Search Documents

By William Kent

Mr. ASHBURNER's paper on the Classification and Composition of Pennsylvania Anthracites, read at this meeting, well shows the need of new and accurate determinations of the heating value of these coals. A similar need exists for the determination of the value of bituminous coals, since the variation in quality of the latter is greater than the variation in anthracites. The recent extensive use of liquid and gaseous fuels, " patent" fuels, tan-bark, and other refuse fuels, also makes a necessity fix some correct method of determining the relative values of each of these fuels. Mr. Ashburner has recommended that tests of coals should be undertaken by the Second Geological Survey of Pennsylvania, and Professor Dewey, as stated in Mr. Ashbnrner's paper, has suggested a plan for tests of American coals, by the Smithsonian Institution, for which an appropriation by Congress will be asked. It is to be hoped that if any extensive series of tests of coals is carried on under either Government or State auspices, the erroneous methods of test which were followed by Professor Johnson in 1842, and by Quartermaster-General Meigs in 1882, will not be adopted.* The first requisite in determining the heating-power of a fuel is proper apparatus, such as has not been used in any of the tests of American coals yet reported. In the hope that more accurate means may be used in future tests, the writer desires to call attention to an apparatus which he has designed for the purpose. Not having had opportunity for making a trial of it, nor even of having it criticised by others, he does not offer it as the best possible apparatus; but if it contains any points of value, and leads to the design of still more suitable devices by others, the object of the presentation of this paper will be accomplished. The tests by Professor Johnson and General Meigs were made by evaporating water into steam in ordinary steam-boilers. A steamboiler of ordinary construction is not a good apparatus for determining the heating power of a fuel, for the following reasons:

Jan 1, 1886

By C. Hertzler

The difference of means of milling characteristics by rock and ore type is tested in a statistical manner in the paper. The null hypothesis being tested is that the sample means of two different populations are equal. It is assumed that the null hypothesis is true when performing the test. Because of this, acceptance of this hypothesis leads to the conclusion that the sample means of the two different populations are equal (or there is no significant difference between the sample means), not that the samples come from the same population, as the author asserts. Rejection of the null hypothesis leads to the conclusion that the sample means of the two different populations are not equal. A P value for this test is reported in Table 2 and is incorrectly identified as the probability that the two samples came from different populations. Actually, what was recorded was 100(1 - p) where p is the usual p-value. The usual p-value measures, on a scale of zero to one, the extent to which the data agree with the null hypothesis. It is the probability of observi" a value of the test statistic (Z score) that is at least as contradictory to the null hypothesis as the one computed from the sample data (McClave and Dietrich 11, 1982). The author makes no mention of the fact that were these tests to be conducted together, the chances of determining that the null hypothesis is not true when it is really true are increased considerably (Snedecor and Cochran, 1980). This is a multiple comparisons problem and should be dealt with accordingly. The usual methods involve adjusting the level of the individual tests. Table 2 reports an incorrect 100(1 - p) value in the comparison of concentrate grades for other rock types with .30 to .69% Cu vs other rock types with .70 + % Cu; 86% should be 98.6%. Although the article can be criticized for poor data presentation and discussion of that data, the point the author makes regarding the use of these statistics in the ore reserve estimation process is well taken. It does not appear that inaccuracies in the statistical interpretations have hindered that usefulness.

