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By A. C. Richardson

Troughs or launders are probably the oldest machines used for ore concentration, and their development was suggested no doubt by the natural segregation and stratification of materials that take place in the bed of a stream. Trough washers for coal cleaning were first used in France and Germany about one hundred years ago and have been used in some form or other ever since. The early launders were intermittent or batch machines, and only comparatively recent developments have made them continuous. The chief disadvantage of early launder systems as applied to coal has been that when a satisfactorily clean coal was produced the loss of good coal in the refuse was excessive. Other disadvantages have been the large quantities of water and the great lengths of troughs necessary to treat moderate tonnages of feed. One of the most widely used types of trough washers is the Rheolaveur, which has been developed in the last 25 years. Fig. 1 shows a more or less standard arrangement for fine coal. In this there are four trouglis placed one below the other and sloped a few degrees from the horizontal. Rheo-boxes or draws are provided at intervals in the bottom of the trough for the removal of material deposited from the stream. These draws are spaced substantial distances apart. Some of the rheo-boxes are provided with upward currents of water to modify the horizontal current stratification. In operation it is the function of the first two troughs to remove all refuse material and permit only clean coal to be discharged over the end. In order to accomplish this, large quantities of coal are drawn through the rheo-boxes. The third and fourth troughs are used to recover the coal discharged through the boxes of the first two troughs as a middling product and to discharge a clean refuse. The middlings are returned to the first launder and are usually about equal to 40 per cent of the raw coal being fed to the launder. In considering launder processes, one would reason that the conditions of extreme crowding under which stratification takes place in a flowing stream should effect complete separation in a single pass down a launder.

Jan 1, 1938

By A. Hamilton Garner

Northern Venezuela has been divided into three provinces, as follows: The Llanos, the Andean, and the Maracaibo Basin and Falcon. The first and third are large sedimentary basins offering, possibilities for oil accumulations. Oil is known to occur in many formations ranging in age from Cretaceous to Quaternary. The most prolific source of oil is probably the Cretaceous shales and limestones, from which the oil appears to have migrated into overlying porous beds. Faulting or fracturing, folding, and porosity are governing factors in the localization of commercial deposits. THE occurrence of oil seepages in Venezuela has been known since the early days of Spanish occupation. It was not until 1912, however, that any serious exploration work was undertaken. In that year, the Caribbean Petroleum Co., then a subsidiary of the General Asphalt Co., employed a large staff of geologists to make a systematic survey, of large areas in eastern and western Venezuela, selecting the most, desirable localities out of the immense area covered by the Valladares concession. This preliminary work was completed in the fall of 1913, and in February, 1914, the company completed its first commercial well at Mene Grande. Development work has progressed slowly, for various reasons, but petroleum in quantity has been encountered in nine widely separated localities. The Mene Grande field has been put on a producing basis and approximately 4,000,000 bbl. of oil are being shipped annually. Increasing quantities of oil are now being drawn from El Mene and La Rosa. In the light of these developments, the world's need for oil reserves, and the proximity of Venezuela to the United States, American capital is being attracted more and more to Venezuela. Although considerable careful geological work has been done in Venezuela by the various oil companies now operating, most of the data is. buried in the company,, files, and the published literature has been extremely meager. The most valuable contribution to date has been a map and report by Jahn, which, as it was printed in Spanish, is not. generally available to the American oil public.

