nETALLURGICAL CHEMISTRY AND ASSAYING. The Connellsville Region. BE' H. S . EAVEXSON. Mizes and Minerals, August, ~goz.-The writer is assistant chief engineer of the H. C. Frick Coke Co., and gives an accurate and interesting account of the mineral resources, methods of mining, quality of products, and amount of output of the region, including a historical sketch of the iron industry n-hich formerly flourished there. Typical analyses of the coal and coke, taking the average of hundreds of analyses from all over the region. show:
.....................
Coal
Water I , I 30 Volatile combustible matter. 29.812 Fixed carbon .............. 60.420 Sulphur .................... 0.789 Phosphorus ................ O . O I O Ash ....................... 7.$49
Coke. 0.070
0.8So
89.509 0.811
0.014
9.sjo
J . IV. RICHARDS.
British Columbia Iron and Coal. Bs IT, &Ivz. BRE~YEK. Mines and Minerals, August, 1902. An interesting description of the various known deposits, their locations, qualities and extent of development. A peculiar condition is that the large deposits of iron ore on Texada Island, carrying 7 0 per cent. iron, phosphorus verj7 low, not a trace of titanium and very little silica, are partly valueless because of a small percentage of copper, which is not enough to convert the material into copper ore. Sinking of shafts into these beds showed the copper to increase with the depth, but after the bed is passed, more recent shafts have disclosed underneath some exceedingly pure niagnetite without a trace of copper. Crystalline limestone of great purity exists in close proximity to these iron deposits ; an excellent coking coal is mined on the east side of T'ancouver Island ; the Canadian government pays a bounty of $2.00 per ton on pig iron made from native ores ; and altogether the prospects are bright for a large development in this region. J. IT.RICHARDS. The Conversion of Amorphous Carbon into Graphite. BY F. J. FITZGERALD.1.F r a z k . Znst., Xovember, 1902. A 27-page paper on the history of this subject, giving copious translations from the original articles of Despretz, Berthelot, and Moissan, a connected history of the development of the Acheson manufactured-graphite process, and considerable new information on the chemical and physical properties of Acheson graphite. Amorphous carbon electrodes have a density before graphitizing of ~ . g a and , an electrical resistance of 0.00124ohm per cubic inch; the same completely graphitized has a density of 2.19, and a resistance of 0.00032 ohm per cubic inch, or only one-fourth the
Mtfallut--ica I Chemistry and Assajiiig.
67
resistance. The latter figure represents c.ooo8 ohm per centimeter cube. Castner’s ‘‘ Anode for Electrolytic Processes,” patented in 1896, is described as nothing more than an electrically baked carbon ; and Borcher’s experiments, showing that carbides further the crystallization of carbon, were made known long after J. W. RICHARDS. Acheson’s patents were published.
Notes on Oil Furnaces for Assaying and Melting. BY C. Description of furnaces designed by the writer, using gasoline, refined oil or fuel oil, and which can be constructed by any ordinary mechanic. They are constructed of sheet steel, lined with a plastic mixture of 4 parts old assay crucibles, ground to 2 0 mesh, and I part of good finelyground fire-clay. It burns as hard as porcelain and is practically indestructible. A combination crucible and muffle furnace is shown, also a combined melting and reverberatory furnace. In the simple crucible furnace the oil jets are applied on two opposite sides, tangentially. With air at 80 pounds pressure, the furnaces can be raised to assaying temperature in ten to fifteen minutes. J. W . RICHARDS.
BRENT. Can. Min. Rezi., June, 1902.
