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By J. Burns Read, S. Tour

It is the purpose of this paper to summarize, as far as possible, the metallurgical information and experience gained by the Ordnancc Department, during the war, in the manufacture of artillery cartridge cases, to describe the tests to which artillery cartridge cases were put, and to summarize the knowledge and experience gained in this testing. The authors wish to acknowledge the aid given by manufacturers, army officers, and civilian employees of the Department in obtaining data. Artillery cartridge cases are cold drawn from circular disks punched from strips of rolled brass. The rnanufacture involves from 25 to 30 main operations, which are done almost entirely on a punch press. Descriptions of the operations have appeared in various periodical:: and, therefore, will not he given here. After each cupping, or drawing, operation, except the last, the cases are annealed at from 540" to 650" C. (1000" to 1200°F.), to remove all the hardening stresses set up in the metal and to allow complete recrystallization. After each annealing, the cases are pickled in niter cake or sulfuric-acid solution and then washed in water to remove all traces of acid. In some instances, the cases arc then immersed in a cyanide-salt solution, and afterwards rinsed in water, to remove the thin layer of copper that forms on the surface of the cases during the acid pickle. The last cold-drawing operation is followcd by the heading operation which, by flattening the head of the case on the outside, causes the metal to flow on the inside to approximately the proper finished dimensions. The mouth, or open end, is then annealed at 430" to 450" ('. 1800" to 900" F.) by immersion in a salt bath or by gas flames. After being washed, the eases are tapered, when they arc ready for machining, inspection, and testing. Cartridge-case Disks Good disks of proper composition and physical properties are essential to the production of good cartridge cases. The Ordnance Department

Jan 1, 1923

By R. A. Vandermeer, J. C. Ogle

Two distinct types of depth-dependent variations in texture have been observed in niobium cold-rolled various amounts up to 99.5 pct reduction in thickness. These nonuniformities are thought to be the results of nonhomogeneous plastic dewmation during rolling. The first type is characterized by a zone at intermediate depths that tends to lack certain strong orientations which are present in the surface and center layers of the rolled stock. This type of texture modification seemed to be associuted with "high" body rolling and may be related to the shape of the zone of deformation in rolling. The second type of texture inhomogeneity found involved the formation of a unique texture in the surface layers of heavily rolled strip. High fiiction forces between work piece and rolls appear to be needed to generate and maintain this texture. We believe that this unique surface texture results from a shear mode of deformation in the surface layers. THE evolution of texture in both the surface and center regions of cold-rolled niobium as a function of increasing deformation from 43 to 99.5 pct reduction in thickness was reported in a previous paper.' It was noted that for strips rolled between 95 and 98 pct reduction a distinctly different texture appeared in the surface layers which was unlike the center texture. Certain other layer to layer textural variations were also detected during the experimental phase of that work but were not described in the paper. Surface textures have been reported previously for the bcc materials iron and Steel2-4 and are well known in the fcc metals.5 It is usually stated that these