Jan 10, 1924

By N. P. Goss

ASTERISM appearing in X-ray Laue dia-grams is an extremely sensitive index of changes in the internal structures of indi-vidual grains of polycrystalline metals. It indicates the existence of various forms of subboundary structure or subdivision within the grain. The present viewpoint is that the grain is made up of lattice blocks having substantially the same size and shape.1-4 When these blocks all assume exactly the same orientation, the crystal is perfect and asterism is absent. Cleaves and Thompson5 observed that the hardness of iron is virtually constant over a range of grain sizes. It is quite possible that the subboundary structure caused this, and that the latter is just as important as grain size itself. While the experiments reported here are not con-clusive, they do support this viewpoint. Metals can, under certain conditions, be prepared entirely free from asterism, but this preparation does not necessarily require long heating or slow cooling, as will be shown here. In this paper a distinction is made be-tween mosaic and distorted grain struc-tures but the difference is only a matter of degree. In a previous paper9 it was shown that the grains can become distorted even during heat-treatment. The block structure exists inherently, even in a perfect crystal; the size and shape of these crystallites, or lattice blocks, varies, depending upon a number of factors. Goetz, for example,7 has shown that a metal before crystallizing from the molten state must go through a paracrystalline phase with oriented groups of atoms about 10-14 to 10-15 c.c., or 10-5 cm. in size.

Jan 1, 1940

By N. P. Goss

ASTERISM appearing in X-ray Laue dia-grams is an extremely sensitive index of changes in the internal structures of indi-vidual grains of polycrystalline metals. It indicates the existence of various forms of subboundary structure or subdivision within the grain. The present viewpoint is that the grain is made up of lattice blocks having substantially the same size and shape.1-4 When these blocks all assume exactly the same orientation, the crystal is perfect and asterism is absent. Cleaves and Thompson5 observed that the hardness of iron is virtually constant over a range of grain sizes. It is quite possible that the subboundary structure caused this, and that the latter is just as important as grain size itself. While the experiments reported here are not con-clusive, they do support this viewpoint. Metals can, under certain conditions, be prepared entirely free from asterism, but this preparation does not necessarily require long heating or slow cooling, as will be shown here. In this paper a distinction is made be-tween mosaic and distorted grain struc-tures but the difference is only a matter of degree. In a previous paper9 it was shown that the grains can become distorted even during heat-treatment. The block structure exists inherently, even in a perfect crystal; the size and shape of these crystallites, or lattice blocks, varies, depending upon a number of factors. Goetz, for example,7 has shown that a metal before crystallizing from the molten state must go through a paracrystalline phase with oriented groups of atoms about 10-14 to 10-15 c.c., or 10 5 cm. in size.

Jan 1, 1940

By P.V. Roundy, G.R. Mansfield

Public lands in Florida were first withdrawn from entry by President Taft on July 2, 1910, as a conservation measure because of their possible phosphate content. The reserve thus established was subsequently modified by further withdrawals and by restorations, so that on Jan. 1, 1934, it contained 66,796 acres, of which only a small part had been definitely classified. The reserved land was in scattered parcels, ranging from less than 40 acres to 320 or more, distributed in many counties. For administrative purposes and for final disposal of any of the numerous parcels, mineral classification of the land is legally necessary. In 1934 and 1935 the United States Geological Survey, under two successive grants from the Public Works Administration, prospected some 83 tracts of these lands in Polk County, comprising in all about 3300 acres, and six tracts comprising 240 acres in Citrus and Marion Counties. The tracts in Polk County were all in the so-called land-pebble field and the others in the hard-rock field. The Survey field party was under the direction of P. V. Roundy, from whose unpublished report the material in this paper is largely taken. The foreman of the prospecting crew was J. H. Wingate of Zephyrhills, Fla. The individual tracts were identified through the cooperation of the General Land Office, by transitman Hugh B. Crawford. This prospecting work fitted well the classification adopted for Public Works projects in general: it could not be done on any considerable scale under the Survey's usual appropriations; it gave employment to unemployed labor; and it may be expected ultimately to repay the Government in royalties more than the cost of the exploration. Commercial, Prospecting Methods Commercial methods of prospeeting for phosphate in Florida have been briefly described by Mansfield.' In the hard-rock field, where the floor of the phosphate deposit is extremely irregular, it is customary to drill a.:

