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By A. F. Banks

INTRODUCTION Selective flocculation-flotation as a method of desliming potash flotation feed has been practiced in the Cominco Ltd. potash plant since November. 1974 when it was installed to replace a less efficient mechanical desliming process. The plant was designed for a consistent feed containing 4.5% insolubles. In practice the quantity and quality of the insoluble material is quite variable. This variability led to serious problems in the deslime circuit and consequently had an adverse effect on sylvite flotation performance. A costly mechanical solution to the problem was being seriously considered when it was drawn to our attention that a selective flocculation-flotation process had been developed. The process was tried first in the laboratory on the Cominco Ltd. ore, then on a pilot basis on 25% of the mill feed and finally full scale. The time from being informed of the process to full scale operation was 18 months. It has since been incorporated into a tailings regrind circuit. The original mine design called for the mining of an 11 foot height up to the top of the three clay seams. These had to be taken as they were a zone of structural weakness. It also assumed that the beds would be uniform with only a few disturbances. Very soon after the initial start up it was found that permanent openings had to take in the layers right up to the upper clay seams and because of the mining process that this material would have to be milled when encountered. The number of disturbed areas in the mine is greater than the design anticipated. In operation the insoluble content of the mill feed varies from 4.5% to 8% plus with the peaks being very short- term to relatively long, from hours to day. In terms of quality, the insolubles in the mining horizon are relatively soft and easily liberated, whereas those above are hard and liberate slowly.

Jan 1, 1979

By A. S. Koster, G. D. Rieck

X-ray experiments were carried out to show the occurrence of cylindrical texture in drawn tungsten wire. Only a small amount of (110) (110) cylindrical texture could he found in wires of intermediate thickness, i.e., of about 1.5 mm diameter. DRAWN wires of tungsten and other bcc metals like iron and molybdenum show a well-established (110) fiber texture. Now it might be conceivable that in drawing radial stresses remove the randomness of the crystallites around the [110} axis, thus giving a fiber texture of higher symmetry. In the resulting so-called cylindrical textures a specified plane normal coincides with the radius of the wire. Several authors discuss the occurrence of cylindrical textures in bcc metals. ~ieck' found no cylindrical texture in drawn tungsten wires of 165 n diameter. Leber~ states that in tungsten wires of 3 mm diameter a cylindrical {100)(110) texture is developed, which is gradually converted to a normal fiber texture by subsequent drawing. He also reported a definite cylindrical texture at the surface of iron wires. Peck and Thomas3 observed a nonuniform mode of deformation of the grains in transverse sections of heavily drawn tungsten and iron wires. According to Bhandary and cullity4 a swaged iron wire has neither a perfect (110) fiber texture nor a perfect {100}(110) cylindrical texture. It is clear that the concept of cylindrical texture in bcc metals still lacks a firm experimental basis. Leber's eviden~e,~ which seems to be the strongest, rests upon qualitative interpretation of photographs. The appearance of the 110 and 200 lines on the photograph of 3-mm wire, however, can be very well attributed5 to a normal ( 110) fiber texture superimposed on random background; our Fig. 1, giving a Debye-Scherrer diagram of etched tungsten wire of 180 p, is free of cylindrical texture according to all authors, but is quite similar to Leber's diagram. It was therefore decided to use a different method of X-ray texture determination on tungsten wires of diameters where cylindrical textures may be expected.

Jan 1, 1965

By Valentin R. Garfias, C. O. Isakson

The production of oil in Mexico during 1929 was approximately 45,000,000 bbl., or 5,000,000 bbl. less than in 1928. The production of the fields near Tampico showed a decline of over 10,000,000 bbl. for both the light and heavy crudes, which was partly offset by an increase of over 5,000,000 bbl. in the production of the fields in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. During 1929 the retrenchment policy followed by practically all the companies was continued and no material improvement should be expected until the unsatisfactory conditions that brought about this situation are remedied. A new administration has just assumed control in Mexico; it should remain in power for 6 years, and the progress of the oil industry during that time will depend primarily on the policy pursued by the new government with respect to oil development. Development During 1929, there were drilled 214 wells as compared with 371 in 1928 and 583 in 1927. The percentage of producers in 1929 was 47.2 as against 34 per cent. in 1928. The new wells did not show water as quickly as in 1928, particularly in the Cacalilao field, where the greatest number of producers was brought in, their average initial daily production being 380 bbl. The flush daily production per well in the Southern fields was 1730 bbl., while the wells in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec came in with an average of 770 bbl. Development is summarized in Table 1. In the Southern fields 63 wells were drilled in 1929, of which 23 were producers, the best being drilled in Paso Real. This development tends to show that the southern extension of Dos Bocas-Alamo fault from Alamo to San Isidro terminates at San Isidro. The two wildcat wells completed in 1929, one in Magiscatzin and the other in Xicotencatl, were failures, and at the end of the year there were eight wildcat wells drilling and material was being hauled for two more.

