July 20, 1923
INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
Bureau of Mines A n n o u n c e s Changes in Personnel Lind Succeeds Moore a s Chief Chemist. Transfers, Appointm e n t s , and Promotions Affect Many Branches T h e following transfers and promotions of the personnel of t h e Research Branch of the Bureau of Mines have been m a d e public b y t h e Department of t h e Interior as a result of the resignation of Dr. R . B . Moore, former Chief Chemist, effective July 1. W i t h t h e advancement of D r . S. C. Lind, formerly Superintendent of t h e Rare a n d Precious Metals Experiment Station a t Reno, Nevada, to t h e post of Chief Chemist and Chief of t h e Division of Mineral Technology t o succeed Dr. Moore, other changes in posts throughout the country were made. E. S. Leaver, formerly Superintendent of the Southwest Experiment Station, Tucson, Arizona, was selected t o succeed Dr. Ling as Superintendent of the station a t Reno. M r . Leaver was designated as D r . Lind's successor because of having given his attention for a great many years t o problems connected with the metallurgical t r e a t m e n t of the western ores, especially those associated with the cyanide process: S. P . Howell, formerly of the Pittsburgh Station, who has spent t h e past year in Arizona studying t h e mining problems of t h a t State, especially regarding the use of explosives, has been designated as Superintendent of the station a t Tucson. During t h e past year G. St. J. P e r r o t t and S, P . Kinney have conducted a n intensive study of the combustibility of coke in blast furnaces. This work will hereafter be conducted by M r . Kinney in connection with the operation of t h e experimental blast furnace a t the N o r t h Central Experiment Station, Minneapolis, and a t commercial furnaces in South Chicago, Illinois, a n d Youngstown, Ohio: M r . P e r r o t t has been transferred t o t h e Pittsburgh Experiment Station to direct chemical-physical work in connection with the liquid oxygen explosives investigations. Dr. T . T . Read, formerly Chief of t h e Division of Information Service in t h e Washington Office, has been transferred t o Duluth, Minn., and made Superintendent of the N o r t h Central Experiment Station. T h e headquarters of Dr. Read were fixed a t Duluth to permit of maintaining a closer contact with t h e mining phase of t h e work. T. L. Joseph h a s been m a d e Assistant Superintendent of the N o r t h Central Experiment Station at Minneapolis. Oscar Lee has been transferred from Minneapolis to t h e Southern Experiment Station, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and placed in charge of t h e iron ore beneficiation work under the direction of Dr. W . R . Crane, Superintendent of the station. Dr. W . D . Bonner, who has been employed as a physical chemist a t t h e Pacific Experiment Station, Berkeley, California, has resigned and will return t o t h e University of Utah as a n instructor. C. G. Maier, formerly with t h e Department of Metallurgical Research of t h e University of Utah, has been appointed t o t h e position a t Berkeley made vacant by D r . Bonner's resignation. Prof. Ernest A . Hersam, of the University of California, who for t h e past
year has studied metallurgical milling problems a t the.Massachusetts Institute of Technology in cooperation with t h a t Institute and with t h e American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, has returned t o his former position as a n instructor at the University of California. John Gross, of the station a t Reno, Nevada, will go to Cambridge t o continue the work which Prof. Hersam has been doing. John Blizard, who has had charge of the Bureau's fuel work a t its Pittsburgh Station, has resigned to accept a position with a commercial concern in N e w York City, where he will be engaged on t h e design of super-heaters and heat transfer apparatus. C. C. Mather, of Pennsylvania, has been appointed as a mining engineer stationed in the Minerals and Coal Leasing Section of the Bureau, a t Denver. John F . Barkley has been appointed as a n assistant fuel engineer and will have charge of the conducting of t e s t s for t h e fuel efficiency survey. John D. Sullivan, analytical chemist a t the Northwest Experiment Station, Seattle, Wash., has been transferred t o a similar position a t Berkeley, California, formerly filled by K . S. Boynton, resigned. R. H . Kudlich has finished his assignment t o investigative work with t h e United States Coal Commission and has returned to the position of assistant to t h e Chief Mechanical Engineer in the Washington Office of t h e Bureau of Mines. Noel Hubbard, formerly principal clerk of the Mississippi Valley Experiment Station, Rolla, Missouri, has resigned to accept the position of assistant registrar of the Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy. A. L. Johns, a clerk in the St. Louis office, has been promoted to the vacancy caused by Mr. H u b b a r d ' s resignation.
