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The program for the Annual Meeting to be held in New York, Feb.17 to 20, 1919, inclusive, has been nearly completed. Besides the usual meetings for the reading of technical papers, the social features are being given special attention. They will probably embody the following: On Monday evening, a lecture by one of our fighting airplane pilots, to be illustrated by lantern slides and moving pictures. To this entertainment the ladies will be invited, as well as members. On Tuesday evening, a Smoker at which some very startling features are promised for the entertainment of members. On Wednesday evening, the usual banquet, at which it is hoped to have some very interesting speakers. The usual luncheons will be served in the Engineering Building and other features will be offered for the entertainment of the ladies during the day. No definite plans for the Thursday excursion have yet been formulated, though it is probable that something interesting will be offered the members.

Jan 12, 1918

In preparation for the 118th meeting, New York, Feb. 17 to 20, 1919, the following committees have been appointed: Committee on Arrangements ALLEN H. ROGERS, Chairman. W. S. Dickson, Secretary. J. E. JOHNSON, JR. F. T. RUBIDGE. H. C. PARMELEE. FOREST RUTHERFORD. P. G. SPILSBURY. Committee on Annual Dinner Committee on Luncheon F. T. RUBIDGE FOREST RUTHERFORD, Chairman. E. B. STURGIS. E. MALTBY SHIPP. Committee on Patriotic Meeting H. C. PARMELEE, Chairman

Jan 8, 1918

In preparation for the 119th meeting, New York, Feb. 17 to 20, 1919, the following committees have been appointed: Committee on Arrangements ALLEN H. ROGERS Chairman. NY. S. DICKSON, Secretary. J. E. JOHNSON, JR. F. T. RUBIDGE. P. G. SPILSBURY. H. C. PARMELEE. FOREST RUTHERFORD. Committee on Annual Dinner Committee on Luncheon F. T. RUBIDGE. FOREST RUTHERFORD, Chairman. E. B. STURGIS. E. MALTBY SHIPP Committee on Patriotic Meeting H. C. PARMELEE, Chairman.

Jan 11, 1918

In preparation for the 118th meeting, New York, Feb. 17 to 20, 1919, the following committees have been appointed: Committee on Arrangements ALLEN H. ROGERS, Chairman. W. S. DICKSON, Secretary. J. E. JOHNSON, JR. F. T. RUBIDGE. H. C. PARMELEE. FOREST RUTHERFORD., P. G. SPILSBURY. Committee on Annual Dinner Committee on Luncheon F. T. RUBIDGE FOREST RUTHERFORD, Chairman. E. B. STURGIS. E. MALTBY SHIPP. Committee on Patriotic Meeting H. C. PARMELEE, Chairman

Jan 9, 1918

The New York Meeting this year will-be held from Monday, February 19 to Thursday, February 22. The Committee on Arrangements, the personnel of which is given elsewhere in this Bulletin, is making plans to duplicate the conspicuous success of last year's meeting in New York. The papers to be read at this meeting, it is believed, furnish material for interesting and profitable technical sessions and symposiums. The social features are being carefully planned since it is believed that these form an important part of such meetings; several functions are to be, given with the object of fostering the get-together, know-each-other-better spirit. Ladies are invited to attend this meeting and participate in the various affairs planned by the Ladies' Committee and by the Committee on Arrangements. This preliminary notice is given in order that members may make their plans now to be in Now York at the time of the meeting. Full details will be sent to the membership through the mails as soon as the program has been definitely fixed.

Jan 1, 1917

By Robert Davis Longyear

In diamond-drill work, a true sample consists of all the material cut by the bit—both core and cuttings. As the recovery of this sample is the object of diamond drilling, the utmost care should be taken to secure it. Speed of drilling and low costs are of little value if an inaccurate sample is obtained. The engineer in charge must study his material and lay out the plan of sampling, and then see that the drill runner follows his instructions; for the runner may be more interested in obtaining a large footage than in developing accurate methods of sampling. When the core has been removed from the core barrel, it should be placed in a core box in the exact order in which it is taken from the ground. This box, Fig. 1, is usually a shallow tray 4 or 5 ft. (1.2 or 1.5 m.) long, with partitions running lengthwise between which the core