Jan 1, 1930

By John Henry Harden

It appears that in the earlier days of anthracite coal mining, 1824-25, the Lehigh region mined 76 per cent. of all the coal sent to market. During the same period Wyoming sent 12 and 5 per cent. respectively, whilst the Schuylkill sent 11 and 18 per cent., the number of tons marketed being in those days very small indeed. In the year 1828 the Schuylkill region mined over one-half of all the coal sent to market, and continued to do so for thirty years (with the exception of the year 1831), until 1858 ; since that date the production has declined very steadily in comparison with the other regions, until, in 1876, it was only 34 per cent. Wyoming, in the year 1820, was mining 40 per cent., but the production of all the regions was very small; in six years it declined to 5 per cent., increased to 34 per cent. in 1831, declined to 10 per cent. in 1838. Since which time the increase has been gradual, until 1873-75 Wyoming produced over 50 per cent. of all the anthracite coal sent to market. In 1867 the production exceeded that of Schuylkill, and has continued to do so since that time. In the year 1876, during the existence of the "coal combination," Wyoming lost 9 per cent.; during the same time Lehigh gained 7 and Schuylkill 2 per cent. over their relative production of the preceding year, the decrease of Wyoming being two and a half million tons, the increase of the Lehigh one million, the decrease of the Schuylkill nearly three-quarters of a million. The extraordinary production of the Lehigh region at a time of decreased demand and in opposition to an agreement with the other regions to limit the supply to the supposed demand mas the cause of the disagreement which ultimately broke up the combination of the great coal-producing and carrying companies. The Lehigh region produced very steadily, from 1829 to 1854, an average of about 22 per cent. of the whole production. From 1854

By B. B. Zavoico, J. G. H. Crump, P. P. Gregory

West Texas was the scene of greatly increased oil activity during 1937, producing 75,743,000 bb1.l in that year as compared with 61,901,-000 bb1.2 in 1936, an increase of 22.36 per cent. The annual total of wells completed increased from 15863 in 1936 to 28062 in 1937, an increase of 76.92 per cent. Of the total completions in 1937, 2464 were oil wells,2 11 gas wells2 and 331 dry holes.2 The marked increase in the number of oil wells completed in West Texas during 1937 had a substantial effect upon the daily average production per well, which decreased 20.84 per cent from December 1936, when a total of 5310 wells3 produced 5,236,467 bbl.3 for an average of 31.81 bbl. per well per day to December 1937, when 7571 wells2 with a total production of 5,910,257 bb1.2 averaged 25.18 bbl. per well per day. Drilling blocks and checkerboard acreage were being acquired following geophysical work in the northern end of the Permian Basin area, composed of Bailey, Cochran, Hockley, Yoakum and Terry Counties, presaging extension of active development northward. During 1937, at one time 30 geophysical crews were working in West Texas, and an average of 15 to 20 crews was active in this area throughout the year. Discoveries Wasson-Denver Field.—Wasson-Denver field in Gaines and Yoakum Counties was the outstanding field discovery of the year. Production is from porous limestone found at about 5000 ft., and an average well is good for from 300 to 500 bbl. of crude oil per day through 3/4-in. choke. The discovery well was drilled by A. G. Carter and others on the Wasson Ranch, Gaines County, and the field has since been extended into Yoakum County. At the year's end 21 wells had been completed, producing

Jan 1, 1938

By W. H. Ode, W. A. Selvig

By plotting fixed carbon against British thermal units of coals free from mineral matter, and ranging in rank from anthracite to lignite, it is found that the coals of higher rank, from anthracite to the higher rank of the high-volatile bituminous coals, inclusive, can be separated into groups according to their degree of metamorphism by reference to their fixed carbon. Such charts show also that the coals lower in rank can be best separated into groups with respect to B.t.u., especially when plotted on the moist basis, that is, coal containing its natural bed moisture. A tentative scheme for coal classification was presented at the October, 1932, meeting of the Technical Committee on Scientific Classification, of the American Standards Association Sectional Committee on Coal Classification. This scheme was sponsored by Subcommittee IV on Tentative Classification of Coals, under the chairmanship of W. T. Thom, Jr. It proposed the grouping of coals according to rank by reference to fixed carbon and B.t.u., on the basis of coal containing its natural bed moisture but free from mineral matter. This scheme proposed classifying coals into four broad classes: (1) anthracitic, (2) bituminous, (3) subbituminous, (4) lignitic. The anthracitic class was divided into three groups designated as meta-anthracite, normal anthracite, and semianthracite. The bituminous class also was divided into three groups, low volatile, medium volatile, and high volatile. The high-volatile group was further subdivided into four subgroups according to moisture content, as fo1lows: (1) less than 5 per cent, (2) 5 to 10 per cent, (3) 10 to 15 per cent, and (4) 15 per cent and more. The subbituminous class was divided into two groups, group 1 including subbituminous coals having calorific values of 10,500 B.t.u. or more, and group 2 including those with less than 10,500 B.t.u. The lignitic class of coal was divided into two groups both below 8,000 B.t.u., the one group consisting of consolidated and the other of unconsolidated