Jan 1, 1938

By P. V. Roundy, G. R. Mansfield

Public lands in Florida were first withdrawn from entry by President Taft on July 2, 1910, as a conservation measure because of their possible phosphate content. The reserve thus established was subsequently modified by further withdrawals and by restorations, so that on Jan. 1, 1934, it contained 66,796 acres, of which only a small part had been definitely classified. The reserved land was in scattered parcels, ranging from less than 40 acres to 320 or more, distributed in many counties. For administrative purposes and for final disposal of any of the numerous parcels, mineral classification of the land is legally necessary. In 1934 and 1935 the United States Geological Survey, under two successive grants from the Public Works Administration, prospected some 83 tracts of these lands in Polk County, comprising in all about 3300 acres, and six tracts comprising 240 acres in Citrus and Marion Counties. The tracts in Polk County were all in the so-called land-pebble field and the others in the hard-rock field. The Survey field party was under the direction of P. V. Roundy, from whose unpublished report the material in this paper is largely taken. The foreman of the prospecting crew was J. H. Wingate of Zephyrhills, Fla. The individual tracts were identified through the cooperation of the General Land Office, by transitman Hugh B. Crawford. This prospecting work fitted well the classification adopted for Public Works projects in general: it could not be done on any considerable scale under the Survey's usual appropriations; it gave employment to unemployed labor; and it may be expected ultimately to repay the Government in royalties more than the cost of the exploration. Commercial, Prospecting Methods Commercial methods of prospeeting for phosphate in Florida have been briefly described by Mansfield.' In the hard-rock field, where the floor of the phosphate deposit is extremely irregular, it is customary to drill a.:

Jan 1, 1938

By M. M. Austin

Pure metallic tantalum, from a practical standpoint, is one of the newer developments in the metal field. Although it was used as filament in incandescent lamps in 1906, only within the last, five years has the metal been available in sufficient quantity and suitable form for more general application. In addition to corrosion-resisting properties and high melting point, the metal has an ability to withstand unusual amounts of cold working. It affords some striking demonstrations of block movement during plastic flow. Strength and Ductility of Tantalum Since there is no good way of defining working properties numerically, illustrations will be used. It is possible to roll a bar of pure tantalum 0.4 in. thick to sheet 0.001 in. thick, without heating or annealing. The sheet produced will be sound and may be bent upon itself at right angles to the direction of rolling. Longitudinally the sheet will be somewhat brittle. A disk of annealed metal may be cupped and drawn to the form of a capsule 3/16 in. dia. by 146 1? in. long. If carefully handled this capsule can be further deformed by drawing to a tube having an outside diameter of 0.050 in. Disks of tantalum may be spun into tubes of 39 in. dia. and 1½ in. long. In the form of rod, reductions may be made from 0.4 in. to 0.001 dia. In the latter process, it is necessary to heat the wire four or five times to 500" C., at intervals between 0.040 and 0.001 in. Although the melting point of tantalum is 2850" C., these heatings at 500" C. are sufficient to distinctly anneal it. Published figures on the strength and ductility of tantalum are not particularly accurate. This is due to the fact that these properties vary widely, depending on the extent to which the metal is contaminated by gas. There are no sharp critical points in these changes with gas content; samples of metal will vary from a springy or actually brittle condition to one of leadlike softness. Samples that have had a prolonged heating at high temperatures in a good vacuum, under conditions such as would be provided in vacuum-tube experimentation, will yield a product of about the hardness of annealed copper. The usual commercial metal will have the hardness of annealed mild steel.