Jan 1, 1985

By Rossiter W. Ph. D. Raymond

(From the President's Address at St. Louis, 1874.) IN the course of this address, President Raymond referred to the law, said to have been discovered at the French works of Terrenoire, that the amount of phosphorus may be increased without injury to steel, if the amount of carbon be proportionately decreased. The works named have been for more than a year, it is said, manufacturing in the open hearth, by the Martin process, steel rails containing as high as 0.35 per cent. of phosphorus, with about 0.15 per cent. of carbon, which were not found inferior to Bessemer rails. It is not claimed by the manager of the works that phosphorus is an ingredient to be preferred, or purposely introduced; but only that materials containing it (such as old iron rails, etc.), can be succesfully employed. Other parties have apparently a higher opinion still of the new manipulation, and are prepared to claim for "phosphorus steel" superior qualities. Mr. I. Lowthian Bell alluded to the subject in his recent address as President of the British Iron and Steel Institute, but without expressing a positive opinion. After pointing out that the commercial value of the process turned on the cheap manufacture of ferro-manganese, by means of which only could the necessary amount of manganese be introduced into the Martin bath, without increasing its contents of carbon, Mr. Raymond proceeded to say that the principle alleged to have been discovered at Terrenoire was already known years ago, in this country, at least. Not only had steel been manufactured here, containing high percentages of phosphorus, coupled with low percentages of carbon, and suitable for use in rails, boiler-plates, etc., but the reason of its surprising qualities had been distinctly surmised, if not widely proclaimed. The following analyses and extracts from private letters prove these assertions. Some of them assert a similar principle in -the case of wrought iron ; but the analyses, and the remarks based upon them, have reference solely to the steel manufactured under the superintendence of Mr. Slade, at the works of the New Jersey Steel and Iron Company in Trenton.

Jan 1, 1875

By M. R. Campbell

You have just heard several papers on the classification of coal as this subject appears to the chemist; I shall approach it from the point of view of the geologist who, perforce, has to deal with coal as it occurs in the ground and with the miner of coal who knows certain phases of the physical characteristics of coal better than the scientist can possibly know them. The chemist is familiar with coal as it reaches him in the laboratory, but he seldom has an opportunity to see it in its native condition and to study its physical characteristics and its behavior under varying conditions of weather, transportation and use. He naturally regards the chemical composition of coal as the all-important feature upon which to base a system of classification and he is sometimes inclined to ignore as unscientific any scheme of classification that is based on characteristics other than chemical. The geologist, on the other hand, although he is glad to use the data furnished by the chemist, must depend largely upon the differences that he can see and feel. Classification Understandable to the Layman In the very comprehensive program of examination of the coal fields of the West which the U. S. Geological Survey undertook in 1906, it fell to my lot, as the responsible head of the work, to classify the coals in advance of much knowledge of their chemical composition and in regions where mining had not begun. In this work I was forced to devise some sort of classification that would work practically and that would be understandable to the layman in the field. Much of the classification was based on the work of those who had gone before me, but in the low rank coals of the West the field was unoccupied and I was forced to devise a scheme embracing both chemical and physical characteristics. This scheme has stood the test of actual practical application for several years but it needs revision and the sharpening of the limits between the different ranks. I feel that my experience warrants my saying that physical characteristics must be considered and I have faith to believe that some scheme embodying both can be devised.

Jan 1, 1930

By R. V. Whetsel, V. R. Garfias

As pointed out in previous studies, estimates of petroleum reserves if they are to be of value must not only presuppose a clear understanding of what is actually meant by reserves but must be subject to constant revision to conform with changes in their component factors. When such estimates are analyzed it must be clear that it is virtually impossible to obtain comparable figures reflecting the same degree of accuracy, to represent the reserves not only in various countries, but at times even of different fields in the same country. Estimates of reserves in the United States, subject to frequent independent checks, are obviously more reliable than those furnished, for instance, by the Soviet Government, as the latter must be accepted at their face value and are open to the suspicion of being made to conform with predetermined programs of propaganda. Any tabulation of the reserves of all producing countries, therefore, gives a total that is misleading, as the component items arc not arrived at on the same basis and therefore are not homogeneous in a true sense. Only a fraction of the petroleum stored underground, usually associated with natural gas, is or can be brought to the surface, and although practically all the natural gas underground can be rccovered, in actual practice in some fields a large part of the gas that reaches the mouth of the well is wasted. It is thus estimated that in the United States only some 25 to 35 per cent of the petroleum underground in proven fields is actually economically recovered. Estimates of reserves, therefore, should make clear the distinction between the known amount of oil underground in producing fields and the portion that actually can be brought to the surface. It cannot be overemphasized that as a result of the operation of the "Law of Capture," which controls subsoil ownership in the United States on comparatively small landholdings that seldom if ever cover the entire producing area, the oil fields are not as economically exploited as some forrign fields, and that as a result (were it not for the easy accessibility of the domestic market, the largest in the world) some American production would now be unprofitable in open competition with foreign oils.