Jan 1, 1934

By Edgar L. Newhouse

The lead smeltery at East Helena, Mont., controlled by the American Smelting & Refining Co. since 1899, has been in continuous operation for the past 25 years. Most of the old smelting and roasting practices have been superseded by newer and more modern methods, but on account of the difficulties involved in changing the original construction, some of the methods in use of handling materials are not the most modern. This plant, however, is particularly interesting as being one of the few essentially lead smelteries in the United States. At Federal, Ill., Collins-ville, Herculaneum, and possibly other places, similar work is being done, but it is doubtful whether any of them produces as much lead as the East Helena plant, whose monthly production averages 6,500 tons. The situation, 5 miles east of Helena, is convenient to both the Great Northern and Northern Pacific railroads, while the electric power is obtained from Canyon Ferry, 12 miles east on the Missouri river. Local quarries supply the requisite amount of lime rock, which the contracts require to be crushed to 5 in. Of the 450 men on the monthly pay roll, a census showed 200 Austrians, 110 Americans, and 30 Italians, the balance being made up of miscellaneous nationalities. The ore supply is mainly derived from the Coeur d'Alene mines in Idaho, and consists of crude ore, coarse and fine concentrates, middlings, and slimes. About one-half of the total output of the Coeur d'Alene camp is sent to East Helena. An average analysis of these ores gives approximately 40 per cent. lead and 11 per cent. sulphur. Local shipments, varying from month to month, are mostly highly siliceous gold and silver ores carrying little lead. Small shippers, leasers of old mines, and prospectors are very numerous throughout Montana, and it is the policy of the company to encourage these men by every possible means, including the free sampling and analysis of their ores and aid in the development of their mines and prospects, whenever their results show promise.

Jan 1, 1915

By J. R. Wylie, L. C. Huntley

Drilling for oil in the eastern producing states was fairly active during the first part of 1931, although less so than in 1930. With low prices development declined during the year, until the low prices of the summer resulted in an almost complete shut-down of drilling. This coincided with the action of the Conservation Board of the Pennsylvania Crude Oil Producers Assn, in limiting pipe line runs to 50 per cent of the 1930 normal for the Bradford district and upper country, and to 70 per cent for the balance of the region. Not only was new drilling halted but in many cases oil-producing properties were shut in. In November crude prices were partly restored, and all oil offered was being taken except in the Bradford district which was restricted to 80 per cent of the 1930 normal. During the latter part of the year drilling was being resumed on a moderate scale, and new production indicated a resumption of the proration order. The interest in gas development which has been under way for several years, maintained its supremacy over the search for oil in 1931. New reserves of importance were developed during the year in the Western Kentucky Coal Basin, in the Eastern Kentucky shale gas territory, in Stark County, Ohio, as well as the Oriskany sand development in northern Pennsylvania and central New York. A gas line was completed to the Eastern Seaboard serving Washington and Baltimore, and other lines were under construction designed to serve portions of the territory not hitherto supplied with natural gas. The low price of fuel oil at seaboard is understood to be the deterrent factor against further extension of natural gas lines to these markets at present. The development of these new reserves, as well as those developed by intensive drilling in old areas, resulted in the building up of large potential gas production and a lowering of rates paid to the producer. This, coupled with the country-wide tendency to lower the consumer rates of all public utilities, resulted in a general threat to reopen rate cases before various state commissions. Oil Development The past year was marked only by the almost complete shut-down of new development, reaching its low point during the summer, with its

Jan 1, 1932

By W. R. Hamilton

The knowledge of the existence of petroleum in Southern California dates back to the days of the missions. The presence of asphaltum and semisolid bitumen was reported at Santa Barbara in 1792, but no serious attempt was made to develop oil until Professor Silliman's optimistic report in 1865 started California's first oil boom. Wells were drilled in many counties of the State, but the equipment was unsuitable and the drilling difficult and no production was obtained except in Ventura County. Even there the production was of little importance commercially, and not until the early '80s did it become sufficient to again attract attention. In 1888 the production for the State had reached a total of about 700,000 bbl. per year, practically all light oil produced in Ventura County, Pico Canyon, Los Angeles County and in the Puente Hills. The production of petroleum attained the dignity of an industry in 1895 when the Los Angeles City and Coalinga fields were discovered. The subsequent development has been remarkable, and in 20 years the production has increased from 1,000,000 to 100,000,000 bb1. per year. The refining industry has kept pace with the production of oil. The Pacific Coast Oil Co., the predecessor of the Standard Oil Co. of California, was the virtual pioneer refining company of the State, having built a refinery at Alameda about 1880. When purchased by the Standard, about 1902, it was dismantled and the refinery at Point Richmond was built. The Richmond refinery is now one of the largest in the world, having a capacity in excess of 60,000 bbl. per day. A small refinery was built by the Union Oil Co. at Santa Paula in the early days of the industry and later many asphalt refineries were in operation in Southern California. The Pacific Coast Oil Co. was then, as has been its successor, the Standard Oil Co. of California, the principal refiner and marketer of light products, the most valuable of which was kerosene. Before the opening of the twentieth century, gasoline of excellent quality was produced, though it was always a drug on the market and was produced for the simple reason that its presence rendered the flash and fire tests of the kerosene too low. The user of kerosene at the present