Jan 1, 1930

J. E. JOHNSON, JR., New York, N. Y. (communication to the Secretary*).-The discussion of Mr. Henrich's paper took place at a meeting from which I had the misfortune to be absent, and has just come to my attention. I do not wish to let the subject pass without contributing to it a little information which has come into my possession. In 1912, I published a brief note in the Transactions on The Effect of Alumina in Blast-Furnace Slags, giving in tabular form three typical slags used in iron blast-furnace practice, one of them the high alumina slag of, which Professor Richards speaks. That table is reproduced herewith. TABLE 1.-Composition of Slays. 1 3 3 4 5 6 7 CaO by Neutral Ratio Ratio Ratio Al2z03, SiO2, Differ- Substan- Cat Ca0 a A1203 Ratio Per Per ence, ces, CaO Cent. Cent. Per Per Al2O3 + Sioz Sit: SiO2 Cecil_ Cent. Virginia practice 6.5 36.0 54.0 3.5 1.27 1.6S 1.50 Lake-ore practice 13.5 33.0 50.0 3.5 1.08 1.92 1.51 Special experiment... 36.0 24.7 36.8 3.5 0.59 2.90 1.44 It supplies what seems to me convincing evidence that, for the purposes of the iron blast furnace, alumina can be regarded only as a neutral substance, dissolving in the slag and materially altering its viscosity, but not affecting its chemical activity. In subsequent experience with charcoal furnaces, I found the same rule to hold; that the chemical effect of alumina could be disregarded, providing the ratio of the lime and magnesia to the silica were kept constant. This is exactly the experience which Messrs. Dwight and Mathewson had in copper- and' lead-smelting furnaces. I have never seen any evidence or argument adequate to support the contention of Professor Richards-that the alumina acted as a base in the charcoal iron furnace and as an acid in the coke furnace, and that the function of alumina in iron-furnace slags is inherently different from that in copper- and lead-furnace slags-and I am compelled to differ absolutely with his conclusions in that respect.

Jan 9, 1917

By Arthur West

IT is the purpose of this paper to describe briefly some recent large power stations for blast furnaces, where the blast is exclusively supplied by gas engines using furnace gas. The stations are given in the chronological order in which they were designed, in order to indicate the various improvements suggested by experience. Fig. 1 shows the blowing-engine station of the Bethlehem Steel Co. at Bethlehem. Although the picture shows only five blowing engines, the house now contains 11 engines. In the diagrammatic. plan the arrow shows the position and direction of camera. This station handles five modern blast furnaces of 450 to 500 tons capacity each. In this, as in all the other stations described in this paper, each furnace is blown by-two single tandem gas engines. Ten engines are thus required for five furnaces, leaving one single tandem spare engine. This spare capacity has been shown by several years' experience at Bethlehem to be adequate to insure continuous operation. The engines in the Bethlehem station are right hand and left hand, arranged in pairs. The outboard bearings of each pair are close together so that there is not room for passageway between them. On the right of the picture are shown the inclined drums communicating with the cold-blast lines outside of building, so that any engine may be operated on any furnace. The illustration shows four cold-blast gate valves with pipes passing through wall, but since the photograph was taken the drums have been extended to take care of a fifth valve for a fifth furnace. At the extreme back of the picture can be seen the tubs of three twin vertical-horizontal Southwark steam blowing engines, which, although of modern design and as good as new, are not operated because of the greatly reduced blowing cost shown by the gas blowing engines.

Jan 6, 1915

By H. B. Bailey

SiNcE the gypsum deposits of Nova Scotia have been operated on a large-tonnage basis, it has become increasingly necessary that more study be given to the geological relation of gypsum to anhydrite. It was while attempting to work out some definite system of quarry operation for several operators that the factors relating to hydration as given in this paper became apparent. For convenience the words "the formation" are used to mean anhydrite and gypsum taken together as one bed geologically and forming a distinct unit from the rocks below or above. Also, the word "block" is used geologically to define a portion of the formation that is cut apart and separated by erosion from other portions. The formation is part of the Lower Carboniferous, the remainder of which is made up of red shales and shaly sandstones, coarse red conglomerates and limestones. Overlying the Lower Carboniferous are the even-bedded gray sandstones of the coal measures. To a large extent these sandstones have been eroded from above the formation and the usual cover is clay and unconsolidated sediments. The position of the limestone member which immediately underlies the formation usually furnishes the key to the general structure. Being harder, and subject to less erosion, it has a wider spread than the'formation, and measures for dip read on it have a value which can not be applied to dips taken on gypsum or anhydrite. This limestone usually is not more than 25 ft. deep, but it has a remarkable tenacity—one would almost say elasticity—under strain of earth movements. In many cases it stands as a barrier to the erosion which otherwise would have destroyed completely the remaining block of the formation. No bedded limestone is found within the formation except in narrow seams close to the bottom and in short irregular masses in highly disturbed strata where it has been caught up by fault action. This paper is not concerned with the general theories of original deposition and no opinion is expressed as to whether gypsum or anhydrite was first deposited from evaporating sea water. For purposes of study, and as an observed fact, except in the few cases where there has been extreme disturbance, a block of the formation is regarded as a block of anhydrite which has become partly hydrated into gypsum. 177