Jan 1, 1939

By O. H. Hahn Eureka

I HAVE lately had occasion to conduct a campaign at the works of the Empire City Company, in Railroad District, Elko County, Nevada, which, if not highly satisfactory, was at least very interesting in a technical point of view, and which I therefore think worthy of communication to the Institute. The lead ores in this district occur in lenticular masses along and near the contact of crystalline limestone with a dioritic porphyry, and consist of argentiferous carbonate of lead and galena, the latter occurring in solid blocks, or in ribbons running through the limestone. Associated with these are silicate, carbonate, and suboxide of copper, and brown and calc-spar. Adding to this, that the proportion of galena in the ore is small, and that no iron pyrites exists in the district, it is at once evident that the ore-mixture is difficult to treat. For a successful reduction by smelting, it would be necessary to introduce into the charge : 1. The proper quantities of sulphur-bearing ingredients, to effect a complete separation of copper and lead ; and, 2. Sufficient silica and iron oxide, to form with the lime and magnesia of the ore, a slag of the required fluidity. The first condition could be fulfilled only very imperfectly, there being no iron pyrites in Railroad, nor in the surrounding districts. The nearest occurrence is in Battle Mountain, whence a supply could not be procured in time. The second condition, i. e., the addition of iron ore and quartz, was easily complied with, there being an abundance of these materials in the vicinity. The furnace of the Empire City Company, is a small shaft¬furnace, with an area of hearth of six square feet, and is supplied with blast by a No. 4 Root blower. In spite of this small size the furnace smelted during this campaign, which lasted 31 days, an average of 28 tons of ore, and 13 tons of fluxes, together 41 tons of charge, per twenty-four hours. The following tables give the complete data in regard to the smelting process, and the results obtained

Jan 1, 1875

By A. L. Bollens, R. H. Johnson

The appraisal of oil wells, now that we have the age-size method of making composite decline curves, and the present worth of successive time units method of valuation, has its greatest remaining uncertainty in the difficulty of extending into the future the price curve and the composite production curve. The point of attack in this paper is the carrying on (or extrapolation) of the production curve. Led by the valuable discovery of Lewis and Beal that the decline curve is nearer the hyperbolic class, y = (x + a)-", than any other form, the current practice is the graphic method. The data are plotted on logarithmic paper and shifted with successive trials until the line becomes straight. This straight line can then be extended into the future. The method was a great help during the period when, for tax purposes, there was need for a quick method even though the errors were large. Now that we seek greater validity in our methods we find the following faults with the current method. 1. Where the shift is great (it exceeds 10 in some cases) the scale cannot be read with the necessary precision so that the resulting data would give a very irregular and inaccurate curve. 2. Where the curve cannot be straightened on logarithmic paper because of sigmoid shape the method has a serious systematic error. We believe the sigmoid curves to be more common than usually supposed, indeed when one considers the number of variable causative factors this is to be expected. We have therefore been seeking a method that is free from these difficulties and yet not so laborious as fitting a curve to the data and the calculation from the formula which, since it involves looking up logarithms, is unduly time-consuming. The method here described has been developed on the basis suggested by Earl Oliver, that the amount of oil produced per month or year for each reduction of production of a barrel of oil per day could be plotted to advantage. A step forward was made by Earl Carpenter in this laboratory, and some of the

Jan 1, 1928

ZAY JEFFRIES (communication to the Secretary*).-Having seen Mr. Ruder's micrographs of electrolytic iron, I am of the opinion that the tentative explanation offered verbally is correct. Mr. Ruder has informed me that both of the samples were cooled in the furnace. The structures as shown in Figs. Band C resulted from the last cooling through the temperature range near 900° C. Assuming that the rate of cooling through this range was the same in both cases, the differences in struc-ture of the gamma iron in the two samples must have ]:)]-ought about, in some way, the variations in grain size and grain shape shown in Mr. Ruder's micrographs. Even though there is practically no temperature gradient in muffle-furnace treatment during the "soaking" period, during both heating and cooling, there is a temperature gradient. Fig. B should normally have been fine-grained prior to the last cooling, due to the comparatively low maximum temperature to which it was heated (1,000° C.). On cooling through the allotropic change point at 900°, these small gamma grains, iii conjunction with the temperature gradient, should form an ideal condition for germination. Germinant grains should form near the surface of the sample (the-colder portions) and the small gamma grains would be progressively absorbed as they changed into non-gamma iron. The elongated grains in Fig. B, converging toward the axis of the piece of iron, indicate that germinant grains first formed near tine surface and advanced their boundaries toward the interior of the sample. The gamma grains in Fig. C, however, should have been large, prior to the last cooling, due to time high temperature treatment (1,250 to 1,300° C.). In other words, to use one of Prof. Howe's expressions, the crystalline organization should be very complete and the change from gamma to non-gamma iron on cooling would take place reluctantly. This resistance to change from gamma to non-gamma iron would probably be greater in the interior of the large grains than at their boundaries. Non-gamma iron centers or nuclei would probably form at a great many places, at the grain boundaries, thus masking the influence, to a large