Jan 1, 1917

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 David Donoghue

THE. years 1901, 1910, and 1924 may be considered as the beginning of new eras in the history of the oil industry of the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana. Spindletop, in 1901, with its enormous cap-rock production revealed the possibilities of the salt domes. The lateral sand development at Vinton, in 1910, renewed interest in the then known domes which were non-producing, or were producing from the cap rock or from sands above the cap rock. The discovery of three domes, Nash, Orchard and Long Point, in the year 1924, by means of the torsion balance and the seismograph, is the beginning of intensive explorations of the Gulf coastal plain by geophysical methods. Domes other than those mentioned have no doubt been found during the last few months of the year but tests have not been drilled to confirm the evidence of the instruments. DISCOVERY OF DOMES BY GEOPHYSICAL METHODS The Rycade Oil Corpn. operated the first torsion balance on the Gulf Coast in October, 1922, and the Roxana Petroleum Corpn. brought in one of these instruments and began work in December, 1922. The U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey made some gravity observations at Damon Mound, in 1923, with a pendulum apparatus. In March, 1924, the Marland Oil Co. placed the first seismograph on the Gulf Coast and the Gulf Production Co. followed with one in May. In June, 1924, the Gulf Production Co. began operations with a torsion balance. The Atlantic Oil Producing Co., The Texas Co., and others have experimented with several types of instruments involving various principles. During the next few years, a great advance in geophysical methods may be expected, especially if one of the newly discovered domes should be productive. The first dome discovered was the Nash, in Fort Bend County, Tex., about 6 mi. east of Damon Mound. A slight elevation and two shallow wells containing sulfurous waters made the locality somewhat interesting from the standpoint of surface indications, and the torsion-balance measurements indicated the presence of a dome. On July 20, 1924, the Rycade Oil Corpn. No. 1 Wisdom encountered lime at a depth of 634 ft. and anhydrite at 639 ft. The hole was abandoned on Sept. 8, 1924, at 769 ft. in anhydrite. A cavity in the anhydrite caused much delay and the final abandonment of this test.

Jan 3, 1925

By F. R. Pyne

The following notes are presented in an endeavor to point out the disadvantages attending the use of chrome brick in reverberatory furnaces in which are conducted the treatment of materials of such a nature that absorption by the brick is of too great value to be wasted, and these values must be recovered, if possible, in order to prevent metal losses that can not be tolerated. Several years ago one of the large Eastern copper refineries decided to utilize basic material in place of siliceous material in the walls of their reverberatory furnaces for the treatment of very foul blister copper, as the latter rapidly corroded the siliceous linings. It was also expected that there would be less slag formation, with a consequent decrease in the cost of treatment and a reduction in the metal losses. Magnesite brick were first used, but while the corrosive action of the foul material was greatly reduced, and the amount of slag formed was very much less, the magnesite proved to be unsatisfactory in certain parts of the furnace, because of its tendency to crack and spall badly when subjected to the alternate heating and cooling that takes place in a reverberatory refining furnace. This made many repairs necessary, and consequent frequent interruption in the operation of the furnace, which, together with the high price of the magnesite brick, ran up the cost of maintenance to an unreasonable amount. It was, therefore, decided to substitute chrome brick for magnesite brick in the parts of the furnace affected. The results, as far as the reverberatory furnace was concerned, were very satisfactory. The corrosion due to the action of the foul blister was small and the amount of slag formed was no greater than when using magnesite, and the tendency to crack and spall shown by the magnesite was eliminated. Gradually the use of chrome brick was extended to all furnaces, those treating blister copper as well as those melting cathodes, and the results were so satisfactory that the siliceous roofs were replaced by roofs of chrome brick except in certain places where experience showed a more satisfactory performance on the part of the silica brick. It was immediately recognized, for both the magnesite and the chrome brick, that the metal absorption was very heavy, but it was felt that the

Jan 1, 1918

By Ben B. Cox

During the past year considerable progress was made in the exploitation of Iraq's resources, although no new fields were discovered. The principal development was the completion of the much heralded pipe line from Kirkuk to the Mediterranean, by the Iraq Petroleum Co., Ltd., and the beginning of crude exports to Europe on the second of August. Official ceremonies for the opening of the lines took place in January, 1935. The line in itself is sufficient achievement under the existing natural handicaps to deserve a moment's attention. It is 1151 miles long, composed of two independent lines made up mostly of 12-in. with some 10-in. and 8-in. pipe, and extends from Kirkuk westward 156 miles to beyond the Euphrates River as a double line. From that point, near the village of Haditha inside the Iraq border, it bifurcates, one leg going as a single line to Haifa through the British Mandated Territories of Trans-Jordania and Palestine, and the other to Tripoli through the French Mandates of Syria and the Leban(on)ese Republics. The total length of the Tripoli line is 532 miles, of the Haifa line 619 miles. The line leaves Kirkuk at an elevation of 1013 ft., drops to 350 ft. at the Tigris, to 200 ft. at Wadi Tharthar west of the Tigris and again to 300 ft. at the Euphrates, rises to more than 3150 ft. at mile 451 on the central Arabian steppe along the south line and to more than 2500 ft. at mile 466 along the north line. On crossing the rift valley of the Jordan River south of Galilee, it drops abruptly below 850 ft. below sea level, requiring the use of extra heavy 8-in. pipe and a relief station to reduce the pressure. A picked group of American welders, under H. S. Austin, of the Ajax Pipe Line Co., laid the line. It is coated, wrapped, and buried 30 in. beneath the surface in solid rock along much of the route. It crosses four large rivers and wide stretches of alkaline soils. Twelve pumping stations are employed, three of which are double east of the bifurcation. Each single station houses three 500-hp. crude-burning deisel engines flexible-coupled to reciproratirig pumps. Each pumping unit is capable of handling a minimum of 21,000 bbl. of oil, giving the entire system a

