164
T H E J O U R N A L OF I N D U S T R I A L A N D E N G I N E E R I N G C H E M I S T R Y
each: the nitrogen is supplied through valves in the side, and a current a t 60-75 volts through an electrode in the center. After about 24 hours at 1650’ F. (900’ C.), the carbide is converted into cyanamide, the resulting product containing 20 per cent of nitrogen. I n addition t o these developments, a company formed t o acquire the rights of the Ostwald process (except in Westphalia and Rhineland) is erecting new works for the manufacture of carbide and cyanamide (and nitric acid) a t Aura, Norway, with a n estimated output of 200,000 tons of calcium cyanamide, and has acquired waterfalls at other places in Norway a n d also in Iceland, capable of furnishing power for a n annual o u t p u t of nearly 2 millions ton of calcium cyanamide. Works a r e t o be erected a t Dagenham on the Thames, at Trafford Park, Manchester, in Scotland, and in Ireland for producing from calcium cyanamide 12,000, 12,000, goo0 and 3000 tons of nitric acid, respectively. I n the event of the supply of calcium cyanamide being curtailed or stopped, it will be possible to use the ammoniacal liquors from coke ovens, blast furnaces, residual recovery plant, and gas works as sources of ammonia. STANDARD SPECIFICATIONS FOR T H E PURITY OF RAW LINSEED OIL FROM NORTH AMERICAN SEED The American Society for Testing Materials, affiliated with the International Association for Testing Materials, has just issued a compilation of the reports of the Committee on Preservative Coatings for Structural Materials, D-I, 1903-1913. The following specifications for the purity of Raw Linseed Oil from North American Seed were adopted August 25, 1913: PROPERTIES
AND
TESTS
Raw linseed oil from-North American seed shall conform t o the following requirements: I.
Maximum Minimum Specific gravity a t 15.5°/15.50 C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.936 or Specific gravity a t 25 O / 2 5 C Acid number Saponification number . . . . . . . . . . Unsaponifiable matter, Der c e n t . . . . 1.50 Refractive index a t 2 5 ” C ........................ 1.4805 Iodine number (Hanus) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
0.932
...............
...... 1.4790 178
METHODS OF TESTING
The recommended methods of testing are as follows: GENERAL-A~~ tests are t o be made on oil which has been filtered at a temperature of between 60‘ and 80’ F. through paper in the laboratory immediately before weighing out. The sample should be thoroughly agitated before the removal of a portion for filtration or analysis. SPECIFIC GRAVITY-Use a pyknometer, accurately standardized and having a capacity of at least 25 cc., or any other equally accurate method, making a test at 15.5’ C., water being I at 15.5 ’ C., or a test at 2 5 O C., water being I at 25 O C. ACID NEMBER-Expressed in milligrams of KOH per gram of oil. Follow the method described in Bulletin No. 197, revised 1908, Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Chemistry, page 142. SAPONIFICATION NvMBER-Expressed as with acid number. Blanks should also be run t o cover effect of alkali in glass. Follow method given in Bulletin No. 107, revised 1908, Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Chemistry, pages 137-138. UNSAPONIFIABLE MATTER.-FOIIOW Boemer’s method taken from his “Ubbelohde Handbuch der Ole u. Fette,” pages 261-262. “To 100 g. of oil in a 1000to 1500 cc. Erlenmeyer flask add 60 cc. of an aqueous solution of potassium hydroxide (200 g. KOH dissolved in water and made up to 300 cc.) and 140 cc. of 95 per cent alcohol. Connect with a reflux condenser and heat on the water bath, shaking at first until the liquid becomes clear. Then heat for one hour with occasional shaking. Transfer 2.