Jan 6, 1917

By Kendall E. Born, Walter F. Pond

Production of crude oil in Tennessee during 1935 approximated 20,000 bbl., an increase of about 5000 bbl. over 1934. The total production for the state is an estimate, since the only definite figures available are those for Scott and Morgan counties, where 12,377 bbl. were marketed during 1935, an increase of 4305 bbl. over the preceding year. The oil fields of Scott and Morgan counties are near the eastern margin of the Cumberland Plateau where Pennsylvanian sediments rest uncon-formably upon the Mississippian. Near Glenmary, in Scott County, the production is from the middle Mississippian, probably near the top of the St. Louis limestone. Accumulation is due to a low, east-west anticline which has been cut by a fault. This field is now 20 years old and only a few wells are pumped at present. Oil was Struck along Boone Camp Creek in Morgan County in 1924 and there has been small production since that time. The oil comes from the middle of the Fort Payne formation of lower Mississippian age at a depth of 1400 ft. Geologic work in the area has shown that a terrace and porosity conditions in the Fort Payne formation account for the accumulation. The production figures on a number of small producing wells in Clay and Overton counties are not available. As pointed out by Glenn1, the installation of small local skimming or topping plants in the fields has curtailed the shipment of crude oil out of the state and as a result it has been impossible to secure accurate production figures in these counties. The operators, in most cases, are reluctant to give information, and there is no state law requiring them to do so. Based upon information available to the writers, it is believed that between 7000 and 8000 bbl. is a fair estimate of the production in Clay and Overton counties during 1935. More than 500 wells have been drilled in Clay County, the majority of which were drilled east of Cumberland River. Some eight small oil fields have been developed in the county within the past 12 years, a

Jan 1, 1936

By Walter Miller

Any review of the engineering progress made in 1932 in the petroleum refining industry must necessarily be broad and general, improvements having been made in practically all major branches of this activity. Several factors contributed to an advancement on a wide front, much of it coming from those active in refining, considerable from those not, immediately in it but engaged in designing and installing equipment and maintaining large and capable staffs of experts in both engineering and development work. Another factor has been the ability of the refiner, because of less than capacity operation, to carry on experimental and development work in regular plant equipment. The movement to higher antiknock value gasoline has continued through 1932, and the average improvement of the more widely sold branded gasolines is from 3 to 4 points higher in the octane scale. A very great improvement was brought about during the year in the method of determining the octane number of gasoline. While the procedure and equipment for determining this value as developed by the Cooperative Fuel &search Steering Committee prior to 1932 had received fairly general acceptance, evidence that it did not always evaluate in a measure consistent with road performance quickly accumulated, and led to further effort to synchronize laboratory results with actual use. As the result of some really brilliant work on the part of the C.F.R. Committee and a large number of collaborators, it was found that a comparatively minor modification of the previously developed equipment and method gave surprisingly concordant results between laboratory tests and trial per-formance on the road. This method has been officially accepted by the Society of Automotive Engineers and the American Petroleum Institute, and will according to present plans go into general use on April 1, 1933. The American Society for Testing Materials has studied the method but at the time of writing this had not reached a final decision regarding it. Improved Volatility of Gasoline The most notable trend during the year, in addition to a very considerable increase in antiknock value referred to above, has been in the

