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By Richard W. Smith

THERE are three distinct varieties of phosphate rock, in Tennessee, known commercially as: (a) the "brown" rock, which is the residual pro- duct of the weathering and natural concentration of certain phosphatic Ordovician limestones; (b) the "blue " rock, which is an unaltered phosphatic stratum of Mississippian or Devonian age; and (c) the "white" rock, which is the result of chemical replacement and deposition. Before 1894, South Carolina and Florida had supplied most of the phosphate of the United States, South Carolina leading until that date and Florida from then until the present time. In December, 1893, the blue phosphate of Tennessee was discovered almost simultaneously on Swan Creek, in Lewis County, by two independent parties-by one as the result of a careful and systematic search for a workable deposit of the long known kidney phosphate, and by the other through mistaking it for a "bloom" of coal. Leases were taken and, with further prospecting disclosing other deposits in the region, the development progressed as rapidly as 'could be expected without railroad transportation

Jan 1, 1924

By Joseph W. Roe, L. L. HEWES

A GRAPHIC solution of Kutter's formula for the flow of water has been worked out By Dr. L. I. Helves in connection with his course in Graphic Computations, given in the Sheffieild Scientific School, Yale University, which may be of interest to those who deal with canals, flumes and streams.

May 1, 1909

By G. B. Walker

THE sink-float methods designated by heavy-media separation processes were pioneered by C. Erb Weunsch for the treatment of base metal ores as an improvement over jigs. The work of Weunsch was further developed by Victor Rakowsky and The American Zinc, Lead and Smelting Co. Early in the development of the processes, the inherent unsuitability of galena as the solid constituent of the medium was recognized and ferrous media amenable to magnetic recovery and control were developed. The high efficiency and low cost of magnetic recovery and cleaning of ferrous media regardless of particle size, slime contamination, or surfacial oxidation had led to the adoption of ferrous media by all of the sink-float plants operating under the heavy-media separation processes patents controlled by American Zinc, Lead and Smelting Co. Approximately 2,000,000 tons of base metal and nonmetallic minerals are treated each month by these methods.

Jan 1, 1949

By AIME AIME

IN ACCORDANCE with the provisions of the Rules of Procedure of the American Engineering Standards Committee, the American Society for Testing, Mate-. on Feb. 15, 1921, submitted for approval by the A. E. S. Committee certain Standard Specifications for Copper, all of which were adopted or in process prior to Jan. 1, 1920, and sent with the standards the following histories of development and statements of use. FOR SOFT OR ANNEALED COPPER WIRE (B3-15) These specifications were originaly adopted by. the American Society for Testing Materials in 1912. They were prepared by a committee of the Society designated as Committee B-1 on Copper Wire. The committee consisted of eleven members; representatives of five manufacturers of -copper wire, of four manufacturers of electrical apparatus, and of two firms of consulting and contracting engineers. The members of the committee were designated by the officials of the companies to act as their representatives in the committee.

Jan 1, 1921

By W. E. STOKES

SOME extension of flying service to the mining industry occurred in 1938, particularly in Canada, where freighting activity radiated from Edmonton into the new northern mining districts. Again the airplane demonstrated its usefulness in getting new equipment rapidly into the field and in decreasing shutdown time while waiting for repairs. An 18-ton Caterpillar tractor with shovel attachment was disassembled, brought in by plane, and placed in operation at Berens River, Ont., within seven days after its de- livery at Winnipeg. At Central Patricia a mill breakdown required the replacement of a full mill head and trunnion with ball bearings, weighing 2700 lb. The Canadian Airways Junkers, termed the "flying boxcar," was called in from Yellowknife, 1300 mi. away, and the new installation was completed three days later.

