Show how the bureau of mines M nes functions ons BY VAN H MANNING under the organic act establishing it the bureau of mines is authorized to conduct investigations designed to improve health and safety conditions in the mineral industry and to promote efficient development and utilization of our mineral resources the field of the bureaus activity therefore begins with the commercial development of mineral deposits and ends with the production and utilization of the final marketable product in order to serve more efficiently the various sections of the country the bureau has established in addition to its main offices at washington D C eleven field experiment stations three field offices and several mine rescue cars and mine rescue stations these field branches are so distributed tri buted as to cover most of the mining districts of this country including alaska the field service in general deals with specific experimental problems operative cooperative co work with nongovernmental governmental non institutions and mine rescue work while the washington office is the administrative head and is responsible for the distribution of general information the chiefs of the technical and administrative divisions of the bureau being stationed there the bureau is prohibited by law from doing work exclusively for the benefit of any private company or individual generally speaking the bureau does no assaying ore testing or similar service work for the benefit of private companies or individuals in response to requests for work of this sort a list of assay and ore testing laboratories is supplied in referring inquiries to commercial laboratories or consulting engineers care is taken to mention several names so as to avoid designating signa ting any one establishment or engineer how samples are handled samples are frequently brought in to the bureau stations or received by mail with a request for identification or analysis it if identification requires only a few minutes the information is furnished by the station samples for analysis are sometimes referred to the state mining bureau state university or similar state agency it if they are equipped to do such work an occasional chemical test or determination is made as a matter of courtesy sometimes the facilities of bureau laboratories are placed at the disposal of an individual desiring to make some test these are the exceptions and not the rule as this interferes this article was prepared by mr manning alarming previous to his resignation as director of the U S bureau of mines it describes so many features rea tures of the bureaus work in which the miner and prospector are interested and it ex lains so comprehensively how the entire organization functions that the mining review believes many of its readers will be interested in reading it with regular work and should be avoided wherever possible in the matter of furnishing information and professional advice the stations and field offices have in addition to bureau publications technical libraries and catalog files which are available to the public the main files of technical information regarding the mining industry are kept in the washington office in replying to requests tor for assistance or advice in regard to developing a property or carrying out some metallurgical experiment or operation an effort is made to analyze the problem and indicate the scope and character of the work which is involved and the type of probes an extent as is necessary to secure tin th active interest and operation cooperation co of the coz boj merval organizations or individuals most concerned in other words we ive aim to avoid avoid duplication and whenever possible competing in any work that is being effectively effective handled by any private or governmental organization this does not mean ho however that the bureau will not take an active part in matters which are receiving attention from private interests as in all cases our fundamental purpose is to promote the rapid development of those things whid which will be of value to the mineral industry in the choice of subjects for investigation the extent to which public interest is involved is a fundamental consideration the way in which activities may be segregated on this basis can be illustrated by the following diagram government activities for benefit of the activities of companies and individuals public for private benefit A CLEAR FIELD B TWILIGHT ZONE C CLEAR FIELD 1 matters of public interest 1 matters in which private 1 matters in which the pub only no private interest interest is equal or subordinate lice has no interest being involved to public interest 2 matters in which the public 2 matters in which the pub 2 matters in which private does not need to be considered lice interest is paramount agencies are not qualified si to private interest or lack the necessary equipment and which have e enough ough public interest to justify governmental assistance si dional assistance which is needed in other words the endeavor is to suggest the means of obtaining the information or assistance desired this practice applies particularly to cases where an opinion is desired in regard to a mineral deposit or metallurgical process and where the person making the inquiry has an incorrect impression as to the amount of work involved in a mine examination or in determining the value of a process for ore treatment under bureau regulations no regular salaried employee is permitted to do private consulting work except in some cases of arbitration he be is expected to devote his entire time to the work of the bureau and in discussing the work of the bureau staff therefore I 1 am considering only the work of the organization bureau aids mining development apart from certain administrative duties specifically assigned to the bureau by congress the function of the bureau is regarded as essentially investigative and educational from this standpoint many of the projects undertaken are in the nature of pioneering it is expected that some of these which develop favorably will be taken up by private interests and carried forward by them to their ultimate completion or application in fact the smallness of the appropriation for bureau work as compared with the field which demands attention makes it necessary to pursue a general policy of continuing any given activity only so long and to such As illustration of matter falling under the first subdivision sub division of class A the following may be mentioned testing and inspection of fuel purchases by the government the testing of fuel branches of the go government purchased by many is carried on by the bureau as the to 0 volume of this work makes it possible carry it on in this way much more cheaply cheap of private pr employment than through the nine agencies for example during 30 19 1 90 of the fiscal year ending june roughly 3 over 2900 samples involving the bureau bur determinations were tested 01 and also has charge of the purchase of the 90 6 trib ution of fuel for all branches the in washington D C expends expendi the ex eap exp past fiscal year this involved m ture of over one and three quarter dollars g ww the recovery of helium from believed it ls is tor for aeronautical purposes sources only that the united states has the be D it may inay of this element from which A As the ered in commercial quantities balloon c fag this session of a large supply of 01 lul caltro rol I 1 gas will give this country absolute public the of its use for military purposes al of 0 interest from the standpoint private than an any security is vastly greater bleid 5 this pro interest for this reason coopet it c being dealt deal t with by the bureau t s DOW depa aaion with the war and navy flaigg NV wor arlt bureau As an illustration of in the second group under column A the following may be mentioned improvements in health and safety conditions in quarries