Jan 1, 1933

By Walter Miller

Advancement in engineering in the refining industry during 1933 might be likened to the jagged flame of a poor wick-test kerosene—a few outstanding high spots, but not broadly spectacular. Economic conditions were unsatisfactory for the first six or eight months, but the improvement in the latter part of the year had some immediate effect in stimulating new designing and building. The national legislative program involving the industry drew the attention of executives away from petroleum technology to some extent. The National Recovery Act, and its offspring, the Petroleum Code, demanded deep and continued study to put the machinery into smooth motion. From a purely technical engineering stand, therefore, the emergency measures might be considered a temporary brake on progress. The ultimate effect, if the whole industry can get back "out of the red," may well be a more than expected advance. Of course, petroleum technologists and engineers, including both those engaged within and those busy in designing and building for the industry, continued their efforts, and much of the results of their work will undoubtedly see the light of day under the improved economic conditions, which bid fair to stay with us. There was little improvement during 1933 in atmospheric distillation, sweetening processes, or furnace design, but experimentation during the year on these subjects may materialize into distinct advances. The trend toward compact distilling and fractionating equipment, especially in the Appalachian district, deserves noting. A number of refineries in that district replaced obsolete shell still units with up-to-date tube stills and efficient fractionating towers, both for the better separation of lubricating fractions from the crude and for improving the boiling range of the gasoline. A number of small skimming and topping plants in flush fields, such as East Texas, which felt the pinch of production control, were forced to shut down, but the stronger among them are consolidating their positions by installing cracking equipment and in some cases more modern crude-distillation units. Motor Fuel For the first time in many years a reviewer is able to point to at least a temporary cessation in the competitive race in the manufacturing

Jan 1, 1934

By Byron Bird

WHILE Mr. Fahrenwald has been working on the fundamentals of ore-dressing, in Idaho, the Northwest Experiment Station of the U. S. Bureau of Mines, in cooperation with the University of Washington, has been studying the corresponding fundamentals for the closely-allied subject of coal-washing. In this work many of the principles outlined in Mr. Fahrenwald's paper have been touched on, one important exception being that phase of his studies where conditions were approximated between those existing on a table and those existing in a hindered-settling classifier. During the past three years this work has been given over almost exclusively to a study of coal-tabling to devise better methods of cleaning fine sizes of coal, particularly the coals of the Northwest, which are very difficult to wash. One important result of this study thus far has been the development of a satisfactory hindered-settling coal classifier, now in use in several commercial plants. Recently table stratifica-tion has been the subject for study. This latter phase of the work with coal,. as well as the earlier portion dealing with hindered-settling classification, has in a measure paralleled Mr. Fahrenwald's work with ore. Without going into details about the results of the coal experiments, I shall merely say that, from a quali-tative standpoint, they are, in general, concordant with Mr. Fahrenwald's, but that from a quantitative stand-point the results, particularly those with, table strati-fication, are somewhat different. These differences may disappear as the work progresses-Mr. Fahrenwald is further ahead with his experiments than we are at the Northwest Station-but if not, the disparity would not be surprising, and indeed would be what one might reasonably expect when investigators work on two very dissimilar materials and use different apparatus and methods of study. However, this- mention of our coal-washing experiments is made only in passing. A principle of general application that may be estab-lished from Mr. Fahrenwald's paper is that different types of stratification should be used in successive' gravity-concentration processes to. obtain best results.

Jan 3, 1927

By Theo B. Comstock

In the summer of 1877, the writer led a party of four young men from Cleveland, Ohio, by way of the Great Lakes, to Prince Arthur's Landing (now Port Arthur), at the northwest corner of Lake Superior, thence, via the Dawson route and side journeys, as far as Cross Lake. It was the original intention to pass down the Pigeon river to its mouth, but the loss of one member of the party for six days in the forest, added to other obstacles, made it necessary to turn back. A well-filled note-book, together with illustrative collections, were sunk beyond recovery at the head of the Maligne rapids by the breaking of a tow-line, and two of our number (including myself) narrowly escaped drowning. I had, probably, obtained information of considerable economic value, but the necessity of travelling nearly 125 miles for provisions (excepting a meagre supply kindly furnished us by a Canadian government gang whom we fortunately met), rendered further note-taking impossible. Until now, such results of this expedition as could be recorded . from memory have gone unpublished, because of my inability to make them serve any useful purpose. The trip of the Institute to Vermilion Lake, only a few miles south and east of our turning point, gives some little excuse for presenting the following lines at this time. The ridge back of Port Arthur, Ontario, which follows approximately the course of the Lake Superior shore line, brings up the slates and accompanying strata through which the silver and gold veins of that region have penetrated. The interior district, hack from the lake, may be briefly described as a glaciated area, having its general drainage less modified by erosion than by the original structure. This statement, however, must be somewhat qualified with reference to minor details, which all bear the unmistakable impress of the ice-flow and its recession. In many respects there is much in this tract to remind one of the Sault Ste. Marie topography, excepting that the granitic character of the rocks is here largely replaced by fissile strata. The Kaministiquia river cuts through several of the parallel folds,