Jan 1, 1931

By J. E. Norton

PRODUCTION statistics show that during the period of emergence from the depres¬sion the coal industry was becoming increasingly cognizant of the economic and competitive necessity for mechanizing. About 1935 many of its leaders were becoming aware also of the alarming scarcity of men properly trained to cope with the new problems of mechanization. In order to get a factual statement of this problem, a special AIME Coal Division Committee + was requested to survey the condition. Its investigation disclosed that graduates of mining schools going into coal mining numbered 16 in 1939 and 15 in 1938. With this as a background, Pittsburgh Coal Co. foresaw that a comprehensive program was necessary if it was to enlist the services of trained technical men, who were an indispensable part of a mechaniza¬tion program. The purpose of this paper is to review the program set up, to comment on the successes and failures and to outline the future course of action. SUMMER WORK An inescapable conclusion from the mechanization statistics was that the opportunities in coal mining were good. Not only was there a void in technical skill to fill from past years, but the ac¬celerating rate of mechanization indicated an increasing demand for technically trained men for the future. The remedy lay primarily in presenting facts con¬cerning the coal industry to the under¬graduate engineers before they made their professional occupational choice. Based on this idea, one of the key points in the program - was summer vacation work for the undergraduate, which, through the inducement of summer earnings, brought men into the mines to take a look at the prospects. This was more successful than statistics indicate because the war badly scrambled the orderly working of the program, but it could not obscure the value of a summer work program. A decided advantage was that it gave the company a preview of the graduate. An observation on this part of the program is that it is extremely hard to gauge lower classmen, and we found it wise to give them the benefit of the doubt, as the last two years in college bring about surprisingly rapid develop¬ment in some men. We could readily single out the men at the opposite ends of the scale of competence. COMPREHENSIVE TRAINING PROGRAM Having adopted summer work as a

Jan 1, 1946

By George Sears

UNTIL a comparatively few years ago, interest in tantalum was limited almost wholly to its scientific investigation, but its extreme resistance to the action of even the strong mineral acids, its great avidity for the common gases, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen, and its capacity for transforming alternating to direct current are winning for it a place in our industrial life. Tantalum is not attacked by any single acid except hydrofluoric, nor is it affected by solutions of alkalies. Aqua regia, which readily dissolves both platinum and gold, has no action on it. This resistance to the common corrosive agents is an outstanding property of tantalum and accounts for many of the applications to which it has been put. When heated, tantalum reacts readily with oxygen and nitrogen and absorbs large volumes of hydrogen, 740 volumes being taken up at a dull red heat. This capacity for absorbing gases is being utilized to an increasing extent in the manufacture of vacuum tubes, in which tantalum is used for the metal parts, especially for grid wire. It is said to be a superior metal for this purpose, particularly in power and sending tubes, because of its low secondary emission. The use of tantalum in the manufacture of electrodes, dishes, spatulas and other laboratory apparatus appears to be fairly steady. There has been some development in its use for dental instruments, surgical tools, pen points, hypodermic needles and acidproof pumps. Recently it has been used in the manufacture of spinnerets for the rayon industry, of nozzles for the manufacture of artificial casings for sausages and of lining for plant equipment.