Jan 1, 1935

By C. M. Kleeman

All mines have a finite life and the time comes when the ore is depleted, or it has become uneconomical, or for some other reason which may be peculiar to that particular mine, it must be shut down. The operation at that point of time still has some assets such as mining and milling equipment, workshops, and in the case of a gold mine, an unknown quantity of gold which has been trapped in the treatment plant. Recovering this gold can be done at small cost and can be extremely profitable. Recovery of these hidden assets requires a good knowledge of the treatment plant, i. e. , as say values of heads, tails, and of the products produced; and if mercury for amalgamation was used, where? A careful study of available plant records can be extremely valuable in forming a working plan for adequate recovery. In the following paragraphs the various unit operations and equipment where gold can collect are described and suggestions made for its recovery. Subsequently, a case history will be given for dismantling a gold plant which had a complex flowsheet and which had been in operation for many years. Looking for trapped gold in a crushing section would invariably not be worthwhile since crushing is normally a dry process and there would be few areas where free gold could collect. In the milling section, however, many areas can literally become small gold mines in themselves. Material in the bottoms of grinding mill scoop boxes can be high-grade, and even the scale on the sides of the boxes should be scraped off and collected. Mill liners should be removed and all scale, rust, and residue collected. Residue in the bottoms of rake or spiral classifiers, if they have been used, should be removed as should the scale and rust on the sides of pump sumps, launders, etc. The following procedures should be used to extract gold from these collected materials. All steel (ball scats) should be removed, screened out, and reserved. Fine material should be placed in an amalgam barrel, water added and ground with the amalgamation tailings being sampled and assayed. If high-grade, tails should be reserved; if not, discarded. The coarse material that was screened out should be placed in a heap, regularly sprayed with water and allowed to rust. After several months this material should be screened again and the fines amalgamated.

Jan 1, 1981

By Rustum Roy, E. F. Osborn

THE investigation discussed in this paper concerns phase equilibria in the alumina-silica-water system. Studies in this system are part of a re¬search project sponsored by the Geophysics Branch of the Office of Naval Research2 directed toward increasing knowledge of the stability relations of metamorphic mineral assemblages. Inasmuch as metamorphic rocks consist largely of aluminosilicate struc¬tures, many of them hydrated, the system alumina-silica-water is a logical starting point for the systematic laboratory study of metamorphic mineral systems. Although logical, this is not, however, an easy approach to the problem because of the very great difficulty of obtaining transformations among structures in response to changes in temperature, pressure, and con¬centration. Commonly equilibrium among the phases in this system is exceed¬ingly difficult to attain. New laboratory techniques are required to produce certain structural rearrangements, such as inversion of diaspore to boehmite or the transformation of alumina-silica mixtures to andalusite or kyanite. Phase equilibrium data for the alumina-silica-water system are consequently only partly complete, and only a summary progress report is presented here. Crystalline phases in the alumina-silica-water system are numerous and many are common minerals. The oxide components exist as: quartz, tridymite, cristobalite, corundum, water, and ice. Binary compounds occurring naturally are: sillimanite, andalusite, kyanite, and mullite in the alumina-silica system and gibbsite, boehmite, and diaspore in the alumina-water system. The most abundant among the ternary compounds is the composition A12O3.2SiO2.¬2H2O, existing in the four structural modifications, kaolinite, nacrite, dickite, and halloysite. The hydrated form of halloysite, A12O3.2SiO2.4H2O, is here called endellite. Pyrophyllite, A12O3.4SiO2.H2O, is the third ternary compound of natural occurrence. In addition to these minerals, two other ternary crystalline phases have been encountered in this study. The first is a structure resembling montmorillonite and corresponding perhaps to the pure aluminian end member of the beidellite series. The other has a composition approximating A12O3.2SiO2.H2O but its composition and structure are still in doubt. LABORATORY PROCEDURE In these laboratory studies, a starting material such as an alumina-silica gel or one or more of the crystalline phases is wrapped in platinum foil,