Jan 1, 1888

By R. A. Vandermeer

It is usually assumed that the rate-determining step in the migration of a grain boundary involves the thermally activated transfer of single atoms across the interface. Chemical reaction rate theory then gives a migration rate which is proportional to the driving force when this is small compared to kT.1 In their recrystallization studies on aluminum, Gordon and vandermeer2 obtained data which was capable of providing the first experimental test of this proportionality. They correlated stored energy (driving force) release measurements determined calorimetrically with fraction recrystal-lized kinetic (growth rate) data acquired metallo-graphically at a temperature where a significant amount of recovery takes place concurrently with recrystallization. Within experimental error, the results of Gordon and Vandermeer confirmed experimentally, at least over a limited range, the linear dependence of boundary migration (growth) rate on driving force in accordance with theory. In obtaining these results, however, an incorrect, implicit assumption was made in relating the average instantaneous growth rate of the recrystallized grains to the measured fraction recrystallized kinetic data. The purpose of this present note is to point out and correct this assumption. An alternate approach, whereby a more proper average growth rate can be calculated from the recrystallization kinetic data, is presented. The earlier data, reevaluated in terms of this new approach, show the same general trend as before so that the original conclusion of Gordon and vandermeer2 is still valid. As was shown in a detailed study3 of the geometrical features of recrystallization in aluminum, the colonies of recrystallized grains can be regarded as uniform cylinders embedded in a three-dimensional matrix, the number of such colonies being constant. Thus during the early stages of recrystallization the volume fraction recrystallized, Xv, can be written as Xv=ynvlr2 [l] where y is a shape factor and i and r are defined as the average length and radius of a recrystallized colony and are spatial averages over the specimen. -nv, is the number of such colonies in a unit of volume. The erroneous assumption made in the earlier paper2 was that r in Eq. [I] could be replaced by

Jan 1, 1965

By J. M. Larkin

GOOD will is becoming recognized more and more as a necessary business asset, and a successful concern must have the good will not only of its customers and the public, but of its employees. Management -enlightened management-recognizes this and will go the limit to get it. Progress depends on cooperation, and in industry cooperation must be based on the acceptance by employ-ers and employees of some practical application of the principle that capital and labor are interdependent. Capital cannot exist without labor, and labor without capital is helpless. The development of each is depen-dent on the cooperation of the other. Confidence and good will are the foundation of every successful enter-prise, and these can be created only by securing a point of contact between employer and employee. We feel that one of the most effective agencies for promoting good will between employers and employees is through some well organized method of conference and have consequently adopted, to accomplish this, a plan of employee representation. The plan inaugurated by the Bethlehem Steel Co. about four years ago, which provides for the election by secret ballot of representatives by and from among the employees, has for its purpose three fundamentals; namely, to give the employees a voice in the determina-tion of the conditions under which they work, to furnish machinery for the prevention and adjustment of differ-ences between employees and management, and, so far as possible, to provide and foster continuous employment. The constitution and by-laws adopted take care of the detail in setting up machinery for the functioning of the representatives of both management and men, but the spirit with which the plan has been carried out and the results which have been accomplished are of far greater importance than the plan itself. The Bethlehem plan, which has been in operation since October, 1918, can no longer be classed as an experiment. The original by-laws provided for amend-ments and, as was anticipated, changes and improve-ments have been made from time to time by mutual agreement. The operation of the plan for over four years shows it to be fundamentally sound and that it must therefore be conceded a success.