are shear textures which arise under conditions of high friction between specimen and rolls. Work by Mayer-Rosa and Haessner5 n niobium rolled under conditions presumed to be high roll friction gave no indication, however, of a surface texture in that material. This is indeed puzzling in view of our results.' Thus we undertook additional experiments designed to study the stability of the surface texture for certain rolling variables. The variables investigated were the presence or absence of lubrication, amount of reduction per pass, and reverse vs unidirectional rolling. It is the purpose of the present paper to describe the kinds of depth-dependent textural inhomogeneities that we have observed in rolled niobium as well as to present the results of our recent experiments on the stability of the surface texture. Possible explanations for the depth-dependent texture variations will be discussed in terms of nonhomogeneous plastic deformation during rolling. EXPERIMENTAL Specimens cut from the niobium rolled to different reductions in the previous study1 were examined at various layer levels throughout the strip thickness for textural inhomogeneity. The specimen surfaces were either etched or machine ground and etched to remove material to a specific depth. Textures were determined by means of the Schulz X-ray reflection pole figure method with a Siemens texture goniometer and Cum X radiation. Since the important intensity peaks of the textures in niobium are usually located on the normal direction (N.D.) to rolling direction (R.D.) radius of the (110) pole figures, it was sufficient in many cases to scan only along this radius. At selected depths or where additional information was required the entire (110) pole figure was also obtained. In studying the stability and formation of the surface texture, experiments were conducted on 0.400-in.-thick, fine-grained, randomly oriented niobium specimens extracted from the same starting stock as that used in the earlier study.' Two of these specimens were rolled at room temperature to a total reduction of 96.4 pct. One was rolled between cleaned and degreased rolls with no lubrication. The other was lubricated between passes with Welch Duo Seal vacuum pump oil. The rolling schedules of each were kept as nearly identical as possible. Drafts were of the order of 0.006 to 0.012 in. per pass. Other experiments consisted of rolling specimens at constant fractional reduction per pass, i.e., (ta- tb)/ta equals a constant where ta and tb are the entrance and exit thickness of the rolled stock, rather than at a constant draft, i.e., ta- tb equals a constant. Ten specimens were rolled at room temperature on a two-high, motor-driven rolling mill with 8-in.-diam rolls. These specimens were rolled to thicknesses of between 0.041 and 0.073 in. (82 to 90 pct total reduction) at approximately constant reductions per pass ranging from 9 to 45 pct. Kerosene was used as a lubricant. Half of the specimens were always rolled in the same direction while the other half were reversed end to end at each pass. The texture in the surface regions was determined with the X-ray technique described above. RESULTS The textural inhomogeneities noted in niobium rolled from fine-grained, randomly oriented stock 1.5 in. long by 0.75 in. wide by 0.40 in. thick can be classified into two types. The first may be discussed with the aid of Figs. 1 to 3. Fig. 1 is a three-dimensional plot of the X-ray intensity in units of times random vs f , the angle from the N.D. to any point along the N.D. to R.D. radius of the (110) pole figure, and depth, given as percent of the thickness (?t/to X 100, where at is the thickness of material removed and to is the as-rolled