Jan 1, 1952

By G. Bhat, J. F. Libsch

lsoembrittlement curves depicting the influence of time and temperature in the range 800' to 1260°F (425' to 680°C) on the development of embrittlement in a commercial chromium alloy steel and a commercial molybdenum alloy steel are presented. Two distinct regions of embrittlement occur in the chromium alloy steel: I—at 800' to 1000°F (425' to 540°C) and 2—in the region just below the lower critical temperature. Embrittlement is most pronounced at 800' to 1000°F, decreasing very rapidly with increasing temperature above this region, only to increase again as the lower critical temperature is approached. The data suggest two distinct modes of embrittlement with possible superposition of the two modes at extended embrittling times in the temperature range 1100° to 1150°F (590' to 620°C). While the molybdenum alloy steel shows little susceptibility to embrittlement at 800' to 1000°F (425' to 540°C), considerable embrittlement may occur just below the lower critical temperature. THE subject of temper embrittlement in alloy steels has received considerable attention in the last few years. Points of view on the mechanism of embrittlement differ, however, resulting in part from the incompleteness of the data developed and in part from the speculation regarding the susceptibility of plain carbon steel to temper embrittlement. Libsch, Powers, and Bhat1 carried out short-time embrittling treatments on an AISI 1050 steel and demonstrated that hardened plain carbon steels are quite susceptible to embrittlement when tempered in the range from 850°F (455°C) to the lower critical temperature. The isoembrittlement diagram,' representing the embrittling characteristics of this steel, is reproduced in Fig. 1. It is evident from the shape of the curves shown that embrittlement in plain carbon steel increases progressively with both temperature and time in the embrittling range. A comparison of the isoembrittlement diagram for AISI 1050 steel with that presented by Jaffe and Buffum' for an SAE 3140 steel shows that up to 930°F (500°C) the isoembrittlement characteristics of the plain carbon steel are similar to those of SAE 3140 steel, although the embrittlement is much more severe in the latter steel. Above 930°F (500°C), the rate of embrittlement in the plain carbon steel increases continuously with increasing temperature; whereas, in the SAE 3140 steel, the embrittlement rapidly decreases. The influence of alloying elements upon embrittlement during tempering thus appears to cause a decrease in embrittlement above the region of maximum embrittlement, i.e., 850" to 1000°F. The question naturally arises as to what effect individual alloying elements have upon the embrittling characteristics of the plain carbon steel. Current knowledge on the influence of alloying elements on temper brittleness may be found in the review papers of Hollomon" and Woodfine. Hollo-mon," from the results of other investigators, has shown that, in general, the amount of embrittlement increases with increasing alloy content (except for molybdenum and possibly tungsten and columbium). Jaffe and Buffum," by a comparison of the embrittlement in a plain carbon steel with that of a SAE 3140 steel postulated that the presence of alloying elements in moderate amounts tends to retard the development of temper brittleness. It is difficult to determine what effect chromium has upon temper brittleness, since most of the information available has been based on the combined effect of other elements with chromium, particularly nickel and manganese. However, Wilten, and recently Jolivet and Vidal,' Vida1, and Woodfine have reported that chromium steels are temper brittle, that the embrittlement is reversible with a maximum rate of embrittlement at approximately 975°F (525"C)," and that the susceptibility increases with increasing amounts of chromium. Taber, Thorlin, and Wallacel" have found a large embrittling effect with increasing chromium content in a medium C-Mn-Ni steel. But Hultgren and Chang," from their experiments conducted on synthetically prepared ternary Fe-C-Cr alloys, could not conclude that these alloys are susceptible to temper embrittlement. However, on addition of manganese or phosphorus, these Fe-C-Cr alloys became susceptible, from which fact they concluded that the embrittlement developed in chromium-bearing Fe-C alloys is due chiefly to the presence of these elements. Considerable data are available to show that molybdenum decreases the susceptibility of steel to temper embrittlement. However, its effectiveness in preventing or decreasing embrittlement appears limited to its presence in small amounts. Vidal" has shown that a plain 2 pct Mo steel was susceptible. Hultgren and Chang" also have shown that molybdenum additions in excess of 2 pct to synthetically prepared Ni-Cr steels did not prevent embrittlement. Jolivet and Vidal' and Lea and Arnold found that molybdenum reduced temper brittleness. Lea and Arnold further stated that molybdenum decreased the rate of embrittlement rather than the total amount of embrittlement, whereas Preece and Carter" have shown that the presence of molybdenum greatly reduces the equilibrium extent of the change at a given temperature but does not appear to influence the rate of embrittlement. There appears to be very little information as to how molybdenum by itself affects the temper brittleness susceptibility of a plain carbon steel.