The Hoover and nason Ore-Handling System. Iron Age, September 4, 1go2.-The most comprehensive ore-handling plant yet installed, which has been put into operation at the South Chicago works of the Illinois Steel Co. I t unloads, stores, and sends to the stack, ore for two 500 ton furnaces. There is a battery of 15 unloading machines on the dock, and two large ore bridges, each 5 18 feet long, which span the whole space from the docks to the foot of the stacks. These bridges travel on two piers, 188 feet apart, the dock end projecting 150 feet and the stack end 180 feet. A Io-ton grab travels on the bridge. The bridges may not only move transversely, but one end may be moved while the other is fixed, allowing the bridge to be placed as far as 30’ from its normal line. The bridges can deliver as much as 1000 tonsof ore an hour into the ore-pockets or scale-cars at the foot of the stacks. Twenty-six men now do the unloading and charging work formerly done by 300. T h e article is copiously illusJ. W. RICHARDS. trated. Process of Smelting Iron Ore Fines. BY OSCAR DAUBE. Eng. Min. October 4, 1902. T h e fine ore is mixed with coal dust or culm, and coked in a coking oven, producing a metallic sponge or coke ready for the blast-furnace. The concentrate contained 71.08 per cent. iron, 0 . 2 2 silica, 0.03 phosphorus, and 0.42 titanium. I t was converted thus into a coke containing carbon 42 per cent., iron 3 7 , limestone 13, and ash 8. Flue dust, fine roasted ores and soft Mesabi ores can be similarly treated. T h e coking takes twenty-four hours ; the gases are used to heat the oven and leave a surplus unused. If the coke is to be directly reduced to metal, a vertical oven holding I O tons is used, the flux
I.,
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Review of American Chemical Research.
is mixed with the coal and ore, the charge is coked, then the blast is forced in by tuyeres below, and the reduction takes place rapidly and molten metal and slag are tapped as from a cupola. When the furnace is empty, it is recharged for another operation. J. W.RICHARDS.
New Plant for Handling Blast-Furnace Slag. Zyox Age, October 23, ~goz.-Many blast-furnaces are installing the system of running their slag into a brick-lined pit, where, as it enters, it meets with a flat jet of water which granulates it to the consistency of fine gravel. I t is then dug out by a clam-shell grab, from an overhead traveler, the load allowed to drain, and then transferred directly to the cars. The operator rides in a cab suspended from the overhead rail, alongside of the bucket. Thepit is large enough to hold a two-days run of cinder, and the trolley can make forty trips an hour, the bucket load averaging 1% to 2 tons, loading I % gondola cars per hour. One man, working four to eight hours a day, can do the work of ten to twenty men handling the slag by hand. The bucket can be used also for other purposes around the yards, when not busy loading up slag. J . W.RICHARDS. Electric Welding of Rail Joints. (yon Age, September 2 j , 1902. Illustrated description of a portable plant for welding street-car rail joints, in place. The joint is cleaned by a sand blast, flat-rolled steel bars are placed across the joint, and a current of 25,000 to 30,000 amperes, at a pressure of 7 volts, is applied, pressure being simultaneously applied on each side of the joint. The current is then shut off, and the pressure is left on a little while, while the joint cools. The current is on two to two and a half minutes. T h e current is taken as direct current from the trolley wire, at 500 or 600 volts, transformed to alternating current of 300 volts, and this sent to the induction transformer. It takes about 225 amperes from the trolley wire, to produce the welding current, or about 1 2 j kilo-watts. The preparing, welding and finishing of a joint take about twelve minutes. T h e number of failuresof these joints, in actual use, is not over one J. UT.RICHARDS. in a thousand. Electrolytic Refining of Base Lead Bullion. BY T. ITLKE. Eng. M7n. I., October I I , rgoz.-The process of A. G. Betts is in use at the Trail smelter, British Columbia. A plant treating I O tons daily, valued a t $15,000, has been operating successfully IO months, and a 30-ton plant is contemplated. The process consists in using the impure lead as anode in an acid solution of lead fluosilicate. T h e solution is made by diluting 3j per cent. hydrofluoric acid with an equal volume of water and saturating it with pulverized quartz. This solution will take up about 6 pounds of lead per cubic foot ; in actual work it contains about 8 per cent.
MetaZZurgical Chemistry and Assaying.