Jan 1, 1970

By R. W. Carpenter, J. C. Ogle

It is possible, by using pack-rolling instead of conventional rolling, to reduce a number of metals to thicknesses of 2µm or less. Such thinfoils are generally made at room temperature without intermediate annealing. In addition, pack-rolled foils fail by developing pinholes at thicknesses near 2µm instead of developing the shear cracks usually observed in cold-rolled ductile metals. This paper presents the results of a general investigation of the deformation substructure and texture developed in copper and iron pack -rolled from 130 to about 2µm thickness. Electron microscopy showed that in both metals a fine (0.2 to 0.5?µ m) deformation subgrain structure formed during pack-rolling; in neither case was this substructure grossly different from substructures formed during conventional rolling. The deformation texture formed in pack-rolled iron was quite similar to usual bcc textures; however, in the case of copper, the cube texture was stable during pack-rolling and the normal copper deformation texture was unstable. It is shown analytically that the constraining pack induced a large hydrostatic pressure in the foils during pack-rolling. The pinhole failure mechanism is attributed to the presence of the large hydrostatic pressure during pack-rolling; this strongly suppressed the growth of shear cracks. The stability of the cube texture in copper is also probably due to the unusuul stress distribution developed during pack-rolling. EXPERIMENTS at several laboratories have shown that very thin foils of the common structural metals and many of the rare earths can be made by "pack-rolling". 1-3 The technique was originally developed to make specimens for nuclear scattering experiments and foils for X-ray filters. It is also useful for making experimental laminar metallic composite bodies and foils thin enough for direct examination by ultra-high voltage electron microscopy without the need for special thinning techniques. Pack-rolling in the present context means a three-layer pack, with the material to be rolled into foil comprising the center layer. The outer two layers, which constrain the foil during reduction, are ordinarily austenitic stainless steel. Typically, a 130 µm (0.005 in.) metal strip can be reduced to a final thickness of 2 µm or less by this process. This is accomplished at room temperature, without intermediate annealing. It has been observed that foils produced by this process do not exhibit at any stage of their reduction the severe work-hardening found in strip rolled by conventional cold-rolling methods. Neither is the failure characteristic the same."&apos; Conventionally cold-rolled ductile metal strip fails by developing shear cracks on planes whose normals nearly bisect the angle between the rolling direction and normal to the rolling plane; these are planes of maximum shear stress. In pack-rolling this mechanism has not been observed; failure occurs by the formation of pinholes on the foil surface (penetrating the foil). If pack-rolling is continued the hole density increases. These differences in behavior imply the existence of appreciably different substructure in pack-rolled foils compared to substructure in conventionally rolled material, or perhaps that the geometry of pack-rolling has an effect on the foil behavior. This paper describes an investigation of deformation substructure and texture in some specimens of pack-rolled copper and iron, and some considerations of the stress distribution in the foils during rolling that result from the geometry of pack-rolling. EXPERIMENTAL DETAILS Three different materials were used for pack-rolling in the present work: soft copper sheet (99.8 pct Cu, 0.03 pct 0, electrolytic tough pitch) and two types of iron, Ferrovac E* and Armco iron. Each was "Crucible Stccl Co. initially in the form of 130 µm annealed strip with grain size ranges of approximately 10 to 40 µm. The initial texture of the copper (determined as noted below) was the normally observed cube type (001)[100]; there was evidence of a small amount of material in the cube-twin orientation reported by Beck and Hu.4 The initial texture of the Ferrovac E was similar to that reported for recrystallized iron by Kurdjumov and sachs,5 who list the principal orientations as {111}<112>, {001}<110> 15degfrom RD and a weak component {112}(110) 15 deg from RD. The starting texture of the Armco iron was not determined. Pack-Rolling Procedure. A four-high mill was used for all specimens. The work roll and backing roll diameters were 1.625 and 5.25 in., respectively. The peripheral roll speed of the work rolls was about 2.5 in. per sec. All foils were initially reduced from 130 to 100 µm by conventional straight rolling and then inserted into a pack, without any intermediate annealing, for further reduction. The pack consisted of an 0.033 in. (838 µm) thick 3 by 6 in. polished sheet of austenitic stainless steel, folded to make a 3 by 3 in. jacket. After folding, the jacket was given a small reduction to close the fold tightly before insertion of the foil. During pack-rolling a constant change in roll spacing was made every third pass. The roll-spacing change corresponded to a 5 pct reduction in thickness for a new pack. This approached a 10 pct reduction when the pack had decreased to about half its original thickness. At this point the deformed pack was discarded and a new one