Jan 1, 1923

By Robert Davis Longyear

In diamond-drill work, a true sample consists of all the material cut by the bit—both core and cuttings. As the recovery of this sample is the object of diamond drilling, the utmost care should be taken to secure it. Speed of drilling and low costs are of little value if an inaccurate sample is obtained. The engineer in charge must study his material and lay out the plan of sampling, and then see that the drill runner follows his instructions; for the runner may be more interested in obtaining a large footage than in developing accurate methods of sampling. When the core has been removed from the core barrel, it should be placed in a core box in the exact order in which it is taken from the ground. This box, Fig. 1, is usually a shallow tray 4 or 5 ft. (1.2 or 1.5 m.) long, with partitions running lengthwise between which the core

Jan 1, 1923

By Charles Y. Clayton

The shank, to give good service, should not upset nor should it cause excessive wear on the various parts of the machine. To fulfill these requirements, the steel must have a certain hardness—that is, resistance to deformation. The hardness is expressed in conventional terms, as Brinell or scleroscope number. Before deciding on the hardness that is proper, several factors should be considered; the most important are: type of drill steel used (whether hollow or solid), length of steel, nature of ground, air pressure, and hardness of hammer or anvil block (usually 600 Brinell). These are not all, but they are the most cogent ones. Without doubt, it would be better to use a shank that is too soft than one that is too hard. Most satisfactory service will be obtained from shanks that are just hard enough to resist any tendency to upset. To express the proper hardness in terms of Brinell numbers would mean a great many tests over a long period of time, or a study of drill steels that are being used successfully in the various districts. To obtain some information along this line, the persons making this investigation requested, a number of companies to send to them drill shanks that had been given the usual treatment at that mine. The results of the hardness tests are given in Table 1. The hardness values given in Table 2 are those of shanks known to have been quenched in water and drawn. These results show that where water quenching and drawing are in vogue the hardness is rarely under 400 Brinell.

Jan 1, 1923

By Charles Y. Clayton

The shank, to give good service, should not upset nor should it cause excessive wear on the various parts of the machine. To fulfill these requirements, the steel must have a certain hardness—that is, resistance to deformation. The hardness is expressed in conventional terms, as Brinell or scleroscope number. Before deciding on the hardness that is proper, several factors should be considered; the most important are: type of drill steel used (whether hollow or solid), length of steel, nature of ground, air pressure, and hardness of hammer or anvil block (usually 600 Brinell). These are not all, but they are the most cogent ones. Without doubt, it would be better to use a shank that is too soft than one that is too hard. Most satisfactory service will be obtained from shanks that are just hard enough to resist any tendency to upset. To express the proper hardness in terms of Brinell numbers would mean a great many tests over a long period of time, or a study of drill steels that are being used successfully in the various districts. To obtain some information along this line, the persons making this investigation requested, a number of companies to send to them drill shanks that had been given the usual treatment at that mine. The results of the hardness tests are given in Table 1. The hardness values given in Table 2 are those of shanks known to have been quenched in water and drawn. These results show that where water quenching and drawing are in vogue the hardness is rarely under 400 Brinell.

Jan 1, 1923

By Clarence P. Linville

In an article published in the Iron Trade Review,' I gave a convenient arrangement for the installation of wet and dry bulb thermometers for use in making moisture determinations in the air being blown into a blast furnace, and also gave a chart for use in obtaining moisture values from the thermometer readings. The data from which this chart was prepared were obtained from the tables in use by the U. S. Weather Bureau.2 The work of Carrier3 has shown that these tables are somewhat in error. He has recalculated the values for moisture as referred to wet and dry bulb thermometer readings, and he has prepared a psychrometric chart from the values thus obtained. This work has placed the subject of psychrometry upon a correct scientific basis. I think it is proper that we should recognize the importance of his work and give him credit for one of the most interesting and valuable researches that have been published in recent years. Blast-furnace men are not ready to use, as he suggests14 a value expressed in grains of water accompanying a pound of dry air. However convenient this may be for heating and ventilating work and other engineering problems, there are several reasons for preferring the use of a value expressed in grains of water in a cubic foot of mixed air and water vapor, in connection with combustion phenomena and the effects of moisture on blast-furnace operation. Previous papers presented to the Institute have used such values and we have