Jan 1, 1956

By A. Schild

The effect of heating a producing well on the rate of oil recovery has been analyzed in the simple case of a well producing oil by a radial drive and in the steady state. Differences of production rates with and without borehole heating have been calculated and plotted; these measure some of the benefits of the thermal recovery process. A striking feature is that the production increase tends rapidly to a constant value for large production rates. Some concrete examples, including a rough comparison with field data. are discussed. Heating requirements have been calculated and plotted on the assumption that the heaters used are 100 per cent efficient. Heating has been thought of as applying only to low volume wells producing heavy oils. However, the calculations suggest that the thermal process considered might be profitable even for some wells producing large quantities of light oil, especially in unconsolidated formations where fracturing is not possible. In the case of wells producing other fluids with the oil or of wells producing partly or wholly by gravity drainage, the theory developed does not apply in detail. It can be expected, however, that any general qualitative be-havior will remain valid. Under normal temperature conditions, high viscosity emulsions sometimes form around the wellbore, lowering the permeability in the vicinity of the well and impeding the production of oil. Borehole heating often prevents such emulsification. This important effect is not easily amenable to mathematical analysis and has not been included in the theory presented here. It should therefore be kept in mind that the benefits due to borehole heating may in fact exceed the values given by the following calculations. INTRODUCTION The recovery of viscous, low gravity oils can often be stimulated by applying heat to the production zone. The higher temperature lowers the viscosity of the oil, increasing its mobility, and therefore its rate of production. One thermal method of recovery 1,2,3,4. consists in operating a heater inside a producing well and, at the same time, producing oil from the well. In this paper a simple theoretical model is analyzed to study the effect of such heating on the recovery of oil. The reservoir mechanics of the process is the only aspect of the problem which is considered here. The details of the heating system are ignored, and it is simply assumed that the heater raises the temperature in the immediate vicinity of the producing well to a pre-assigned temperature T w. Although heating requirements are calculated, these refer only to the heat supplied to the formation and to the oil being produced; they do not include heat losses due to the inefficiency of the heater. A short outline of the theory follows: The heat supplied to the producing well flows out into the formation by means of thermal conduction. At the same time, the flow of oil carries heat by convection from the formation towards the producing well. After sufficient time has elapsed, a steady-state is reached where the temperature, the velocity of the oil, etc., no longer vary with time but are functions of position only. In the steady state the temperature decays like an inverse power from the high value Tw at the wellbore to the original reservoir temperature T. at some distance away from the well. The effect of the high temperature and low oil viscosity near the producing well is the same as if the oil were produced at reservoir temperature To but through a producing well of a larger radius. From this point of view, the energy and money being expended to provide heat

Jan 1, 1958

By W. E. Bearce

The recent concern for the recovery of even the finest fractions of coal preparation plant feeds has created needs for new equipment. Thermal dryers currently available have difficulty reducing the filter cake moisture on down to the desired point. This difficulty involves 1) the physical problem of handling this wet, sticky material and making each particle accessible to the hot gases, and 2) removing the extremely fine dried particles from the cooled gases. The dryer described in this paper handles the first of these problems, and eliminates the second by the substitution of steel balls for air as the heat transfer medium. As a general statement, the cost of preparing coal for market is inversely proportional to the size of the lumps or particles. In the not too distant past the finer sizes were discarded as being uneconomical to treat and this practice might be still continuing if it were not for the insistence of the public that this material be kept out of our streams. This being the only cost-free outlet, the disposal of fine refuse became a significant item of expense in every preparation plant. When this happened it was only reasonable to look to the recovery of the values in this material, not only to defray this expense, but to reduce the tonnage which had to be wasted. There seemed to be no device available suited to reducing the moisture in this material to what the market requires. All of the fine coal dryers commonly employed make use of air to bring the heat of combustion into contact with the coal particles. Any device employing air as a heat transfer medium, has the following two strikes against it in attempting to handle 28 mesh by 0 filter cake: 1) It is practically impossible to bring the hot air into intimate contact with the enormous number of fine particles stuck together in the cake. 2) Even if this can be effected, it is impossible to remove the dried coal from the air. A wet scrubber must be employed, the discharge of which must go back to the filter and dryer as a circulating load of the most objectionable sort, being the extreme fines. Various compromises have been used to cope with the problem of drying this relatively small tonnage of high moisture coal. Often some of the dried coal is mixed back with the feed to the dryer in an attempt to make the mixture more handleable and more available to contact with the hot air than the filter cake alone would be. This may help to some extent with the first problem but it does nothing about the second and a dryer operated in this way has to be oversized. Sometimes the filter cake is mixed with a coarser fraction for the same reason. Here again, while this may make a mixture (the particles of which are more readily brought into contact with the hot air), the problem of getting the fine coal out of the air remains and a larger percentage of the total coal to be dried is handled by the most expensive means. Mechanical dewatering has accounted for more and more of total coal drying lately and in many cases would satisfactorily handle the whole load, down to 28 mesh, if there were a means available for doing a good job on the —28 mesh by itself. The dryer which is the subject of this paper was designed expressly for doing this job — drying fine material by itself regardless of how wet it may be to start with, how fine it may be, or how gummy and sticky these properties in combination may make it. The essential features are depicted in Fig. 1. A rotating cylinder is supported on a frame in such a way that one end may be raised or lowered by hy-