Jan 1, 1970

By J. Nagy, D. W. Mitchell, E. M. Murphy

In 1957 research was initiated in the U.S. Bureau of Mines experimental coal mine near Pittsburgh, Pa., to study factors affecting foam generation and transport, to evaluate the effectiveness of high-expansion foam for controlling mine fires, and to develop techniques for applying the method under U.S. mining conditions. These investigations showed that high-expansion foam containing at least 0.2 oz of water per cu ft of foam is effective in controlling experimental underground fires burning coal, wood, and oil. Sometimes the fire was completely extinguished, but more often, it was brought under sufficient control to permit either a direct attack on the fire with a stream of water or loading of the hot material into cars. A progress report&apos; prepared in July 1958 summarized the initial achievements of the USBM experiments. Since then other phases of the foam-plug method for attacking fires have been studied in the laboratory and in the mine. Previous studies by British engineers&apos; of the foam-plug method for fighting mine fires indicated that high-expansion foam was effective in controlling experimental timber fires in an underground passageway. Their subsequent workx-1 pertained to the practical aspects of fighting large fires within a mining area with a foam-plug. CONTROLLING EXPERIMENTAL FIRES In the USBM tests foam was formed by spraying a dilute solution of a foaming agent on a metal or cotton net of 1/8 to 1/4-in. mesh. Air passing through the continuously wetted net forms bubbles of 1/2 to 11/2-in. diam and produces a honeycomb of foam that fills the passageway. Under the ventilating-air pressure, this light-weight plug moves forward through the passageways, around sharp corners, and over obstacles. as illustrated in Fig. 1. High-expansion foam was transported to a wood fire, an oil fire, and 13 coal fires. Figs. 3 and 4 show a typical coal fire before and after attack with foam. In 12 of the 15 experiments the fire was brought under control when the water content of foam was 0.2 oz or more per cu ft. A fire was considered controlled when the flames were quenched and observers could cross the area without wearing breathing apparatus or protective clothing. In the other three experiments, conducted when the water content was less than 0.2 oz per cu ft of foam, the flames were retarded but the fire was not controlled. Coal fires have been attacked successfully by foam introduced at points varying from 155 to 1010 ft from the fire. The time of burning in coal beds 10 in. thick ranged from 11/2 to 5 hrs or more. Most of the experimental fire beds were 15 ft in length. However, in one experiment a floor fire 25 ft long and 5 ft wide was constructed $5 upwind from another fire 15 ft in length; in another instance, the fire was 100 ft long and 5 ft wide. Foam was applied to the fires for periods ranging from 7 to 36 min. The time required for foam application depends on the extent of the fire, time of burning, water content of foam, foam velocity, and degree of fire control desired. In addition to the coal fires, foam was transported to a fire covering 45 sq ft, produced by 15 gal of oil burning in metal trays on the floor. The foam extinguished the oil fire in about 1 min. In one other test, the burning of 1100 lb of dry sawmill slabs stacked in open cribs 4 ft high and 16 ft long was brought under control by foam in 2 min. Composition of Gases in Return Air: In several of the experiments samples of the return air from fire zones were collected; composition of the atmosphere before, during, and after foam application was then determined. Because of condensation in the relatively cool sampling tube, the amount of water vapor was not determined. Analyses showed that concentration of carbon dioxide and combustible gases increased as the foam began passing over the fire. This resulted from the decrease in the volume of air when foam generation started and from the formation of gases when water reached the fire.* The quantity of gases generated would not be greater than that from an equivalent amount of water applied directly to the fire. The highest total concentration of combustibles (CO, CH1, and H2 mixture) obtained during the experiment was about 2 pct; this occurred 6 min after foam reached the fire. This atmosphere was nonex-plosive, but calculations show that if the air flow were reduced to about 5 fpm and if the rate of gas liberation from the fire remained constant, the mixture would be explosive. The use of foam on a fire in all probability would affect the normal ventilation of a mine. If the mine is gassy, this factor must be carefully considered before the foam is applied. APPLICATION OF THE FOAM-PLUG TECHNIQUE IN MINES Equipment and procedures for applying the foam-plug methods must be adapted to the prevailing conditions at a particular mine. Some factors to be considered in developing equipment are: size or extent of the mine, dimensions and number of entries, ventilation system, mining methods, haulage facilities, availability of water, amount of methane liberated, and existing fire-control apparatus. • In most experiments the initial air velocity of 200 fpm decreased to 50 to 100 fpm as the foam plug increased In length.