Jan 1, 1914

By W. McA. Johnson

The work of J. E. Johnson, Jr., on the effect of small amounts of oxygen in cast iron in increasing its strength and resistance to shock, is of interest from the technical and scientific standpoints. The following exposition of the theory carries Mr. Johnson's explanation further and, in my opinion, will disclose certain related phenomena and perhaps shed further light on the subject. Some facts, so novel in character as to excite incredulity, have been accepted finally by many metallurgical authorities. One of these is that oxygen to the amount of 0.060 per cent. in cast iron gives it a breaking strength of 3,500 Ib. per square inch, compared with a breaking strength of 2,500 lb. per square inch in cast iron of the same composition with respect to elements other than oxygen, but having only 0.010 per cent, oxygen. The "oxygenated" cast iron, even if made in a coke furnace, has properties equivalent to the best charcoal pig iron. Mr. Johnson has also established the fact that the variations in combined carbon cannot account for the results. By microphotographic evidence he has shown that in oxygenated cast iron the graphite particles are dense and spherical, while in well-deoxidized cast iron the graphite particles are flaky and leaf-like. It is just a matter of common sense that iron of the latter structure is much weaker than the former. The analytical and microscopical work has been done with care and there is no doubt in my mind about the accuracy of the experimental results. In this paper then, we shall consider it as accepted that small amounts (0.060 per cent.) of oxygen increase the strength of cast iron by producing a structure in which the round and solid particles of graphite are surrounded firmly by a principal matrix of ferrite. The purpose of this paper is to show that the reason why the graphite particles are round is founded on the fact that the particles of any precipitate are made denser and harder by the presence of a reagent having a solvent action on the precipitate. This can be stated as a law, although I have never seen it so given in any textbook. Let us then, for purposes of illustration, give a concrete example and develop the theory of such mechanical and chemical actions as occur: It is well known that, by a soluble sulphate, a barium salt in solution is precipitated in a dense and easily filtered body when the solution is

Jan 1, 1916

By N. H. Emmons

The work of a consulting engineer or manager, when controlling mining-operations, requires that he have all the information concerning the mine in as concise a form as possible, and as the ore-reserves and their depletion and enlargement are the vital points to be studied, it is well to have the records kept up to date and in some convenient form. The present paper describes a method adopted by me, which shows in a very clear manner the ore-reserves in a mine. The case illustrated is that of a vein near enough to the vertical for the vertical elevation of the mine to be the main working-map. A flat ore-body would be represented on a similar plat, but instead of the horizontal thickness of the vein being shown in the circles, the vertical thickness would be inserted. Fig. 1 represents an ideal longitudinal elevation of a mine, plotted in the ordinary way, using 100-ft. blocks and section-lines. In a mine where the block-numbers are posted by the engineer underground, the system of keeping the ore-tonnages extracted from the different blocks is easily maintained, and the actual tonnages of ore extracted can be kept so that the surveyor can have a check on his estim'ate from time to time. The ore-reserve sheet, Fig. 2, should be the same size as the map it is to accompany. Each square is used for the description of the ore-reserve in the block it corresponds to on the elevation. Where the section-lines cross the levels a circle is drawn, in which are written the midths of ore at that point, these widths being used in the calculations of each block cornering in the circle. It has been found convenient to show the figures in black in the lower half of the circle when the actual widths of ore are known, and when it is necessary to make up the figures of probable ore, as at the time of making

Jan 1, 1913

By Charles Kirchhoff

For twenty years it has been my work to watch and record progress in both the technical and the commercial branches of mining engineering in the wide sense in which it is represented by our Institute. While you who have been actively engaged in our profession have made history, a few of us have attempted to be the historians and have been kept keenly on the qui vive to follow the developments of so broad a field. One so employed may be pardoned if he ask you to pause for the unusual purpose of looking backward, that you may measure what you and others have done, and that the younger men may gather inspiration from the work accomplished by their elders and their predecessors. It is not so long since that the commercial management dominated our industries. Bred in the school of science, which seeks its reward in establishing the truth, our engineers were sometimes indifferent to trade conditions and requirements. Much of that feeling has disappeared, and the engineer recognizes that it is his mission to apply the achievements of science to a useful commercial end. On the other hand, business men now understand that the utilization of our natural resources and the production of articles for consumption is impossible without the intervention of the engineer. They must co-operate, unless, indeed, the two functions are combined in one man —a rare but powerful combination. Now the final measure of success of both is the cost sheet on the one hand and the expansion of markets on the other, so closely interwoven, so mutually interdependent. There is one cardinal feature, however, which characterizes the engineer's work—namely, the permanence of his achievements. Every improvement, particularly when it has been recorded in such lasting form as a paper in the Transactions of our societies—