Jan 2, 1923

STEPHEN TABER, Columbia, S. C. (communication to the Secretary?). -The fibrous salt crystals described by Dr. Branner are interesting, and I am glad that he has put this additional evidence on record. It confirms the results that I obtained in growing fibrous crystals in the laboratory. Much similar evidence of value to science in interpreting the laws of nature has doubtless been lost through failure to appreciate little things. Mr. Dresser points out that the boundary between chrysotile veins and massive serpentine is finely irregular 'when examined under the microscope. This fact I have observed in studying chrysotile veins and also, mode recently, in studying veins of fibrous calcite and fibrous gypsum. For the latter veins the statement holds true when the walls are of shale as well as when they are of the same material as the veins, but in no instance have I observed any evidence of replacement. The description of the vein walls given in my paper (pp. 1984 to 1985) was megascopic, not microscopic. The fact that chrysotile veins have sharply defined boundaries and are easily separated from the wall rock is evidenced by the small amount of waste adhering to the "crude asbestos" which has been shipped in such large quantities from some of the Canadian mines. Mr. Dresser has good ground for his statement that there seems to be no obvious reason why the term "mass fiber" should be restricted to anthophyllite. I have never examined the serpentine at the East Broughton mines; but in studying other serpentines under the microscope I have noted that much of the so-called "massive serpentine" is really finely fibrous (see pp. 1974 to 1975). The texture of such rock is, however, altogether different from that of mass-fiber anthophyllite, and I believe that the fibers have developed in a different way (see pp. 1981 and .1998). Mr. Graham raises certain objections on the ground that the laboratory production of fibrous crystals was limited to substances which go into solution with decrease in volume. Since my paper was written, however, I have succeeded in obtaining fibrous crystals of ammonium nitrate, a salt that dissolves with expansion in volume.

Jan 5, 1917

By Ralph Arnold

While much geological work and drilling have been done in Venezuela, the incompleteness of geological evidence obtainable and the restricted areas in which drilling has been done make any estimates of oil resources extremely speculative. Nevertheless, it is felt that the data given are justified, in the belief that the ideas of a geologist familiar with the region are better than those of a promoter. The oldest beds of interest to oil men are those of the Cretaceous, which are well developed in eastern Venezuela and about parts of Lake Mara-caibo. In both cases, a hard massive limestone is overlain by a great thickness, most of which is shale. In the west, in places this shale is more than 2000 ft. (610 m.) thick, while in the east it-mag attain 3500 ft. (1067 m.). The limestone and parts of the shale are oil producing. In the east, the Tertiary where present is almost entirely covered by the Quarternary, but in the west it is well developed. In probable unconformity over the Cretaceous shales is found a series of sandstones and shales, which may be called the lower coal series. It is well developed southwest of the lake, where it is the oil container, and is probably the lowest series exposed east of the lake. Above this is the Pauji shale, which is probably the point of origin of all the oil east of Lake Maracaibo and in the State of Falcon. It has a thickness of about 3000 ft. (914 m.) in the Mene Grande region. The upper coal series is developed as a great thickness of sands, shales, and clays, with some partly consolidated limestone. Its thickness may be as great as 10,000 ft. It is the oil container of the Falcon-El Mene region and a probable location for oil in some of the area about the lake. It may or may not include the so-called Maracaibo series in which the oil is found at Mene Grande. Over much of Venezuela, the Quarternary is present in unknown thickness, which probably is not great. It obscures oil structure in all cases and presents the greatest hazard of oil exploration for the fields which probably exist below.

