful manipulation gave parallel specimens with no reduced section and with a minimum of distortion. The antimonial lead castings were hot-rolled in 10 per cent passes at a temperature of I50°C. to a thickness of 0.400 in., the heating being carried out in an electric oven after each pass through the rolls. After the castings had been broken down to 0.400 in., they were allowed to cool to room temperature and then cold-rolled to 0.100 in. with the usual Io per cent passes. Sufficient time was allowed after each pass for the strips to cool to room temperature. The apparatus and method of measuring strain have been adequately described in a previous paper3 and essentially the same practice was used in obtaining the present data. Time-extension curves for only two alloys are given, since these are typical of all. Figs. I and 2 show the time-extension Curves for the copper-bearing alloy A at 30°C. and loo°C., and Figs. 3 and 4 show

Jan 1, 1945

By T. Sterry Hunt

At the meeting of the Institute in Easton, October, 1873,I made a communication on the Ore Knob copper mine, in Ashe County, North Carolina (Transactions, vol. ii, p. 123), in which I called attention to the chemical decomposition alike of the pyritous lode and the inclosing gneiss rock to a depth of 60 feet, by which the feldspar of the latter had been converted into clay, and the whole rock very much softened. Such a decomposition is well known to be almost universal in the crystalline rocks of the Appalachians south of the Potomac; and if it is only seen in rare and exceptional cases farther to the northward, this, as I have elsewhere pointed out, is due to the fact that the decomposition began and ended in the ages anterior to the drift period, and that the decayed portions which still remained were at that time removed from the surface, except in some localities which were protected from the emding agency. I have lately had an opportunity of studying a remarkable instance of this kind in an examination made last month for the corporators of the Hoosac Tunnel.* The locality is at the western base of Hoosac Mountain, the western slope of which rises rapidly 1300 feet above the town of North Adams, in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, itself 700 feet above the sea level. Through this mountain, as is well known, a tunnel for the Troy and Boston Railroad has lately been opened, a distance of 25,081 feet from east to west. The rock of the mountain consists of mica schist and micaceous gneiss, including in its western half a great mass of harder feldspathic and quartzose strata in part a granitoid gneiss, the strata for the most part dipping to the eastward with variable angles, but with occasional western dips, apparently due to inversion. The crystalline strata of the mountain crest and sides are in many places exposed, and present rounded surfaces, often deeply grooved and striated, but with no appearance of decay. At the western base of the mountain, however, the gneissic rock is in a state of complete decomposition, which was well displayed in opening the tunnel, which, for a distance of several hundred feet, was driven through highly inclined strata so much decomposed that they were excavated with pick and shovel, and without the aid of blast-

By M. J. Taffanel

I AM very much impressed by this manifestation of international brotherhood; the mining engineers on both sides of the ocean have similar subjects to deal with, meet with the same difficulties, expose themselves sometimes to similar dangers; they are like companions in arms in the battle fought by mankind in order to subjugate the natural forces and to draw profit therefrom. There is no other field where this fraternity must manifest itself more actively than in the studies pursued with a view to improving the safety of mines and to rendering impossible in the future these mining disasters, which every year claim hundreds of victims. These are very difficult problems, the solution of which requires numerous and laborious experiments accompanied by very arduous scientific investigations; it is extremely desirable that the various mining countries, which have undertaken to solve these difficult problems, should unite their efforts in order to succeed as soon as possible and as well as possible. This idea has been fully grasped by your Bureau of Mines, which has brought me to Pittsburg; the daily exchange of views with the distinguished chief of-the mine investigation division, George S. Rice, and with his excellent collaborators, the comparison of the results obtained at Lievin and Bruceton, the checking of these results by means of new tests, the profound study of the measurements, diagrams, measuring and laboratory apparatus, the cooperative investigation of new apparatus, or the preparation of new investigations, are, I hope, of such a nature as to bring about great progress. I think that it will be interesting to you to know what has been done in France along this line.