Vol. 6 ,
KO.z
while yet warm t o a 2000 cc. separatory funnel to which some water has been added, wash out the Erlenmeyer with water, using in all 600 cc. Cool, add goo cc. of ether and shake vigorously one minute. I n a few minutes the ether solution separates perfectly clear. Draw off the soap and filter the ether (to remove last traces of soap) into a large Erlenmeyer and distil off the ether, adding if necessary, one or two pieces of pumice stone. Shake the soap solution three times with 400 cc. of ether, which add to the first ether extract. To the residue left after distilling the ether add 3 cc. of the above KOH solution, and 7 cc. of the 95 per cent alcohol, and heat under reflux condenser for I O minutes on the water bath. Transfer t o a small separatory funnel, using 2 0 t o 30 cc. of water, and after cooling shake out with two portions of IOO cc. of ether; wash the ether three times with I O cc. of water. After drawing off the last of the water, filter the ethereal solution so as to remove the last drops of water, distill off the ether, dry residue in water oven and weigh.” REFRACTIVE INDEX-Use a properly standarized AbbC refractometer a t 2 5 o C., or any other equally accurate instrument. IODINE NUMBER (HANUS)-FO~~OW the Hanus method as described in Bulletin No. 107, revised 1908. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Chemistry, page 136. URANIUM, RADIUM AND VANADIUM REPORT The U. S. Bureau of Mines has just issued Bulletin No. 70. “A Preliminary Report on Uranium, Radium and Vanadium,” by Richard B. Moore and Karl L. Kithil, of the Denver Laboratory of the Bureau of Mines. The bulletin describes the carnotite deposits, and gives the commercial methods of the treatment of ores. Charles L. Parsons, Chief Division of Mineral Technology, says in the preface of the bulletin: “It has been shown that, although the Austrian Government has conserved its own resources of uranium and radium by purchasing the Joachimsthal mines and by carefully supervising pitchblende production, the deposits of radium-bearing minerals in the United States are being rapidly depleted by wasteful exploitation, chiefly for the benefit of foreign markets. “Seemingly the country has been quite unaware of the extent t o which uranium ores have been sent abroad. Investigation has developed the fact that during the year 1912, carnotite ores carrying 28.8 tons of uranium oxide were produced and that practically the entire amount was exported. The major part of this ore carried between 2 and 3 per cent UaOs, as it appears t h a t no ore carrying less than 2 per cent can a t present prices bear the cost of transportation. This means t h a t 8.8 grams of radium chloride, or 11.43 grams of radium bromide, may be obtained from the ore shipped from this country in 1912. Only one American company has been preparing -radium salts of a high degree of radioactivity and its product has only recently been offered for sale. The American ores exported were purchased for their radium content. It can probably be definitely stated t h a t in 1912, there was obtained from American ores nearly two and one-half times as much radium as from all other sources combined. “France, Austria, England, and Germany have their radium institutes fostered by their Governments or by philanthropic foundations. Up to the present time, although the United States has been furnishing a large part of the material for these foreign investigations, comparatively little has been done in the hospitals and laboratories of this country.” THE APPROXIMATE MELTING POINT OF SOME COMMERCIAL COPPER ALLOYS As very little information on the melting points of commercial brasses and bronzes can be found in either scientific or technical literature, tests of a few typical alloys were made by H. W.
Feb., 1914
T H E J O U R N A L OF I N D U S T R I A L A N D ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
Gillett and A. B. Norton, of the U. S. Bureau of Mines. The results, summarized, in Technical Paper No. 60, are as follows: Approximate composition ALLOY
Copper
Gun m e t a l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 Leaded gun metal . . . . . . . . . . . 851/2 Red brass.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Lorn-grade red brass.. . . . . . . . 82 Leaded bronze . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Bronze with zinc. . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Half-yellom-half-red. . . . . . . . . 75 Cast yellow brass., , . . , . , . , . . 67 Naval brass ..._... . . . . . . . . . . 611/2 Manganese bronze.. . . . . . . . . . . .
Zinc 2 2 5 10
..
5 20 31 37
Tin 10 9‘11 5 3 10 10 2
..
11/2
. . . .
Lead
.. 3 5
5 10
.. 3 2
.. ..
-
Melting point
C.
995 980 970 9x0 945 980 920 895 855 870
e
F.