Jan 1, 1930

By M. H. De Hora

(Butte Meeting, August, 1913.) IN giving my opinion of the importance of Colombia as a field for investment for those interested' in mining for the precious metals, I must begin by quoting Sir Clement Markham, who, in one of his presidential addresses to the Royal Geographical Society of Great Britain, called the attention of its members to the fact that " although Colombia is the least known and least developed of the South American republics, it is far and away the richest mineral country of them all." This to American investors is extremely interesting, as the country is the most accessible of all the South American republics from the United States. .Almost all of the gold shipped by the Spaniards from Madre de Dios, now Colon, came from Colombia, and statistics from the Mint at Medellin, the capital of the Department of Antioquia, go to show that the . total production of the precious metals of Colombia, dating from the Spanish conquest in the fifteenth century to the present time, aggregates the enormous total of $700,000,000. Of this amount, nearly 70 per cent. represents gold obtained from the placers of the Republic, more than one-half of which came from the Department of Antioquia, the balance, being divided between the placers of the Choco and the rest of the Republic. The remaining 30 per cent. of the $700,000,000 represents the silver and gold obtained from the quartz mines, the silver greatly predominating. A glance at the map of Colombia shows the territory somewhat in the shape of an outspread human left hand extended palm downwards on the paper, with the wrist adjoining the Republic of Ecuador, the bones of the hand, fingers, and thumb representing the divisions of the great Andean mountain chain known as the Cordilleras of Colombia. The first finger represents the Eastern Cordillera, with the thumb as the extension to the Nevada de Santa Maria, forming

Jan 7, 1913

By W. H. Andrews

The constantly increasing consumption of Portland cement in the State makes the above subject of particular interest at this time. The increasing demand is due to the rapid settling of the country and the fact that new uses are being found frequently for the above named commercial article. The industry is one that is bound to grow as the population increases, and this being the case it may be well at this time to consider briefly the matter of the chemical and physical composition of proper raw materials. A cement mixture is one that contains approximately 75 per cent, carbonate of lime, 15 per cent. silica, and 5 to 7 per cent. alumina and iron oxides; the other elements being magnesium carbonate and mall quantities of the rarer elements generally associated with limestone deposits. It can be readily seen from the above composition that it is possible to build up this mixture from a number of different materials. First.—A rock high in carbonate of lime can be mixed with clay or shale in such proportions as to bring about the desired composition ; the chief difficulty in the building up of such a mixture is that it is hard to find a clay or shale in which the silica-alumina ratio lies between 4 to 1 and 3 to 1 and at the same time shows physical characteristics which will make certain its adaptability to the practical manufacture of Portland cement. Very often clays or shales are found which are right chemically but contain large quantities of grit or free silica. Such clays or shale must be ground to extreme fineness in the mixture in order to make the silica and alumina combine with the lime when the mixture is burned. On the other hand, clays or hales are often found that have the proper physical characteristics but in which the amount of alumina is too great. Second.—A mixture can be built up of different limestones some of which run above the 75 per cent. requirement and others below;

Jan 1, 1914

By J. R. Campbell

IN order to discuss the subject intelligently, it will be necessary to touch briefly on the forms in which sulphur is supposed to exist in coking coal to be carbonized in beehive or byproduct ovens. Sulphur is known to exist in coal as sulphides and sulphates, as can be determined experimentally. Then there is the so-called organic sulphur, i.e., sulphur in combination with the carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen of the coal, about which much has been written, but nothing definitely proven in an experimental way. In fact, so far as we know, there never has been developed a satisfactory and conclusive method in the laboratory for the direct determination of organic sulphur. For most coking coals, it can be safely assumed that the preponderance of sulphur is in the form of pyrite (FeS2). When exposed to comparatively low temperatures during the coking process, it loses its sulphur according to the following chemical reaction: 7FeS2 = Fe7S8 + 6S. It will be seen, therefore, that six out of the 14 atoms of sulphur (or 42.8 per cent.) are expelled, or volatilized. Fe7S8 remains in the coke as pyrrhotite, or magnetic sulphide of iron; this accounts for the highly magnetic properties of the powdered coke. A more commonly accepted reaction is FeS2 = FeS + S, in which the straight sulphide of iron is produced with 50 per cent. volatilization of sulphur. In the beehive methods of coke making, air is introduced in sufficient amounts to carry on the distilling and the coking processes, and the sulphur is oxidized along with the other volatile products: First, into sulphur dioxide (SO2), known by the pungent and suffocating odoremitted from the trunnel head; second, into sulphuric anhydride (SO3); and, finally, into sulphuric acid, as it comes into contact with the air and moisture. In a properly regulated draft on a beehive oven, there is never complete combustion of the gases. In other words, the coking process should be carried on in a reducing atmosphere, and a low-grade producer gas kept issuing from the trunnel head. For coals of about 30 per cent. volatile matter, the ratio of air to gas is 3 ½ to 1. In complete combustion, the ratio is 6 to 1, producing an extremely high temperature