Jan 1, 1961

By W. E. Quist, R. Taggart, D. H. Polonis, C. J. van der Wekken

An intermediate compound that has been identified as Niab is observed to form as a decomposition product from supersaturaled Ni-Nb solid solutions during aging at temperatures between approximately 300" and 500°C. On the basis of data from electron microscopy and selected-area diffraction, the structure of this compound has been determined as fct with a = b - 3a0 and c = a, wlzere a,, is the lattice parameter of the parent solid solution. The compound consists of close-packed layers with triangular ordering, where the niobiutrl atoms are separated by two nickel atoms ([long- close?-packed directions. A nine layer stacking sequence is required to describe the proposed structure. STUDIES of the Ni-Nb binary system have been limited primarily to phase diagram determinations,&apos;-4 investigations of high-temperature equilibrium phases,5"1 and the determination of the influence of deformation on the structure of the equilibrium compound.8 The nickel-rich portion of the binary system is reported to be of the simple eutectic type in which the maximum solubility of 12.7 at. pct Nb occurs at 1282"c.&apos; The two-phase field below the eutectic temperature is bounded by the a fcc solid solution and an orthorhombic Ni3Nb compound. No metastable phases have been reported in previous investigations. In transformation studies of certain nickel-base commercial alloys that contain niobium, two ordered metastable compounds containing niobium have been shown to precipitate from the solid solution, both of which have been identified as y&apos; and have the composition NisNb or Ni,Nb. One compound has been reported to have the bct DOz2 type Al3Ti structure" and the other the cubic LI2 type Cu3Au structure.9,11 In the present work on Ni-Nb binary alloys a metastable y&apos; compound has not been detected after conventional quenching and aging treatments. An anomalous behavior was noted in electrical resistivity measurements. in alloys containing between 7 to 12 at. pct Nb when aging treatments were performed below 500°C after fast quenching from 1250°C. Transmission electron microscopy has shown that this behavior is caused by the formation of a low-temperature precipitate of unreported structure type and composition. EXPERIMENTAL METHODS Several Ni-Nb alloys, containing up to 11.5 at. pct Nb. were prepared by either levitation melting and casting in copper molds or by induction melting in alumina crucibles; both techniques employed purified helium gas as a protective atmosphere. The purity of the nickel and niobium used to make the alloys was 99.98 wt pct Ni and 99.9 wt pct Nb. The composition and homogeneity of the alloys were checked by weight measurements and by electron microprobe analysis. The induction-melted alloys were homogenized for 100 hr at 1100°C. The resistivity specimens were prepared from rods swaged to 2.5 mm and the electron microscopy specimens were cut from sheet that was rolled to 0.4 mm and thinned using a modified Bollmann technique." The elevated-temperature solution treatments were carried out in a purified helium atmosphere followed by direct quenching into a 10 pct NaCl solution at 23°C. Additional protection against oxidation of the samples during solution treatment was accomplished by using tantalum foil as a "getter" in the furnace. The specimens were aged at various temperatures in salt baths controlled to +2oC. A Leeds and Northrup K5 potentiometer was used to make electrical resistivity measurements on specimens immersed in liquid nitrogen. Electron microscopy and diffraction studies were carried out with JEM-7 and Philips EM-200 microscopes operating at 100 kv. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Ni-Nb alloys containing between 7 and 11.5 at. pct Nb that have been solution-treated in the range 1220" to 1280°C and quenched to 23°C undergo a precipitation reaction when aged in the temperature range 300" to 500°C. Precipitation was detected by selected-area electron diffraction after aging a specimen for as little as 30 sec at 350°C) whereas the reaction was well-advanced after aging for 150 hr at 475°C. Electrical resistivity measurements were used to monitor the progress of the precipitation reaction. In the present experiments the nucleation process for precipitation required a high solution temperature and a rapid quench into brine. The presence of aluminum, iron? and carbon in amounts totaling less than 1 wt pct was found by electron diffraction to completely suppress the formation of the low-temperature precipitate that has been detected in the binary alloy. Electron diffraction techniques were used to determine the structure of the precipitates that formed during the decomposition of the Ni-Nb supersaturated solid solutions. Figs. l(a) through l(d) show electron diffraction patterns oriented to the [loo], [110], [lll], and [I031 zone axes of the matrix. Areas of reciprocal space between these sections were investigated by slowly varying the orientations of the crystal under study; this procedure revealed no reflections other than those depicted in Fig. 1. The presence of super-lattice reflections at points coincident with the matrix reflections was confirmed by the examination of an almost completely transformed structure. On the basis of the accumulated diffraction data, the reciprocal lat-

Jan 1, 1970

By Hugh P. Tiemann

The desirability of employing the centigrade scale for the measurement of temperatures is becoming more and more recognized in this country, particularly in view of the fact that this scale is used almost exclusively in technical papers and publications—exclusively in those published in French or German. There are, however, a large number of factories and laboratories which still employ the Fahrenheit scale. It therefore frequently becomes necessary to convert one into the other and the accompanying chart (Fig. I) has been found very convenient for this purpose. The formulas for conversion follow: (1) °F. = 9o /5+ 32 (2) oC = 5 (oF - 32 ) (1) 100° C X 9 900/5 =180 .&apos;. 180 + 32 = 212° F. 5 (2) 5 (212° F - 32) = 5 X 180 =100o C 9 9

Jan 1, 1916

By H. E. Montgomery

H. L. Burghoff.*—I have a question, Dr. Smith. A number of the alloys you mentioned contain lead, which, of course, is present as discrcte particles. At what level of concentration does lead begin to play an important part in determining these elevated-temperature characteristics ? A. J. Smith.—That is a difficult question to answer because of the complicating features of the alloys that arc lead free. I do not know of any work done on the subject. But for comparison, 85-5-5-5 has about the same characteristics at, say 450°F. as 88-10-2, which is lead free or contains at most 0.30 per cent. Both 85-5-5-5 and 88-10-2 precipitate delta. The specification limit of usage is 406°F., temperature of saturated steam at