mines and metallurgical plants this subject is a broad one including the work of the mine rescue cars and stations in training miners in first aid and mine rescue methods the testing of explosives plo and equipment for use underground the study of vocational diseases among miners smelter men etc the study of mine sanitation ventilation and of a considerable number of problems related to safety devices and methods of safe operation underground in the majority of these problems mining companies have a specific interest in the nature of the case however the solution of these problems involves a study of conditions at many different points such a study can rarely be undertaken by any private or consulting engineer moreover matters touching public health and safety belong to the class of public welfare questions which are ordinarily regarded as falling in the field of governmental activities in addition to the types of activity juse just mentioned falling under class A there is another which belongs under this heading concerning which the question of public or private interest scarcely arises this classification includes various scientific problems of an essentially fundamental character such as a study of the viscosity of iron blast furnace flags or the determination mi nation of the volatility of metallic compounds investigations of this character are similar to those conducted in university laboratories and scarcely fall within the range of activities of operating companies or commercial laboratories A considerable number of bureau activities fall under class B before citing any specific examples under this heading it may be well to mention briefly certain fundamental requirements which govern the choice of problems for investigation by the bureau in the first place the problem must be a real one involving in its solution something more than mere routine work or the application of well known principles in a field where they have already been applied in III other words it is our aim to take up questions which involve real laboratory or field research and which are beyond the range fange of the ordinary consulting engineer or commercial laboratory As a further general requirement a suitable problem should be one common to a branch of the mineral ii industry or to some mining district A problem peculiar to a single mine or metallurgical plant unless presenting some unique feature which might prove of general JDa importance is not ordinarily considered within our field the che study of the various phases of the fuel el conservation problem such as boiler furnace design the bri of coal the utilization of lignite etc illustrate subjects subject i falling in class IB B which have been taken up by the bureau work of petroleum division in recent years the petroleum division of the bureau has given considerable attention to the control of underground waters in the mid continent oil fields this work should probably be classified under the second section of class B the control of underground waters is of direct commercial importance to the oil companies but is also important from the standpoint of conservation when the bureau took up this work very little progress toward the solution of the problem had been made in the mid continent field although considerable had been accomplished in other fields it is interesting to note in this connection that the successful demonstration of water control methods by the bureau engineer led a number of private engineers to take up the subject as a specialty one result therefore of the bureaus work was to open up a new field for the consulting engineer recently the bureau has carried on quite a little work in operation cooperation co with private companies or individuals there are two main reasons why this plan of operative cooperative co investigation has been adopted 1 the financial and other assistance furnished by the operative cooperative co agency make it possible for the bureau to do more work than would be possible under government appropriations alone 2 operation cooperation co on the part of private company or individual in an investigation vesti gation implies an active interest in the results of the work and if the investigation turns out successfully the results can at once be applied in a practical way thereby leading to more rapid development and to an earlier realization of benefit than would be likely to occur if the investigation had been conducted independently by the bureau how operation cooperation co work Is done there are two ways in which this cooperation is carried out by one method the bureau assumes full responsibility for the work although the major part of the expense is usually borne by the co ing agency work of this sort is undertaken under a formal operative cooperative co agreement in which it is provided that all information and data secured shall be available to the bureau for publication and that any patents arising from the work shall be taken out in this country for the benefit of the public under the second form of coop operation cooperation co op aeration the bureau assumes no responsibility tor for the work but merely places certain of its facilities at the disposal of a private individual or company with the understanding that the results of all work performed with bureau facilities shall be available to the bureau generally speaking only subjects which fulfill the general requirements mentioned above will be taken up in a operative cooperative co investigation the same fundamental purpose applies to operative cooperative co work as to strictly bureau investigations namely the procuring of information which will be of value to the mineral industry it is in connection with these cooper co oper active investigations that bureau work approaches pro aches most closely the field of the private company or engineer in some cases the initiative has come from the bureau but more frequently operative cooperative co work has been taken up as a result of the request from an operating company or engineer example of operative cooperative co work A good example of operative cooperative co work may be found in a problem undertaken by the petroleum division of the bureau the rocky mountain petroleum association through three of its members companies placed at the disposal of the bureau the sum of to carry on investigations in the wyoming oil fields in order to prevent or minimize waste of oil and gas in drilling wells petroleum engineers of the bureau of mines were assigned to the work and it was started at once by repairing one well sufficient oil was produced in one month to pay for the total cost of the work in the rocky mountain district for one year this saving was not only of benefit to the owner of the well but was a service to the whole nation in conserving our supplies of petroleum As another illustration of a operative cooperative co investigation the study of the of to be used in the manufacture of stucco flooring etc may be mentioned this work is being carried on at the berkely station jointly with the northwest company which is bearing practically the entire expense of the investigation A number of other companies engaged in the same industry are also operating cooperating co to the extent of furnishing materials and information and it is agreed that information in regard to the progress of the work is available to any of these companies at ny time the advantage from the standpoint of the company lies in securing the use of the laboratory facilities of the berkely station and a certain amount of scientific and technical assistance from the staff from the standpoint of the public the outcome of this work will be the same as though it were being carried on exclusively with government funds the assistance of the northwest company makes it possible however to get on with the work more rapidly than would otherwise be possible |