Jan 1, 1923

By Nelson W. Taylor

With the extensive deposits of potash minerals which have been discovered in the southwestern states, and their rapid development, a permanent American supply of potassium compounds is now assured. The 325-year history of the potash industry in this country has been told by H. I. Smith1, of the U.S. Geological Survey, and the more recent activities of the Survey and of American potash companies were described last year by the same author2. In fact, it may be stated that so great is the productive capacity that two mines in New Mexico and one in California are able to supply more than half a million tons of crude and refined salts over and above that produced for agricultural purposes. The era of scarcity has given way to an era of superabundance. This situatiori makes it desirable for the potash producer to look for other applications for his product, and it is with this in mind that the writer presents some information pertaining to present and possible future uses for potassium compounds in the ceramic industry. Ceramic Products Ceramic products are essentially solid materials containing one or more oxides such as SiO2, Al2O3, CaO, MgO, FeO, K2O, Na2O, TiO2, which are the oxides of greatest abundance in the earth's crust. The typical ceramic process is that of firing or burning the batch, and the product may be glassy, crystalline or mixed. In the glassy or vitreous group come glass, porcelain enamel and glazes; in the crystalline group, refractory materials such as silica brick, or chromite or magnesia; and in the mixed group, porcelain, chinaware, stoneware, tile, brick, etc., which contain both a vitreous and a crystalline phase, in variable proportions. The ceramic industry of the United States is a billion dollar industry, and is important not only because of its magnitude but also because of the key position occupied by certain ceramic products in the whole manufacturing structure. From the standpoint of use of potash, the field of refractories is of no great interest, since K2O lowers the melting point of a refractory oxide and

Jan 1, 1938

By J. R. Thoenen

IF ASKED whether limestone production was a mining problem I would; not hesitate to answer emphatically in the affirmative. The question, "When is a quarry a mine?" is familiar. The immediate mental picture induced by the thought of limestone production is that of an open quarry. All are familiar with the open pit in the iron-producing districts of Minnesota and Michigan and the open cuts of the so-called "porphyry" coppers of the West. If these are mines, they differ little from limestone quarries in general mode of operation; if quarries, why do they need the attention of mining engineers? During 1923, the United States produced in round numbers 70,000,000, tons of ore. The limestone production of the United States for the same period was something over 100,000,000 tons. In tons, it about equals the oil production of the United States. The uses of limestone are legion. A paper read by a prominent engineer of Chicago, at the meeting of the National. Crushed Stone Association held last February in St. Louis says: "There is no industry in the United States today that is more basic in its operation or by itself controls. more industries. There is hardly a chemical operation, hardly a metallurgical operation or building operation that a crushed-stone man does not control if he will jump in and make the full utilization of it." Some of the many uses are for road metal, concrete, railway ballast, building stone, riprap, and rubble, the manufacture of iron and steel, alkalies, calcium carbide, magnesia, carbolic and carbonic acids, asphalt filler, mineral wool, poultry grit, sulfuric acid, phosphates, nitrates, soap, baking powder, the purification of copper and prevention of coal-mine explosions, to say nothing of the quantities used in the making of lime and cement. It has been said that without iron we would revert to the Stone Age; how much iron would we have without limestone? From the point. of view of the mining engineer, using the term in its broad sense to include geologists and metallurgists, the production of limestone is important because of its occurrence, volume, commercial importance, and the problems presented by its recovery and treatment.

Jan 2, 1925

By W. H. Fulweiler

The writer would define the term "Use Classification" as a discussion of the qualities that coal should possess to fulfill the requirements of the industry or process in which it is to be used. The general problem of the gas industry is to transform the maximum amount of the thermal energy in coal into a gas of specified quality. The qualifications that a coal should possess to be useful in the gas industry are complicated by probably a greater number of factors than in most industries. The most important of these is the delivered price of the coal. While the- general problem of the industry is as given above, yet the actual problem is the production of gas of a specified quality at the minimum cost. The relative cost of coal and the selling prices for the residuals which are influenced to a large extent by geographical locations are of determining importance as effecting the cost of the gas. It is unfortunate that we cannot disassociate cost figures from a discussion of the desirable characteristics and this results frequently in the use of coal in one location that will be looked upon as quite impossible in another location more favorably situated. Without going into any discussion of the freight rate problem we might merely point out that in general the freight on the coal is equal to or greater than the mine price. It must be evident, therefore, that price must always be considered in any discussion of the effect of the characteristics of a given coal. Two Classes of PRocesses In discussing the characteristics of coals for use in the industry, we must divide the processes in use into two classes: (1) where the coal is destructively distilled at high temperatures resulting in the formation of coke in the liberation of gas and by-products, and (2) where the coal is consumed by combustion in air or steam with a production of gas and by-products leaving only clinker as a residue. The Germans differentiate these two types of processes in their words"' entgasung'" and'" vergasung."' In the distillation processes, we have the effect of the coal on the yield of gas and its quality; the quantity and quality of coke; and the

Jan 1, 1930