Jan 1, 1945

By Milton E. Wadsworth, T. D. Chatwin

Bulk density variations can usually be minimized by properly mixing the material before moisture measurement. The measuring of moisture on material being with- drawn directly from storage bins requires some form of bulk density correction. In Bethlehem&apos;s pellet plants continuous automatic bulk density correction and uniform feed-rate control are obtained with Bethlehem&apos;s patented Bin Level Control System. With this sys- tem a single probe, suspended or inserted in the bin, senses whether material is at the proper level in the bin and automatically regulates filter speed to control the filter-cake discharge rate to maintain this level. The level of concentrate in the filter-cake bin can thereby be controlled to within ± 1/2 in. of the point of contact between the concentrate and the probe. Material thickness on the conveyor does not have to be controlled accurately and mix compositions can vary widely as long as they do not contain variable amounts of water-soluble electrolytes. In sinter plants, errors caused by changes in normal feed rate and bed height are minimized by counter-weights that permit the free-floating to maintain a uniform contact pressure on the mix. Large changes in mix resistance can be taken care of either by resetting the control point or by adjusting the calibration control.

Jan 9, 1968

By J. H. Collier

The mother lode, or mineralized belt, at Angels, in Calaveras county, California, is 3 miles wide. At least, a region of that width has been, and is being, prospected which has shown considerable mineralization. The lode proper divides into three lodes, or groups of veins, at this point. On all of these branches, mines have been operated with more or less success.

Jan 1, 1900

By F. W. Bremmer

THE drilling of constantly deeper oil wells has made it imperative that the manufacturer of casing be ever searching for new methods and new materials to meet the increased demands. One phase of this search constitutes the subject matter of the present paper. Starting from the original Drake well in 1859, the depth of wells has advanced by leaps and bounds, until today depths of 6000 to 8000 ft. are common. Conditions point to the necessity for drilling to greater depths, and it is not at all improbable that much of the future oil produc- FIG. 1.-TREND IN DEPTH OF OIL WELLS. tion will be from, wells around 10,000 ft. deep. The trend to deeper wells is nicely illustrated by the curve in Fig. 1.1 The points plotted are the maximum depths attained in the various pools which were at their peak for the years given. It may be of some interest to observe the change that has taken place in the tensile and collapsing stresses over the last 25 years. The pressure at the bottom of a 900-ft. hole, equivalent to the pressure caused by an equal column of water, is only 450 lb. per sq. in. The equivalent

Jan 1, 1930

By Charles J. Deegan

The purpose of this paper is to point out some features of the position of fuel oil and it&apos;s relationship to the economic balance and price structure of the petroleum industry. The term "fuel oil" as used in this paper includes crude used as fuel as well as refined gas oil and fuel oil. The period covered, from 1922 to date, may be characterized as the new normal era after the post-war inflation and deflation. In order to establish a proper perspective, the figures on consumption of the principal products of petroleum are shown in Table 1. This table shows that fuel oil and gasoline made up the bulk of the total demand in 1928 just as they did in 1922. There has been so much comment about the enormous increase in gasoline consumption that it may come as a surprise to some people to find that fuel oil is still at the head of the consumption list, in point of volume at least, and seems likely to hold that place for at least another year. Having established the fact that gasoline and fuel oil are by far the most important products, the remainder of this paper will deal almost entirely with these two items.

Jan 1, 1929

By Edward H. Robie

IN many ways, the Annual Meeting of the Institute in February was the most successful yet held. Attendance surpassed even that of the 75th Anniversary Meeting in 1947 with its international flavor. The number of technical sessions and the number and quality of papers presented almost certainly set a new record. The banquet was the best attended of any yet held even though the price reached a new high. Despite the demand for almost 1700 tickets to the banquet, some felt that the price-$13.50-was higher than they could afford. There are two points of view: One is that this is the big social event of the year for members and that it is worth from three to five dollars more to have it at the Waldorf and to have a luxury menu, as we did this year, with turtle soup, a fish course, guinea hen for the entree, and wild rice (which we understand is $3.50 per lb) for a vegetable. The other point of view is that a seven or eight dollar banquet of more simple food at the Commodore Hotel would more than make up in appeal, especially to the younger and less well-heeled members, what it would lack in glamour.