69
of lead and 11 per cent. excess of H,SiF,. T h e anodes are 2 inches thick, no anode sacks are used, there is no polarization or formation of peroxide on the anode, no evaporation of acid and no danger in handling, while exceptionally pure lead is deposited. T h e cathodes are thin lead plates (made in a separate depositing tank by precipitation on paraffined steel plates), the electrodes are I to 2 inches apart, and the fall of potential is 0 . 2 volt, using 14 amperes current per square foot. A metric ton of lead can be deposited per day with less than IOO mechanical horse-power. T h e lead. zinc, iron, cobalt and nickel go into soliltion; the anode residue contains I O per cent. of lead, and practically all of the copper, antimony, bismuth, arsenic, silver and gold contained in the bullion. The impurities accumulating in the solution are so small in amount that only a few per cent. accumulate in ayear; about I O cubic feet of solution are taken out daily and purified, thus keeping the electrolyte clean. The melted down lead contains only traces of bismuth. The slimes carry 8,000 ounces of silver per ton, and are boiled with concentrated K,SO, to remove copper, and then melted down with niter and antimonate of soda. There is room for improvement in the treatment of the slimes. T h e whole process is cheaper than the fire-refining processes now in use and more efficient, and signalizes a great advance. J . W. RICHARDS.
Concentration of Copper Ore. Mines and Minerads, October, Description of the Elmore process, used in a mill concentrating 250 tons per week, and saving 80 per cent. of the values in the ore, whereas the best methods of concentration formerly used on that ore recovered only 1 1 . 5 per cent. The ore-pulp stream is agitated by screws with a small quantity of the thick, sticky oil residue from petroleum stills, and then flows into spitz-kasten. T h e particles of ore are wetted by the oil and float up as a scum, while the particles of tailings or rock are not wetted, and at once settle. T h e scum flows off to a centrifugal machine, where the bulk of the oil is extracted, and is ready for re-use. For close extraction, three mixing cylinders are used, with fresh oil introduced into each. and two centrifugals, to extract all the oil. J. W. RICHARDS. The Ducktown Copper llining District. BY. S. W. M C C A L L I ~ : . EnK. Mi%.I., October 4, 1902. An illustrated article on the geology and character of these well-known deposits The ores are massive pyrrhotite impregnated with chalcopyrite and pyrite. T h e large quantities of black oxides and carbonates found at the water-level in the early workings, are exhausted. The present sulphide ore is yet in very large quantity, and, when roasted, runs 2 to 4 per cent. of copper. The gossan, or part of the ore body lying above water-level, is a porous iron ore, which has supplied large quantities of low sulphur and low phosphorus ore, 1902.
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Review of American Chemical Research.
giving steady employment to from 7 j to I jo miners. The sulphur, which constitutes 2 0 to 30 per cent. of the ore, and which is really its most valuable ingredient, is entirely wasted by the system of heap-roasting. A practical method for saving this as sulphuric acid is greatly needed. J , 1K7.RICHARDS.