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were inaugurated a t t h e University in 1916 b y William A. Hamor, Assistant Director of Mellon Institute. Pressure of Institute work, however, forced him t o discontinue the course after two years, and it was n o t resumed until the present year. " T h e first semester's work is intended t o present t o the student in as clear, systematic a n d logical a way as possible t h e 'what, where, and how' of chemical literature; t h a t is, lectures are given outlining the fundamentals somewhat as follows: " 1 . The 'producers and distributors' of chemical information—writers, societies, research and industrial organizations, chemical and allied publications, etc. "2. Where the information produced may be found—libraries, filing systems, methods of indexing, service available, etc. " 3 . Methods of searching the sources available—indexes, catalogues, card files, bibliographies, abstract journals, review serials, etc. "4. Patents—publications available and how used. " 5 . Allied subjects—types of writers, methods of writing, methods of abstracting and abstract writing. "All these a r e described in outline form, so t h a t the student may have, in advance, a clear idea of the field which he is entering for the purpose of making a search for whatever information he m a y desire. "During t h e second semester the same field is gone over in more detail. Here the value a n d scope of research are taken u p , as a r e such subjects as qualifications for chemists, ethics, types of laboratories and organizations, and types of work. This is followed b y a review of the various medals, awards, prizes, etc., offered to scientific investigators as well as t h e scholarships, fellowships and grants available to them. This presents t o t h e so-called embryo chemist the various goals in view and t h e work of the leaders i n the profession. "Besides t h e lectures the students are given practical problems in the search of t h e literature, not so much for the finding of a n y specific information contained therein, as for the practice in actually handling as many of the facilities as possible in t h e time allotted."
Chemical Bibliochresis Course at Pittsburgh
Synthetic Gray Iron
Arthur R . Cade, an Industrial Fellow of Mellon Institute of Industrial Research, has been giving a course in chemical bibliochresis at t h e University of Pittsburgh to t h e senior a n d graduate students in chemistry. T h e course is described in The Crucible b y Mr. Cade a s follows: "Chemical bibliochresis covers systematic procedure in the use of the voluminous literature of chemistry. This designation is preferable t o the more frequently used names of 'chemical bibliography' or 'chemical literature.' A t least, 'chemical bibliochresis' (meaning, from its derivation, 'to search books') is the proper descriptive name t o apply t o the course which the writer is about t o describe. "This course, which is a p a r t of the University of Pittsburgh curriculum, consists of one lecture a week, extending throughout the entire year. These lectures, which are supplemented by practical problems of application and search,
Carburization tests to determine the feasibility of making synthetic gray iron in a n indirect-arc rocking-type electric furnace h a v e been made a t Detroit, Mich., by engineers of the Bureau of Mines, Department of the Interior. The results were very gratifying, an excellent quality of gray cast iron being produced in every t e s t . The carbon content of the metal w a s under control. With this type of furnace it was found best t o mix some gray iron scrap with the steel scrap in order t o get the melting started a t a lower initial temperature, and thus avoid overheating t h e roof. Test bars lVe inches in diameter were made and broken on 12-inch centers. Deflections as high a s 3,65 degrees and breaking strengths of 3000 lbs. were obtained. On the evidence of these tests a n inspector for one of t h e large automobile plants in Detroit placed a large order for. castings specifying electric furnace iron and agreeing to pay a premium therefor.