Jan 1, 1952

By E. S. Grumell

THE correct sampling of coal and coke is becoming important to an ever increasing number of producers and consumers. This, therefore, may be an opportune moment to examine where we stand with regard to existing and proposed methods. In this paper an attempt will be made to review, as briefly as possible, some of the considerable amount of painstaking research which has been done in the last 10 years, and which has unquestionably led to a much better understanding of the subject. In so doing we shall try, on the one hand, to make clear where substantial progress has been made, and on the other hand, to draw attention to points that require further investigation. The paper is divided into sections in order to emphasize the major divisions of the subject; further, in order to retain this emphasis, detailed consideration of some of the points has been relegated to appendixes. No attempt has been made to give a complete survey of the literature, as this has already been done by L. A. Bushell.2 The following abbrevia-tions will be used: A.E., average error; P.E., probable error; S.W.R., size-weight ratio; B.S.I., British Standards Institution.

Jan 1, 1939

By G. R. St. Pierre, R. D. Blackburn

Oxygen contents of&apos; liquid-iron alloys saturated with oxides are analyzed. Minimum points observed in particular Fe-X-O systems can be predicled by a simple extension of first-order interaction methods. If minimum oxygen content occurs at N; where r is the ratio of metal to oxygen in the oxide phase. RECENTLY, wisher&apos; reported on solubility measurements of A1203 in liquid iron at 1580°C which support the earlier work of d&apos;Entremont, Guernsey, and chipman2 and Gokcen and Chipman. Swisher&apos;s diagram is reproduced in Fig. l. Minimum points in oxide solubilities have also been found in the Fe-Cr-0 system,4 Fig. 2, and the Fe-Ti-0 system,&apos; Fig. 3. Minima positions can be used to confirm approximately the measured first-order interactions, &, cgr, and E&~, in liquid iron and to deduce compositions of components of constant activity in the oxide phases. Consider the solution of Alz03 in liquid iron: for which an equilibrium constant can be written as: differentiating Eq. [2] with respect to Na~, the atom fraction of &l in the metallic solution, and noting that If the activities of Al and 9 are expanded by a first-order interaction model, then:

Jan 1, 1969

By Sylvain Pirson

THE number of seismograph field crews employed in the active survey of potential oil territories is still on the increase, owing to the ever pending threat of a shortage in the supply of crude oil. It is to be expected that for years to come the seismograph will be responsible for discovering many new oil fields, both in wildcat territories and in deeper formations, and that the seismographic campaign will go on unabated. Yet improvements in instrumental design, in the field and interpreta-tive techniques, are brought about year after year, and lead to the reshooting of areas many times surveyed previously. Notwithstanding the experience gained by the past eight years of active work in reflection seismographic surveys, the results given by this method of mapping deep formations have in many instances been at variance with the information subsequently obtained by the drill. To overcome this shortcoming, geophysicists have used closer spacing of the shot points and closer control of the depth points. The method dis-cussed here is being used actively in the Mid-Continent region and endeav-ors to reduce the interpretation work to a mere mechanical technique, leaving as little as possible to the opinion of the interpreter.

Jan 1, 1937

By Byron E. Eldred

Generally speaking, the practical study of combustion has been made mainly from the stand-point of the steam engineer. This narrow view-point has left open a large field for scientific research on the application of combustion in other arts, where the conditions of heat-utilization are widely different from those presented in the steam-generator. The great economic importance of the boiler and the ease of measuring its performance, together with the comparative uniformity of conditions in the steam-generator, is, probably, quite largely responsible for the practical neglect of the study of the use of fuels in other arts save only on the basis of their thermal value. yet these other arts show quite plainly that a thermal-value basis alone is not sufficient. For example, in burning lime, under ordinary conditions of firing, a cord of wood will do as much work as a ton of coal, though the latter affords more than twice the number of heat-units. Similar results are evidenced in burning brick, in the roasting of certain ores, in reheating billets, and in many other, arts where heat is to be applied over extended areas to fragmental masses of more or less refractory materials. In these arts much is to be gained by a