The Copper Mines of New Jersey. Rep. .Ar./. S f a f e Geologist f o r rpor, p. 15o.-The copper mines of this state are not yet beyond the development stage ; in certain localities there are large quantities of low-grade ore which can probably be worked profitably by modern methods of milling and treatment. At the American Copper Mine at Somerville, work has been carried on steadily during 1901,several thousand tons of ore have been mined, a portion has been concentrated with good results, several trial smeltings have been made, and a high grade of iugot copper produced. Extensire experiments were undertaken in leaching these ores, of which the following details are given by J . Bond, general manager of the mine : T h e tests were made on oxidized silicate ores containing up to 2.83 per cent. of copper. Extraction by dilute sulphuric acid showed maximuni extraction by a solution a little stronger than I per cent., used a little over four hours. Cupric chloride solution gives alniost complete extraction, but the action is slow and there is a tendency to form insoluble oxychlorides. Cupric chloride solution, however, fakes z q 3 gold and silver iiz lieu of, a i d in prejeveiice to, copfiei,, and was proved to secure a good gold extraction from a quartzose ore. T h e gold can be readily extracted from the solution by a feeble electric current. Sodium liyposulphite gives fair results in twenty-four hours when heated to 40' C . Hypochlorite of soda with an excess of chlorine gives good extraction but costs too much. Sulphurous acid gas in solution takes up too much foreign matter, and extraction is not complete. Sulphuric acid and salt, or hydrochloric acid, are cheap and feasible, an excess of salt being used. This dissolves silver, and gold also if potassium permanganate is added. Tailings can be economically leached if they run above 0 .j per cent. copper. Ores must contain 0.7 j per cent. more, in order to pay costs of mining and pulverizing. J. W. RICHARDS. The Electrolytic Production of Copper and Nickel. BY TITUS ULKE. Can. Min. Rev., June, 1902. T h e author's process consists in smelting argentiferous copper ore with heap-roasted uickeliferous Sudbury pyrrhotite ore, converting the matte in Bessemers to blister copper, and electrolytically refining this. T h e nickel must be less than 2 0 per cent. of the copper present, in order to avoid large losses of nickel in Bessemerizing. The blister copper can be thus produced with 95 per cent. of metal. During electrolysis, 2 per cent. of the electrolyte is removed daily, its nickel extracted by a chemical process, and the purified copper
Meta iiurgical Chemistry and A ssay ing .
71
solution returned to the baths. I n this way, nickel is kept from accumulating in the electrolyte. T h e nickel is obtained in a sulphate solution, which is made slightly ammoniacal and electrolyzed with sheet-lead anodes and sheet-nickel cathodes, which are afterwards melted down to any shape desired. J. W. RICHARDS.
The Refining of Canadian Nickel. By Special Correspondence, Eng. Min. J . , October 4, 1902.-Most of the Canadian ores are matted and then sent to the United States to be refined. T h e Thompson process of treating the matte has, however, lapsed in Canada as a patented process because of non-payment of patent fees, and the process is now open to any other company to use in Canada. J. W. RICHARDS.
Production of Nickel Steel. Eng. Min. I., October 4, 1902. -In an abstract of the yearly report of the Clergue Syndicate, operating at Sault Ste. Marie, the statement is made that nickel steel will be manufactured there by the following process : T h e nickel ore from the company’s Sudbury mine, which is free from copper, is sent to Sault Sainte Marie, and there roasted in automatic furnaces. The sulphurous oxide fumes are utilized in the chemical wood-pulp mill. The roasted ore consists of oxides of iron and nickel, and is pressed into briquettes. Several thousand tons of these are already on hand. When the blast-furnaces now being built are in operation, these briquettes will be charged and run down to a nickeliferous pig iron. This will be used in Bessemer or open hearth furnaces, and there brought out as nickel steel. If the process proves feasible, it will be of considerable metallurgical interest. J . W. RICHARDS. Dipping Brass. BY E. S. SPERRY. A i . World, October, 1902. Pickling is the removal of oxide from metal, usually after annealing, by a weak acid acting slowly. Dipping is done by plunging into a mixture of strong nitric and sulphuric acids ; the violent action lasts but a short time, and the surface is made perfectlyclean, bright and uniform in color. Large quantities of brass articles, both in sheet and castings, are thus treated before going on the market. The requirements for good dipping brass are that the structure must be homogeneous, the metal free from blow-holes or streaks, the alloy uniformly attacked by the acid, and the castings free from sand or other adhering matter. Small blow-holes in a plate or bar, roll or draw out into streaks on the sheet or rod, and are very unsightly after dipping. Tin in the alloy has a tendency to liquate and form a composition not readily attacked by acid and hence resulting in a mottled surface. The more quickly the alloy is cooled the less the liquation and the less this effect ; sand castings are therefore more likely to show this than sheet or rod, which are made by casting in iron molds,
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Review of American ChemicaC Research.