Jan 1, 1900

By Frank Alfred Fahrenwald

MetallURgical research has discovered many an alloy possessing properties not combined in any single metal, and progress still consists chiefly in the investigation and utilization of alloys. In the case of iron, the demands of automobiles, high-speed machines and high-duty engines have led to the production of special iron alloys which will meet any reasonable specifications in that field. In like manner, the bronzes, brasses and other alloys of copper have been brought to remarkable perfection, and for nearly every industrial purpose some alloy has been , found more suitable than the pure metal. Less complete success has attended the attempt to find substitutes for gold, platinum, and the other precious metals. Indeed, it is not likeiy that a material can be produced which, will possess all the properties of any one of them; yet it is reasonable to hope that, for any given use, the properties required may be found in some less expensive material. Thus, in incandescent electric lamps, the wire passing through the thick glass neck of the bulb was, until recently, almost universally made of platinum, for the single reason that no other known material, suitable as a conductor, had the same coefficient of expansion as glass. But a comparatively recent investigation of the iron-nickel series1 has shown that alloys of those metals maybe produced, the coefficient of expansion of which can be accurately controlled between that of iron or nickel and zero. Thus, in that particular industry, a substitute for platinum has been found. According to statistical reports, not only considerable quantities of gold and iridium, but also more than one-third of the annual supply of platinum, are used (and, in the nature of the case, irrevocably lost) by dentists. Platinum is thus employed in several forms. As a thin foil, it serves various purposes for which its high melting point, pliability, chemical resistance, and other properties—including the ease with which it may be soldered—are invaluable. But it is most extensively used in

Jan 1, 1916

By Clemens Catesby Jones

The substance of this paper, now amended and altered in form for its present use, was the basis of a private report prepared under professional engagement.* A private report is necessarily objective, and deprived of the scope and technicality of a scieintific treatise—which accounts for the prevalence of drawings and succinct mathematical statements rather than full descriptive details in a paper reproduced from data, of which all the original working-notes have been destroyed. In a practical sense the Hudson river valley clay-deposits owe their present existence to the protection afforded by the rock-formations on which they are supported, and, instead of being uniform in depth or continuity, are subject to the irregularities of the rugged masses which preceded and are now concealed by them. The only available information concerning these deposits contained in previous public reports or maps furnished at best a mere photograph of the surface, and as now apparent this was misleading or unreliable. It was the object of this investigation to determine in a practical manner the location, form and extent of all the clay-deposits at present existing in the lower Hudson river valley, and to ascertain with a

Jan 1, 1900

By R. B. Yerxa, C. F. Green, H. O. Hofman

MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, In refining copper, the metal is melted down in a reverbera tory furnace in a more or less oxidizing atmosphere and then further subjected to an oxidizing smelting in order to eliminate the common impurities, most of which have a stronger affinity for oxygen than has copper. In these operations some of the copper is oxidized to cuprous oxide and dissolved by the metal bath. When the quantity of dissolved cuprous oxide has reached about 6 per cent, the metal is said to have been brought to " set-copper." A button-sample will show a depressed surface and, when broken, a single bubble at the apex of the depression; the fracture will be brick-red and dull. It is essential to carry the oxidation to this point in order to know that the impurities have been oxidized as far as it is possible under the given working-conditions. Nearly all the cuprous oxide of the set-copper is now reduced to the metallic state by poling, when "tough-pitch" copper will be obtained. A button-sample will show a flat surface. Upon breaking, it will be found that the former bubble has disappeared and that the fracture has become rose-colored and shows a silky luster. The quantity of cuprous oxide allowed to remain in the copper will vary with the impurities still present in the metal and with the degree of pitch that it is desired to reach. It is essential for the general physical and the mechanical properties of the resulting copper that such impurities as arsenic, antimony, bismuth, lead shall be present in the oxidized state, as they are