Jan 1, 1911

By I. L. Box

IN planning retreatment of tailings, the material to be retreated should be thoroughly investigated, tak- ing into consideration the total tonnage, the blende content, the specific gravity of the different particles, and the grinding necessary to liberate the mineral. The tailing pile is surveyed by making a closed trav-erse around the outer edges, locating the stations at points from which a considerable portion of the pile is visible. From each of these points the pile is sur-veyed by stadia and a contour map made. The yardage is then calculated from the contour interval and the area inclosed by the contours obtained with a planim-eter. A party of three men can survey an average tailing pile in one and one-half, days. In calculating tonnage it is assumed that 22 cu. ft. of tailing in place equal one ton. Sampling is done by the use of an auger with casing to prevent the hole from caving. These holes may be bored 12 to 15 ft. deep by hand, but to penetrate the entire pile some kind of power is applied to drive the casing and raise or lower the auger. The latter method is more expensive but the increased cost is more than compensated for by the value of the information obtained.

Jan 7, 1928

By W. L. Austin

THE advance made in recent times in this branch of metallurgy is indicated y the attention the subject is receiving from important American copper-producing companies. Reference to the files of publications devoted to the mining industry discloses that some 20 American companies are actively investigating the amenability of their ore, or other material, to leaching methods, and that plants of varying capacities up, to 10,000 tons per day are under construction or are projected. Several leaching works are in commercial operation. It has been frequently pointed out that no method of leaching is universally applicable, for the reason that each ore differs in some particular from apparently similar ore found elsewhere, and also because local conditions are rarely the same even where the ore closely approximates in character that being worked at some other point. For this reason the older companies are approaching the matter in a conservative manner, experimentally determining for themselves the salient features in each instance. In considering a leaching proposition three factors at once fix the attention: (1) disengaging the metal from mineralized forms in Which it is found in nature; (2) recovering the metal in a commercial state after it has been dissolved; (3) the apparatus best adapted to carrying out the several operations.

Jan 8, 1914

By M. J. McPherson, R. Venkataramani

R. Venkataramani (Assistant Professor of Mining Engineering, Dept. of Mining, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pa.)-Y. J. Wang and L. W. Saperstein are to be congratulated for their paper on the computer solution of ventilation problems. The limitations on the problem size to be solved by the program (Appendix II) has been outlined in the paper. I would like to add the following additional limitations of this computer program: The dimensions of the variable J1and J2 should be changed to J, (550) and J2 (550) to handle problems containing more than 400 branches, and up to 550 branches. If there are a large number of branches common to the various meshes, another limitation on the problem size will be the dimension of the variable NA. While a higher-order polynomial fitting for the fan characteristic data points is more rigorous, a quadratic relation, if linear interpolation between the points is inadequate, will result in saving computing time without much loss of accuracy. Of course, this can be handled by minor modifications to the existing polynomial fitting routine in the program. M. J. McPherson (Dept. of Mining Engineering, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, England)-The

Jan 1, 1972

By R. T. Murrill

BLOCK-SIGNAL and dispatching systems have been in use on surface railways for years, but only recently have they been applied to underground mining conditions. Formerly, all ore was moved underground by hand tramming; the surface openings were numerous and fairly close to the ore being mined. As the tramming distances increased, animals were brought into service. Then came the locomotive, and since its introduction, haulage lines have gradually been reduced to fewer levels and to fewer surface openings until more than 20,000 tons are being handled daily on one level in some of the larger mines. Under the, se conditions many trains must use the same-tracks, and signal systems have become necessary. In some cases it has been found more advantageous to use train dispatchers than to install signal devices. The dispatcher may be simply a flagman at a busy point or he may have mechanical signals to operate at more distant points. At the inspiration mine, Inspira-tion, Ariz., the station is equipped with a switch-con-trol board, whereby the dispatcher throws electrically all track switches in a certain block, which gives him complete control over all trains passing through that block. In a few cases, dispatcher stations are established in connection with a signal system.

Jan 2, 1922