Lead often acts likewise ; spots of unalloyed iron often appear in dipping ; and antimony often causes trouble. The purer the brass the better. Sand on the castings may be removed by a tumbling barrel : if burnt in, pickling in hydrofluoric acid may J. W. RICHARDS. be necessary.
flexican Planillas. BY E. E. PAYNE. Mines a m i Mi?iemZs, October, 1902.-The "planilla" is an inclined floor about j feet long by 5 feet wide, and closed on all sides by a dam, except a t one lower corner. T h e ore to be washed or concentrated is passed through a %;-inch screen, and j j o pounds spread uniformly on the floor. The operator then takes a batea, or washing pan, and with a peculiar swirling motion throws water on the ore. T h e lighter particles float off, and water is thrown ou more and more cautiously. The ore is then turned several times, and when no more rock can be swept off without washing away ore particles, the concentrates are shoveled out. One man can wash seven charges a day, and is paid 7 5 cents per 300 pounds of concentrate. Ore with 5 per cent. lead will be concentrated up to 14 per cent., the tailings running 2 to 4 per cent. J. IT.RICHARDS. Mexican Methods of Silver Ore Treatment. BY J . X. SET-Eng. iZIiiz. J . October I S , 1902.---Illustrated description of a small patio plant. T h e photographs are very clear and interestiug, showing a Chileau mill, a tahona or arrastra, a tortn for the patio amalgamation, toneles for barrel amalgamation, and planillas for concentrating and washing the amalgam, with sectional diagram of the latter. J. 1 . .RICHARDS. INS.
~
Alaska 'Treadwell Gold Mine. Ezg. M i z . J . , October 25, 1902. -The report of this company for the year ending >lay I j , 1 y 0 2 , shows that 682,983 tons of ore were mined, at a cost of 83.99 cents per ton, that milling and concentrating cost 18.40 cents per ton, and treatment of the 12,660 tons of sulphuret concentrates 14.25 cents per ton. T h e amalgamation extracted 9 j . 4 j cents worth of gold per ton of ore, the treatment of concentrates 50.4s dollars per ton of concentrates, or 93.61 cents per ton of ore ; total recovery, 1.9106 dollars per ton of ore. T h e total expense account aggregated $1.2828 per ton, leaving a net profit of $0.6j87 per ton, or $436,490 altogether. I t is estimated that there IS six years' supply of ore still i n the mine. J . IT.RICHARDS. Treatment of Zinc Precipitate from Cyaniding Gold Ore. BY H. WINGATE.Ezg. AYi?i. J , , October 2 j , 1902. (Paper read notes before American Institute of hlining Erigiiierrs. I -'l'he were taken at the U'aitchauri Extended Mine, Maratoto. Xew Zealand. The precipitate is washed through a 4o-mesli sieTe, dried on a filter by a vacuum pump, weighed, and then roasted on a square cast-iron tray with 6-inch sides built over a brick furnace, burning wood. T h e tray has a hood and the fumes pass into
Metallurgical Chemistry aiid Assaying.
73
a dust chamber. The heat is low at first, and finished at a very dull read heat, great care being taken to avoid loss by dusting. IOO parts of oxidized precipitate are mixed with 50 parts anhydrous borax, 15 parts anhydrous sodium carbonate, and melted at T h e mixture is a moderate heat in a No. 50 plumbago crucible. added until the crucible is three-quarters full ; then the heat is raised, and the slag ladled off into molds ; then more of the mixture is added and the operation repeated until the crucible is about two-thirds full of melted bullion, which averages 941 fine, the base metals being zinc, lead, iron and copper. The slags were crushed in the mill and washed, giving a return equal to 1.5 per cent. of the bullion recovered. The fineness of the bullion is mainly due to the sieving of the precipitate at the start, by which short ends of zinc were removed and returned to the precipitation boxes. J. W. RICHARDS.