Jan 1, 1939

By AIME AIME

A REGULAR meeting of the Executive Board 'of American Engineering Council was held in the Onondaga Hotel, Syracuse, N.. Y., Feb. 14, 1921, with the president, Herbert Hoover, presiding. Reports of committees were presented and acted upon as follows: ENGINEER ON INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION The second meeting of the Committee was. called because it was represented to the Committee' on Pro¬cedure that the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Association of Engineers, and the Ameri¬can Institute of Consulting Engineers were anxious to have President-elect Harding appoint an engineer to fill one of the vacancies on the Interstate Commerce Commission. The representative of The American Society of Civil Engineers agreed to endorse the recom¬mendations- of American Engineering Council, and the Committee on Procedure prepared and sent a letter to the President-elect, a - copy of this letter being sent to each member of the Board. No names were suggested. . The appointment of an engineer on the Interstate Commerce Commission was approved and the Board, after approving the action of the Committee 'on Procedure in writing the President-elect, voted that, if requested, the Committee on Procedure submit a list of not less than six names for the appointment of an engineer on the Interstate. Commerce Commission.

Jan 1, 1921

By Yeatman, Pope

FOR many years geologists have felt that mining companies should adopt a more liberal policy in the publication of their reports. The increasing usefulness of the geologist to the mining profession in recent years demands that consideration be given to this question. Prior to 1900, the call for geologists of high reputation by mining companies was probably mainly in connection with lawsuits arising from the interpretation of rights or ownership as defined by the "Law of the Apex," and from problems such as finding the continuation of the vein or whether the vein followed was the main one or a branch. Later, outside of legal questions, the most intensive and general use of their services arose from the search for oil. Geologists to determine the position of the formations

Jan 1, 1938

By W. O. Crosby

INTRODUCTION. THE crystalline belt of the Atlantic Seaboard, south of New York, attains its maximum breadth of 220 miles on the northern border of North Carolina; and in this State it is most widely characterized by the occurrence of gold in workable deposits. Half a dozen auriferous belts have been recognized by Nitze and Hanna.1 These are, in the main, coincident in position and trend with the NE.-SW. zones of metamorphic slates and schists, which, more than any other feature, give character to the geological map of North Carolina. The central gold-belts, accompanying the main zone of slates and associated igneous rocks, are much the more important and persistent, and may be regarded as continuous northward across Virginia and southward into South Carolina. Tile eastern belt, on the other band, is the shortest and, economically, one of the least important. Its extreme length does not exceed 25 miles, the narrow band of slaty rocks to which it belongs passing, both NE. and SW., beneath the coastal-plain formations. But, although limited in area and production, this belt is, perhaps, comparable with the central belts or any part of the sea-board crystallines in the variety of conditions under which the gold occurs. It lies chiefly in the NE. part of Franklin county and the NW. part of Nash county, on the watershed of Fishing creek and other tributaries of Tar river. The elevation is between 400 and 500 ft. ; and the Tertiary peneplain has here an exceptionally perfect development, the reliefs separating the slightly incised stream-courses consisting of broad, flat-topped peneplain remnants, bounded by gentle lateral slopes.

Mar 1, 1908

By D. M. Metcalf

MOST PEOPLE think of peat as an inferior substitute for coal as a fuel, and will be surprised to learn that it is extensively mined in this country for use as fertilizer rather than as a fuel. Some years ago the Florida Humus Co. began producing it at Zellwood, Orange County, Fla., in a small way for local use. When, however, the company secured an Institute member, M. H. Cuise, to apply his wide experience in mining to the problems here it was found possible to decrease production costs 70 per cent and increase output tenfold. The obvious way in which to decrease costs was to replace shovel-and- horse methods with machinery, much of which, in order to keep down-invested capital, was improvised by remodeling second-hand equipment, changing the design where necessary to meet the special conditions involved.

Jan 1, 1932

By AIME AIME

THIS journal is fully indexed-every issue, as soon as published-in a set of card?, which thus brings ready to your hand any article on any subject in this journal or in any one of 1700 other journals in all languages. This Engineering Index Service, instituted in January, 1928, is to be found in the Public Libraries of Newark, Cleveland, Bridgeport, Baltimore and the John Crerar Library, Chicago. Engineers in any field who live or work in New Jersey will find this mammoth index to the latest engineering literature in the Public Library of Newark, N. J.