Jan 1, 1968

By Arthur H. Wilson

INTRODUCTION The stratified deposits of the coal measures are strongly laminated and exhibit a high degree of anisotropy. The stronger rocks in the sequence possess joints and shear planes, the coal itself has a closely spaced cleat pattern, and the softer rocks are capable of flowage. To calculate the general distribution of stress in such a medium by analytical means based on the theories of elasticity is difficult, and has not yet been satisfactorily achieved. Nevertheless, some estimate is required to aid the design of supporting pillars and permit the correct siting of main roadways. This is important when laying out districts for longwall extraction, particularly if the results of previous experience are not available in the area to be exploited. Although elastic stress analyses, including finite element analysis, may not be very appropriate, the basic equilibrium conditions will apply. These, combined with logical deductions based on observed fact, can be used to give appropriate solutions which experience has shown to be capable of giving acceptable results in the design of pillars associated with longwall workings. Constancy of cover load is one of the fundamental equilibrium conditions. When mining below ground, the cover is not removed, therefore the average vertical load after mining must equal the initial cover load. If mining produces a local decrease in load in any particular area, it must be balanced by an equivalent increase in load nearby. Bending moments in the strata above are capable of compensating for the turning moments which this redistribution of load may produce, and the existence of a "rear abutment", much discussed between 1950 and 1960, is not an essential equilibrium requirement. If the distribution of vertical stress is plotted three-dimensionally, then the load on any small element of area 6S will be o.6S, where o is the average stress. This also represents the volume of the "stress envelope" which lies above 6s. By making the individual areas very small and summing together, it is possible to show that the total load on any particular area can be found by calculating the volume of the stress distribution envelope which lies above it. A similar consideration applies to the stress distribution in a two-dimensional situation. If the stress distribution curve is drawn, then the area below any portion will represent the load per unit depth of section. For example, Figure 1 represents the possible stress distribution across a caved waste and associated ribside. If AW is the load deficiency [ ] These loads must balance, therefore area AW = AS, and if one can be deduced, the other will then be known. Attempts have been made to measure stress distributions in the ribside and in the waste. Stress meters in soft rocks such as the coal measures have not proved very effective. Those based on the measurement of strain have experienced difficulty in strata capable of flowage, high modulus stress meters suffer from cross sensitivity, and overcoming to obtain absolute stress is almost impossible. Load measuring instruments left in the waste have also proved largely ineffective, mainly as a result of the difficulties of protecting the leads in a caving environment. Certain logical deductions, however, can be made about the conditions in the waste. CONDITIONS IN THE WASTE Over the area of the waste the surface trough which develops is remarkably consistent, despite the geological variations which occur from coalfield to coalfield. In Britain, an accuracy of 210% is claimed for subsidence prediction based on width of extraction and depth of cover (National Coal Board, 1975). The subsidence in the USA is more variable (Adamek and Jeran, 1981), particularly with respect to the point of inflexion, but the same general pattern occurs. At the shallower depths the somewhat harder roof strata involved in the caving in the USA may suffer less compaction, giving reduced values of subsidence. Subsidence at intermediate horizons below the surface

Jan 1, 1982

By D. T. Peterson, F. A. Schmidt, J. D. Verhoeven

The velocity of mig-ration of these solutes in thorium metal due to a high amperage dc current was measured at several temperatures. All three solutes migrated in the same direction as the electron flow. Diffusion coefficients were combined with the migration velocities to predict the steady-state concentration profile. Electrotransport was shown to be an effective method of removing carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen from thorium and resistance ratios several times larger than for crystal bar thorium were achieved. However, the maxirnum attained purification was well below the predicted values, apparently due to some form of contamination. THE migration of solutes in metals when a high current density dc current is passed has been known for many years. This phenomenon has been the subject of a number of reviews published in recent years.l~* Many of the earlier investigators of electromigration of interstitial solutes interpreted the direction and velocity of migration on the basis of a charge on the solute particle. This interpretation is unclear because, in a given experiment, one cannot separate the contributions to the force moving the solute which arise from the charge on the solute in an electric field gradient and the momentum transfer from the scattering of the electrons or holes. There have been only a few quantitative measurements of interstitial migration velocities and some of these have been characterized by poor accuracy or by errors in the analysis of the experiment. The electrotransport mobilities of carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen in thorium were determined by observing the rate of movement of a discontinuity in the concentration profile. This method was used by Carlson el a~.~ to determine the mobilities of interstitial solutes in yttrium and its advantages are discussed in that paper. The specimen is essentially a pair of semi-infinite, bar-type diffusion couples. The electro-transport velocity was measured by observing the displacement of the mean concentration point in a measured length of time. The diffusion coefficients were calculated by the Grube method from the concentration profile. The transport mobilities and diffusion coefficients can be used to predict the concentration profile in an electrotransport experiment of a given time, current density, and specimen length. At long times a steady state will be reached such that the natural logarithm of the concentration of each solute varies linearly along the bar with a slope which is equal to the velocity of the migrating solute divided by its diffusion coefficient. The estimation of the purification potential of electrotransport is discussed by ~erhoeven.' A comparison of the concentration profile and the purification which should be expected from known solute velocities and diffusion coefficients with that which is obtained in an experiment can be very useful in indicating whether the maximum possible purification has been achieved. EXPERIMENTAL METHOD The apparatus used in this study consisted of a sample chamber which was equipped with two electrodes, a sight glass, and a flange for mounting to a high-vacuum system capable of obtaining pressure of 2 x lo-? Torr. The chamber was made of stainless steel and was 4 in. in diam and 6 in. long. The seal between the electrodes and the chamber was made with "0" rings and compression bushings. The thorium specimens were threaded and screwed into tantalum "U"-shaped adapters attached to the ends of the electrodes. This arrangement is shown in Fig. 1

Jan 1, 1967