1825 1795 1780 1795 1735 1795 1690 1645 1570 1600
The melting point given is the “liquidus,” or point where the alloy is completely molten. The temperatures are thought t o be accurate within *IO’ C. or *zoo F. BUREAU OF MINES BUDGET The estimate of appropriations for the United States Bureau of Mines, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1915, as approved by Secretary Lane and forwarded to Congress, is as follows: For general expenses, $70,000. Investigating mine accidents, $347,000. Equipment of mine rescue cars and stations, $30,000. Equipment of testing plant a t Pittsburgh, Pa., $IO,OOO. Testing fuels, $135,000. Mineral mining investigations, $120,000. Investigations of petroleum and natural gas, $30,000. Inspection of mines in -4laska, $7,000. Books and publications, $2,000. I,ands, leases, etc., for mine rescue cars, $1,000. The total is $ 7 5 2 , 0 0 0 , a n increase of $90,000 over the fiscal year ending June 30, 1914. PLATINUM DEPOSITS I N GERMANY Consul Thomas H, Norton reports that in several localities of the Ural lIountains, notably in the neighborhood of Nizhni Tacilsk in the Perm Government and about Mount Blogdat. platinum is found in sufficient amounts to allow of systematic mining operations. Very small quantities of platinum have been found in Borneo, Sumatra, Brazil, Colombia, Australia, and California, b u t the contributions from all these regions t o the world’s demands form a small fraction of the Russian supply-j per cent or less. The total production is now about 13,250 pounds annually. Every effort has been made in Russia to locate new deposits of the metal, but without success. The annual quantity tends to decrease, and an exhaustion of the deposits a t no very remote date seems almost a certainty. At the same time, the demand for platinum has far outstripped the supply, and has naturally caused a n enormous increase in the price I n 1892 platinum cost $89 per troy pound, about one-third as much as gold. Four years ago the price had risen to $338 per troy pound, and a t present (October, 1913) it is $488 per troy pound. Under these circumstances a large group of industries will welcome the discovery in Germany of extensive deposits of platinum, susceptible of easy exploitation. The location of these deposits is a t Wenden, in Westphalia, in a section where iron, lead, copper and zinc mines are abundant. While prospecting by drill in the neighborhood of Wenden, metallurgical chemists unexpectedly discovered appreciable amounts of platinum in the layers of rock covering the ores of the common metals. Over IOO analyses of different borings were made and all showed the presence of the metal in sufficient amount to guarantee profitable extraction. The amount of platinum present in the rock varies from o 9 to I 9 troy ounces per cubic yard, which is very rich compared with the Russian deposits.
-
16j
Thus far a territory of 500 acres has been examined and the borings from nine different drill holes give on analysis the results cited. This tract alone will assure profitable extraction for many years. The depth to which the platiniferous rock reaches has not been announced. Steps have already been taken to begin the regular metallurgical extraction of platinum a t Wenden on a large scale. It is thought t h a t careful prospecting will reveal the presence of other extensive fields in the Westphalian ore region, where geological formations similar to those a t Wenden are wide-spread. Surpri e may be expressed t h a t in a country where chemical investigation is so highly developed, the existence of easily accessible platiniferous rock deposits should have remained so long unsuspected. The reason is as follows: I n the usual analytical methods, gold and platinum, as well as most of the rarer metals allied t o platinum, are separated from the ordinary metals-iron, copper, silver, etc.-by treatment with nitric acid, in which the latter are soluble. Metallic gold and platinum remain behind as a n insoluble residue after such treatment. They can be brought into solution by the aid of aqua regia, and be separated from one another, or the gold can be extracted by means of mercury. It happens, however, t h a t platinum when alloyed with silver can be dissolved by treatment with strong nitric acid. As thus far platinum has been found in nature almost exclusively in the elementary form, no attempt has been made in ordinary ore analyses t o test for the pres-nce of the rare metal in the nitric acid solutions obtained as just described. It seems, however, t h a t in the Westphalian deposits platinum is present in the form of a n alloy, and in the customary course of analysis entered into solution in the form of a nitrate. A chemist decided t o test the solution of nitrates obtained in the normal course of a n analysis for the possible presence of platinum, and this led t o the unexpected discovery. There is every possibility t h a t not only in Germany, but in all other countries, rock analyses will promptly be submitted to revision, and the greatest care taken to ascertain whether platinum is present. Deposits containing much less platinum than occurs a t Wenden can be worked most
U. S. MINERAL PRODUCTION, 1912 The value of all minerals produced in the United States in 1912, accord ng t o figures just compiled by Edward W. Parker, statistician, of the United States Geological Survey, reached the record-breaking total of $2,243,630,326. This is more than six times the value of the production in 1882, 30 years ago. During t h a t period the population has not quite doubled, but the per capita output of the mines has increased from $7.27 to $23.47. OIL-HARDENING PLANT I N NORWAY Commercial Agent Erwin W. Thompson states that during the summer of 1913 an oil-hardening plant was opened a t Fredrikstad by De Nordiske Fabriker, with head offices a t Christiania. The original object was to harden whale oil for the soap industry, but as the result of experiments with edible oils the plant is being enlarged to a capacity of 1,000 barrels a day with the expectation of hardening cottonseed and peanut oils for the margarin makers. The Norwegian firm will purchase the best grades of cottonseed and peanut oils, and will also harden on toll. . ~~
CONCENTRATED NITRIC ACID I N NORWAY Consul General Charles A. Holder reports t h a t 98 per cent nitric acid is being produced a t the Notodden and Rjukan plants where they now manufacture calcium nitrate. The acid has already been used successfully by factories manufacturing explosives. The manufacture of this concentrated acid is expected to prove of great importance.