Jan 1, 1929

By John J. Collins

The plight of the Japanese mining business is pitiful. Coal mines were given the highest priority for all materials they needed, yet between the end of the war and June 1948, the government was obliged to subsidize them to the extent of 22 billion yen, this being the difference between the consumer's price and the producer's price. Most of the metal mining companies have been operating at only one fifth to one third of war-time production rates, and financial losses have been terrific. The chief difficulties have been a plethora of office workers and a dearth of equipment, supplies, and miners. The principal material needs at metal mines are steel rails. cars, plates, nails, rubber hoses, and belting, to say nothing of modern core drills which are totally lacking. Until recently the great shortage was in coal; for lack of fuel the smelters and factories failed to produce the very metals and equipment now needed to operate the mines. Nation-wide shortages have created a monstrous inflation of prices throughout all the economy, currently amounting to 200 times the prewar figures. For example, the price of copper ranged from 500 to 900 yen per metric ton for many years until 1937, but in mid-1948 producers were

Jan 1, 1949

By R. S. Dean

JUST as the mineralogical name bauxite has come to include several minerals not known at the time the name was first applied, so the concept of bauxite as the one source of alumina must be enlarged during the war period to include the production of alumina from other, low-grade sources. Speaking in a narrow mineral logical sense, there is no such thing as bauxite, and similarly there is now no one source of alumina, and no one process for its extraction.

Jan 1, 1943

By P. D. I. Honeyman

IN THE Southwestern copper region the event of greatest interest was the starting up of the new Hurley, N. Mex., smelter of the Chino Mines division of the Nevada Consolidated Copper Corp., which occurred in May. This plant, built as a wet-charge smelter for treating largely an all-concentrate charge, embodies in its de- sign the latest in materials-handling equipment. Noticeable around this smelter is the absence of tram cars and trackage for the handling of charge, dust and other materials. Concentrate from the mills is received in bottom- dump cars which are unloaded into a series of concentrate bins. Concentrate is then reclaimed through the bottom of the bins and discharged through a feeder on to a conveyor belt. Flux for the charge is fed on to the conveyor ahead of the concentrate charge. The belt-mixed charge is conveyed to the furnace building and discharged into the furnace charge bin ready for feeding to the reverberatory furnace. As in the McGill plant, the furnace is fed by vibrating conveyors, one down each side of the furnace.

Jan 1, 1940

Edgar Hall, Tenterfield, New South Wales (communication to the Secretary): Mr. Klepetko* asks for information showing at what percentage antimony and arsenic, as impurities, begin to affect injuriously the quality of brass.

Jan 1, 1899

MAY 17-The last bit of verbal sod had hardly come to rest on the grave of the coal industry-which grave was being eagerly dug with typewriters and microphones by administration hangers-on and even an operator or two-when its leaders gathered for the 1950 Coal Convention of the AMC in Cincinnati on April 24. Surprisingly, mourning clothes were not being worn but the boys had on their diggers preparatory to digging their way out from under the muck. High costs created by wage and welfare demands, together with work stoppages, have caused markets to shrink, but even so, an optimistic air still prevailed as new techniques were disclosed at technical sessions. The administration, however, came in for its share of knocks.

Jan 6, 1950

By GUY C. RIDDELL, Donald M. Liddell

THE electronic arts today constitute the outstanding development in the field of rare metals, if not indeed in the arena of scientific progress at large. The year 1930 may become known as the year in which the electronic tube took hold of the wheels of industry; it is the year in which the tube's emancipation from the art of communication was proclaimed. The little tube which made a $500,000,000 industry out of a vacuum has now been applied to mining, manufacturing, transportation, chemistry, and other industries. Not many appreciate the extensive utility that e1ectroni.t tubes have already found in transportation, where they control the speed and security of express trains, as well as operate traffic lights on important highways-in the case of the Detroit-Windsor bridge counting the traffic and instantly turning the reports into the superintendent's office some distance away. In an Ohio steel mill, ten-ton ingnts 'rash back and forth through the rolls, reversed by their own shadows. The vacuum tube also starts, stops, and levels, fast passenger elevators.