Jan 1, 1916

By Norman D. Fitz Gerald

The lack of a continuous operating balance in petroleum refining, which is analyzed in this paper, is by no means a feature solely of this division of the oil industry. Serious disequilibria of a capital as well as an operating nature exist both in the producing and marketing departments, while problems in the former and to some degree the latter are complicated by political involvements. Attention has previously been directed to the unstabilizing influence of present proration formulas in stimulating unnecessary drilling.' While equilibrium in petroleum refining operations has been fairly well maintained in the past decade, examination of departures may prove fruitful. Economic analysis is the application of time and motion study to the functioning of management, rather than labor. Properly applied it may reveal changes in policies that would increase the utility of the properties and facilities of the industry for stockholders, employees and the public, while contributing a stabilizing influence to the general economy. The study of economic equilibrium is essentially one of measurement and interpretation, requiring adequate data and the development of a technique of analysis that employs statistical and mathematical methods as a supplement to the broad descriptive phase of economics. Economic equilibrium in petroleum refining is a dual concept. It embraces both the over-all balance between total storage and total demand for major products and the internal balance between the demands and inventories of the various products. The latter is the more complex of the two for it is concerned with proportionating the supplies of the several products stemming from the joint source to the demands for the individual products which are subject to wide variations. All the products are essentially nondurable goods, and they are used both by producers and consumers but in varying proportions. Motor fuel is very largely a consumer's good, while residual fuel oil is almost entirely a producer's good, the other products falling between these extremes. The peculiar-

Jan 1, 1939

By Norman D. Fitz Gerald

The lack of a continuous operating balance in petroleum refining, which is analyzed in this paper, is by no means a feature solely of this division of the oil industry. Serious disequilibria of a capital as well as an operating nature exist both in the producing and marketing departments, while problems in the former and to some degree the latter are complicated by political involvements. Attention has previously been directed to the unstabilizing influence of present proration formulas in stimulating unnecessary drilling.' While equilibrium in petroleum refining operations has been fairly well maintained in the past decade, examination of departures may prove fruitful. Economic analysis is the application of time and motion study to the functioning of management, rather than labor. Properly applied it may reveal changes in policies that would increase the utility of the properties and facilities of the industry for stockholders, employees and the public, while contributing a stabilizing influence to the general economy. The study of economic equilibrium is essentially one of measurement and interpretation, requiring adequate data and the development of a technique of analysis that employs statistical and mathematical methods as a supplement to the broad descriptive phase of economics. Economic equilibrium in petroleum refining is a dual concept. It embraces both the over-all balance between total storage and total demand for major products and the internal balance between the demands and inventories of the various products. The latter is the more complex of the two for it is concerned with proportionating the supplies of the several products stemming from the joint source to the demands for the individual products which are subject to wide variations. All the products are essentially nondurable goods, and they are used both by producers and consumers but in varying proportions. Motor fuel is very largely a consumer's good, while residual fuel oil is almost entirely a producer's good, the other products falling between these extremes. The peculiar-