The American Aluminum Association. Al. World, October, rgon.-An account of the proceedings of the second annual CODvention, held at Pittsburg, September 19 and 20. Reports were read from the committees on cooking utensils, combs, novelties, and metallurgy. T h e use for cooking utensils is growing, and the business flourishing ; the manufacture of aluminum combs consumes a large part of all the sheet aluminum made and a systematization of the manufacture of novelties was urged. T h e Committee on Metallurgy reported that great activity exists in the production in this country; new bauxite deposits have been opened in Arkansas, and the purification of crude alumina has been improved by the Hall wet lime process. There is now 16,000 horse-power being used in America in producing the metal, which will shortly be increased by I Z , O O O H. P. T h e yearly output in America is at the rate of 4,500 tons, or twice that of the rest of the world. J. W. RICHARDS. Process of Ilanufacturing Alumina. Al. World, September, of an electric-furnace process recently patented by C. M. Hall. -4 previous patent described the fusion of impure alumina, such as bauxite, with an amount of reducing material, such as carbon, sufficient to reduce the oxides of iron, silicon, and titanium present to the metallic state. There is a great deal of heat radiated in such operations, and to utilize this for the process itself it is proposed to subject the mixture, used as a lining or covering of the above furnace, to the diffused heat therefrom, whereby, without being fused, the mixtureis heated to such a degree that the iron oxide is substantially reduced to iron, and the silica and titanium oxide partly reduced ; the mass may frit somewhat together but remains porous, and the gases produced escape easily. T h e mass thus prepared is broken up and fused afterwards, in which operation the rest of the reduction of impurities is accomplished and the reduced iron and silicon agglomerated I 902. --Description
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Review of American Chemical' Research.
into fused masses. A particular advantage thus gained is that the last trace of moisture, and most of the gases produced by reduction, are eliminated before fusion takes place, and the violent disturbance which these cause at the high fusion temperature is avoided. T h e fusion furnace has a perforated iron shell, put together in sections, and deeply lined with the mixture for reduction, the fusion of the previously heated mixture taking place inside. T h e hea ttransmitted from the fluid bath within bakes and partly reduces the mixture lining, and prepares it for being melted down completeiy in a succeeding operation. J. 11'. RICHARDS.
Reduction of iletallic Oxides by Aluminum. BY F. C. WEBER. Al. World, November, 1902. Author patents the improvement in the Goldschmidt reduction process which consists in embedding in the mixture for reduction a coiled aluminum wire. . By sending an electric current through this, the mixture may be heated to a moderate temperature for some minutes, atid all trace of moisture driven out before the mixture reacts. T h e current is then increased until the wire melts and reaches a high temperature, when the charge will be ignited and will burn steadily without danger of explosion, since no moisture and but J . If-.RICHARDS. little air are left in the preheated charge.
ORGANIC CHERISTRY.
On the Preparation and Reactions of Formamidine Derivatives. BY F. B. DAINS. Be?,. d. chem. Ges., 35, 2496-251 I.By the action of dichlorniethylformaniidinechloride upon primary amines, formamidine and substituted formamidines are easily obtained, the reaction being a s follows : H N : CH.NH.CHCl,.HCl 2R.NH2= N H : C H . N H , . H C l + R N : C H . N H R . H C l + HC1. EXPERIMENTAt.-\rarious amines were employed in the above reaction. With a d i n e . -Product, dijhen I Ifori)iamidiize; chZo?,ide crystallizes from water with three molecules H,O. With 111 Nitra niline. -Products d i -- n~ if r o j h enylfonlia wzidize , in. p. zoo ', and m nitvoformanilide, ni. p. 135'. [Vztlzp-~iti,airiii?ie.-ProdIih'fh o-A'itraniuct, di-p-nitrophenylformaIiridiize,m . p. 236'. line.-No reaction. With p-Chloraniline. -Product, di.$-chlorphenyIfoormamidine, white needles, ni. p. 1;9', easily soluble in benzene, decomposed by alcohol : picrate, fine, yellow needles, 1Vzfh 0-Toldifficultly soluble, melt with decomposition a t 242'. uidine.-Product, di-o-tolylfovnianiidine,m. p. 151'. With 111and$-tohidines the corresponding ni- and#- toblaaniidines are obt ained . With m-Xylidine.-Prod uct , ai-m-xy(ylform am idine, fine
+
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