Jan 1, 1931

By Paul Queneau

FEW of us who waded ashore on the Norman beaches realized the importance of coal to a successful invasion. General Eisenhower and his staff had been aware of the essential need for coal and an able Solid Fuels Section had been set up under the direction of Colonel Robert P. Koenig, of Indiana. This organization met the requirements of the invading armies on their march to the Rhine. East of the Siegfried Line enemy territory, the Army Engineers were called upon for assistance. When the Engineers were advised that, in addition to their normal duties, they were to occupy and place in operation the coal mines in the Twelfth Army group area, plans were drawn up overnight and action was initiated immediately. The Sixth Engineer Special Brigade, a versatile outfit which made a notable record D-Day on Omaha Beach, was selected to handle the operation. Within 48 hours of the new assignment an advance command post was set up cm the west bank of the Rhine at Homberg, just below German-held Duisburg. The 368th Engineer General Service Regiment was assigned to the Brigade, and the British 44th Pioneer Group, including specialist personnel, was also attached. This large British unit was added because most of the mines would shortly come within the British zone of

Jan 1, 1946

As knowledgeable men in the industry know, a mineral occurrence is found through prospecting but an ore deposit is "made" -made through, first, imaginative and effective exploration; thence through efficient engineering, sales and management. There are two main phases of exploration-reconnaissance and target investigation-each of which can be further divided into two additional stages (see accompanying table). The search for a new ore deposit within a known and geologically mapped mining district involves only the last two stages, whereas the search for a new orebody in a virgin geologic environment involves at least three stages and often the full sequence. Of course, some of the exploration stages may be bypassed depending on available results of previous mineral surveys and/or exploration by individuals, business concerns, and governments.

Jan 10, 1967

By John V. Beall

STREAM pollution caused by waste waters from mineral industry operations is a problem that has grown up with the industry. Its importance to each operator is dependent on the amount and type of waste he dumps into the rivers and streams; on whether this waste pollutes the waters sufficiently to make them unfit for potable water, irrigation, and conservation of wild life; and on whether this waste makes a safety or health hazard. Through the years our growing population and industry have made increasing demands on the mineral industries, the suppliers of the raw materials on which our industries are based; and we have met these demands at some sacrifice to the natural beauty and cleanliness of our country. However, that is often the unavoidable nature of the business, and along with the increased use of our

Jan 1, 1948

By W. R. Ingalls

THE main objective of everybody, individually and collectively as the people of nations, is to earn their living and improve the scale thereof as much and as rapidly as possible. We are able to earn" our living only by working and producing. We I are able to rise to higher standards of comfort only by increasing our production of goods, or diminishing the waste of those that we do produce, or both. This statement is trite. It is equally trite to dwell upon the importance of increased production to be derived from increased efficiency of labor and improved manage-ment; and the good results that would accrue to every-body if employers and employees would work together to secure the maximum of production at the minimum of cost. All of this is nothing more than platitude, to which every intelligent person subscribes in the abstract; but what concerns us especially, and what is neither so easy nor so understandable, is to translate the expres-sion of the abstract principle into formulas for action. The national net income obviously may be increased in two ways, or by both together. One is to diminish the waste of the goods that we already have made available. The other is to increase the supply of goods. .Increasing the supply of goods may involve the elimina-tion of waste, but a distinction is to be drawn between the waste of things that we have and the failure to obtain those that we might have. If we limit the term "waste" to the careless and profligate use of the materials that have come into our possession, together with the absorption of labor in doing obviously unnecessary things; and if we character-ize by the term "inefficiency" the failure to accomplish in our industrial operations the best of which we are capable, we shall create a distinction that will be pro-motive of clear thinking. In this paper I am going to deal with inefficiency, not waste, observing the distinc-tion, arbitrary if you please, that I have made. Without any doubt the greatest inefficiency that exists in our economic affairs is that which causes hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of men to be idle a good deal of the time. The major reasons for such idleness are two-fold. One of them is the conse-quence of what for convenience may be called business cycles, although I do not hold to the hypothesis of business cycles as it is now being rather widely expounded. That hypothesis involves the idea of rhyth-mic undulations due to causes unknown, but which it is hoped may be ascertained. The movement of busi-ness in waves up and down is undeniable, but that there are recurrences of cycles every so often is purely imag-inary, I think. It is unnecessary-to digress into that subject. The extents of the rises and falls above and below a median line undoubtedly is less than is commonly supposed.

Jan 3, 1922