Jan 9, 1914

THOMAS T. READ, Palmerton, Pa. (communication to the Secretary*). -It is much to he regretted that in presenting a further discussion of these deposits, first described by myself' and later discussed by C. M. Weld,2 Mr. Wang bas not made a more complete presentation of the evidence on which he bases his conclusions as to their origin. Mr. Weld said in his paper that his visit was confined to a few hours, that he saw only one of the several exposures, and that he took away no samples for further study. My own visit was brief, and for another purpose than the study of the geological features of 'the deposits, so the fact that Mr. Weld described as a hornblende-granite the rock which I described as a "dark gray syenitic rock," and which Mr. Wang identifies as a hornblende-syenite, seems of no great importance, since this rock is generally decomposed along the contact, presumably the only place in which Mr. Weld observed it. Later in the same paper (p. 31), Mr. Weld says that his opinion is that the magnetite of the deposits is primary, but Mr. Wang makes no mention of this in stating his own conclusion to the same effect. When Mr. Weld's paper appeared, I did not discuss it, because, although I considered the evidence- that he brought forward to support his belief that the magnetite is primary too slender to support the hypothesis, my own evidence to the contrary was equally tenuous. .The opportunities for observation and study open to Mr. Wang must have provided him with

Jan 6, 1917

By J. D. Lubahn, R. P. Carreker, J. G. Leschen

The formation of slip bands in crystalline solids undergoing plastic deformation has recently been treated as a problem of nu-cleation and growth.' A simplified theory was developed and shown to be qualitatively consistent with certain experimental observations reported in the literature, such as the frequent failure of slip bands to traverse the entire crystal, the effect of specimen diameter and temperature on the yield stress, and the occurrence of incubation periods in the deformation of suddenly loaded crystals. The theory further predicts the appearance of transients in the rate of strain of a crystal when the applied stress is suddenly changed from one constant value to another. A transient consists of a discontinuous change in the strain rate followed by a gradual approach to a steady-state value. Such transient behavior apparently has not been recognized in previous experimental work. The preliminary experiments reported in the present paper were undertaken to confirm the existence of the predicted transients and thus to determine whether a more detailed treatment of the nucleation theory of slip might be theoretically and experimentally fruitful. Experimental Procedure A simple creep apparatus was assembled as shown in Fig I. Very little insulation was used on the furnace in order to facilitate rapid changes of temperature. Temperature was measured with a thermometer placed in the center of the furnace and was controlled by adjusting the Variac setting. The specimens were cold-headed in split-cylinder grips. The strain was measured as total elongation by a dial gauge sensitive to I/I0,000-in movement of the weight pan. Since the specimen gauge lengths were

Jan 1, 1949

Discussion of the paper of E. C. HARDER, presented at the Pittsburgh meeting, October, 1914, and printed in Bulletin No. 94, October, 1914, pp. 2573 to 2586. I. C. WHITE, Morgantown, W. Va.-I have seen some of the great iron-ore deposits described in this paper. -One of these in the State of Minas Geraes appears to be an immense mountain of iron ore about 2,000 ft. in height. All over its surface from bottom to top may be seen large masses of rich iron ore, varying in weight from a few pounds to several tons, and from all that one can judge without exploitation, the quantity of available ore is certainly very large in this particular mountain. Whether it will prove a mere surface deposit or shell, like the famous Iron Mountain of Missouri, is for future exploration to determine. The question of transportation is the main factor in determining the availability for exportation of these Brazilian iron ores. There is no coal in Brazil that can be manufactured into coke without expensive previous treatment, since the best of the raw coal in the States of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catharina, and Parana, contains about 35 per cent. of ash, of which about 6 per cent. is sulphur, and coal of this composition cannot be utilized in iron smelting without purification. When I was chief of the Brazilian Coal Commission in 1904 to 1906, I had a cargo of this coal shipped to Balk, Germany, and treated in the great coal-testing plant of the Humboldt Engineering Works, located just across the Rhine from Cologne. It was found that by crushing and washing the Brazilian coal, it yielded 33 per cent. of briquetting coal, containing only 10 to 12 per cent. of ash (of which 1 per cent. was sulphur), and 42 per cent. of slack coal, with 25 per cent. of ash and low in sulphur, so that about 33 per cent. of the Brazilian coal could be converted into coke of fair quality, as shown by the following average of three analyses, using air-dried coal, of briquets made from the Barro Branco coal bed, State of Santa Catharina: Moisture 1.56 Volatile matter 31.66 Fixed carbon 56.73 Ash : 10.05 Total 100.00 Sulphur 1.34 Phosphorus 0.003 B.t.u 13,395

Jan 4, 1915