Jan 1, 1939

By J. S. Hardison

In the fall of 1912, the appearance of water in the oil of the Nevada Petroleum Co., Coalinga, Cal., made necessary the installation of a dehydrating plant to reduce the water below the 3 per cent. limit prescribed by the agency. Unlike the mining industry, technical literature of the oil industry is limited and extremely unsatisfactory. Until the recent efforts of the Petroleum and Gas Committee of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, no concerted movement has been instituted to secure publication of papers dealing with the problems of the oil business, and because of the additional fact that dehydrating of oil has not been practiced in California to any extent up to comparatively recent time, it was found necessary to experiment in order to determine the most satisfactory plan for this purpose. It is easy to write regarding successful enterprises, but, while not SO pleasant, it is equally desirable to write of failures so that others may be saved the loss incident to such investments. The water in this oil occurs both free and as an emulsion. Free water easily settles out, but the emulsion requires treatment. So far as can be determined, the emulsion consists of globules of water surrounded and enveloped by a film of oil. Starting with this hypothesis the theory has been evolved that in order to break up this emulsion the water must be heated at least to boiling point, when an explosion takes place destroying the globule. Unfortunately, this condition was not recognized in the installation of the first plant, which was planned on the following lines: A heater was arranged so that all the oil from the wells could be heated before reaching the shipping tanks, these being already fitted with coils for steam heating. Tanks were filled with about 4 ft. of water, live steam was turned into the coils and the water brought nearly to the boiling point, when the heated oil was run in. This for a time was partly successful, but the length of time necessary to apply this heat was too great for practical operating.

Jan 1, 1915

With only one certain exception coal was never used by the Indians, before white men came to America, for any purpose except as an ornament or for paint. Within the past few years it has been discovered that the Hopi Indians in Navajo County, Arizona, used lignite for burning pottery, about 1000 A. D., as dated by tree rings. They were able to obtain a clear color in their ware that could not be obtained with brushwood fires. The coal was mined by hammers from outcrop openings, some of which can still be seen, and the tools used have been found in them.1 (See also p. 376.) Small figurines made of splint or cannel coal have been found at various localities in western New York, in Ohio and possibly other places, evidently made for ornaments. There is no reason to think they are of any greater age, if as old, as that mentioned above. Some crushed coal was used by the Indians as a black pigment in painting themselves, but apparently the eastern Indians never used coal for any other purposes. Some think that several tribes of Indians in the Northwest, along the Missouri, used coal as fuel, the basis being a statement attributed to Radisson about 1660. In the Jesuit Relations of 1659-1660 it was stated that Radisson anti Groseilliers had just returned from a visit to Lake Superior and beyond. "In the country of the Poualak, which means 'warriors' they say `as wood is scanty in supply and small in size in their country, nature has taught them to make fire with coal from the earth (charbon de terre) and to cover their cabins with skins.'"2 This statement was only hearsay with the good fathers, and the reputation for veracity of the two explorers is not of the best, and it is extremely probable that instead of coal they used turf, dry grass or buffalo chips. In fact in Radisson's Voyages' he does not mention coal at all in his account of the third voyage, when he was supposed to have seen it used. His accounts of his travels are badly mixed, and he and his companions were much better travellers than narrators. None of the early travellers up the Missouri River saw any evidence even then that the Indians were familiar with the use of coal. In the writer's opinion it is unlikely that coal was used as stated by the Jesuits.

Jan 1, 1942

By AIME AIME

THE second meeting of 'the Open-Hearth Committee, 'sub-division of the Iron and Steel Committee of this Institute, was held at the Hotel Cleveland, Cleveland, Ohio; on Oct. 13-15. On Oct: 12, the Open-Hearth Superintendents visited the plants of the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Co. and. the Republic Iron and Steel Co. These men were courteously entertailled by the two companies and every facility for a thorough inspection was furnished. Luncheon was severed at the plant bf the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Co. The meeting was opened Tuesday morning with addresses by J. V. W. Reynders, President of the Institute, and Herbert M. Boylston, Chairman of the Ohio Section of the Institute. E. A. Whitworth, of the Gathmann Engineering Co., presided at the meeting and L. B. Lindeinuth was secretary.

Jan 1, 1925