Jan 1, 1904

By George F. Comstock

It seems a common opinion among metallographists that all light-gray inclusions seen with the microscope in polished sections of steel are manganese sulphide. Examples of this belief are continually appearing, as for instance in the paper by Dr. Henry Fay on manganese sulphide as a source of danger in steel railsll and in Lieutenant-Commander Cook's paper on Metallography of Steel for U. S. Naval Ordnance.² Slate- colored inclusions are considered to be silicates, and dove-gray inclusions, manganese sulphide. To show the danger in the latter unqualified assumption, it should be sufficient to examine the edge of any piece of steel that is covered with a fairly thick scale, and that has been polished in such a way as to prevent the scale from breaking away entirely below the polished surface. This can be done by protecting the scaled edge of

Jan 1, 1917

By Howard R. Hughes

In drilling for water and oil to reasonable depths through the generally soft yielding clay and sand formation of the Coastal Plain of Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, the rotating method of drilling was adopted, principally on account of the easy and quick penetration, and the low cost of the drilling plant. In favorable ground, free of heavy gravel and rock strata, as much as 1,600 ft. has been drilled in less than 36 hr., although such performances were of course rare. Hydraulic rotary drilling, or, as it is now called, rotary drilling, was used in the above States as early as 1880. The plant consisted of an ordinary derrick, a 25-h.p. boiler, a small hoist, a steam pump, and a water swivel with hose attachment, and an ordinary flat diamond-pointed bit. The successful drilling in of a phenomenal oil well by this process on Spindletop, near Beaumont, Texas, on Jan. 10, 1901, and the ascertained impracticability of drilling subsequent wells in the same locality by other methods (owing principally to heavy quicksand under pressure from below), brought rotary drilling into great prominence, practically to the exclusion of any other process throughout the Coastal Plain, and later on elsewhere. The method, as its name implies, involves the rotation of a pipe by means of machinery placed on the derrick floor. A drill bit attached to the lower end cuts a clearance for the drill pipe, with much the same motion and effect as an auger. Water forced through the drill pipe by means of a pump, and escaping through the bit, removes the cuttings and returns to the surface outside the drill pipe. In this manner the hole is kept open, permitting the drill stem to rotate freely. The pressure of the column of muddy water holds up the walls of the hole until it has been cased. Practically all the wells of the Gulf coast region, numbering nearly 10,000, have been drilled with this system. During the last five years its use has been extended to many other States and countries.

Jan 1, 1915

By David B. Rushmore

Torches were used by the early Romans for mine-lighting, and these were followed by open lamps or earthen jars filled with tallow or oil, and later by candles. In early coal-mining, explosive gases seldom occurred, and, if they were encountered, the danger of explosion was materially diminished by the absence of any ventilating-system and the consequent insufficient circulation of air to form with the methane an explosive mixture. As the art advanced, the danger of fire-damp became more apparent, and methods for testing the air were resorted to as early as in the fifteenth century. The method of testing consisted in lowering a dog in a basket down the shaft. As soon as he encountered fire-damp he would commence to howl, after which he was withdrawn, and a leafy bush was fastened to the end of the rope and run rapidly up and down the shaft. This so disturbed the accumulation of gas as to cause it to rise out of the shaft. Later this odd method of testing was improved upon through the discovery that a light inserted in a body of fire-damp Gould produce a blue flame. Candles were used for this purpose, and, when fire-damp was thus discovered, brushing or some other primitive method of fanning was resorted to for driving out the gas. In some instances the gas was burned away, regardless of the danger thereby incurred. A man, wearing a well-moistened coat and a mask with glass spectacles, descended in the mine a few hours before each shift. With a long stick, to which was fastened a burning torch or candle, he would crawl on the floor with the stick so raised that the light would sweep the roof and ignite the gas which it encountered. In this position the flame of the explosion would pass over him, after which he would retreat from the gases resulting from the combustion. The occurrence of serious accidents resulted in

Jan 1, 1913

By Eckley B. Coxe

I DES~RE to call the attention of the Institute to two deep vertical shafts, which are now being sunk in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, about miles north of Pottsville. These shafts are of interest to the mining engineer, not only on account of the novelty of the method of sinking adopted, which promises to produce a revolution in that branch of mining engineering, but also as examples of the manner in which such work should be undertaken. GEOLOGICAL SKETCH OF THE TERRITORY TO BE WORKED BY THE SHAFTS AND REASON FOR SINKING THEM. The Mammoth or E Vein of the anthracite coal-measures in that part of the Schuylkill region near and north of the town of Pottsville lies at a great depth below the surface, and has, in consequence, never been worked in that locality.