| Show g S I. I MINING AND Y t I By Frederic J. J Haskin I TT T IS paid fald that 6 65 5 per cent of or tho the traffic I of the tho railways In III the United States States' I IT I originates in the mines and that JL wage wafa earners earners constantly nr arc ard engaged ed In mining operations The I miner declares that after all his work is the foundation stone stono of ot American progress pro pro- of the thc th ress that without the products mine the tUe factories of the nation would wO i stand still stin for lac lack of fu fuel ci that tha t the railways never could have been built or operated because of oC w the lack of coal and steel that the agricultural agricultural agri agri- cultural machinery 5 of 01 the country A would have been L impossible b because thorn would b be no m from which to 1111 manufacture t thom lie He therefore there there- t fore 01 places himself 3 at the head of tho the list of American workmen Many of the most Important operations operations opera opera- tiona In the tho mining of gold old are aro of American orl origin ln One of these is the hydraulic process which originated in California in 1852 By this process creeks and even rivers are di diverted diverted dl- dl into huge reservoirs where their waters arc impounded When a a. sufficient dent clent head is obtained the water Is conducted conducted conducted con con- ducted through h large lanc pipes pines to a point where the he mining operations are carried on and is there thore concentrated on the tho solito soil soli to be brol broken cn up tip Thousands of acres of soil boll arc are thus washed out and the gold bearing rock separated d from It ft The Tho tremendous tr force of the tho stream of wa water played upon the spot pot where tho the operations are beIn being carried on Is Illustrated illustrated illus Illus- mus-I mus by the fact Act that an inch eight nezle nozzle nozzle nez- nez le has been known to release a pressure of or water vater sufficient to move a two-ton two boulder at a distance of twenty feet and i to throw to throw a pound rock as easily as a aman aman aman man m might ht cast a twenty pound weight It is said no man ever over lived who could strike a a. minors minor's crow bar through such a stream and that tha t a human being struck by Iy it It would Instantly be killed and pounded into a shapeless mass Hydraulic Hy mining works great reat damage to the agricultural sections In the valleys below helow and man many states have prohibited it by law Jaw Another gold mining minin operation that is the result of the Ingenuity of or tho the American American Ameri Amen can mining minim engineer Is that of dredging A 1 dredge rc resembling th the old French ladder ladder lad lad- der dredges need in the work on the Panama canal is fitted with a centrifugal pump It costs about and its equipment The Tho expense of operating one of these dredges N is about a year ear during which time it will dredge ton ten acres of water covered ground to a depth of third feet Ceet The huge e eI I stamping mill mm which is used to break up gold hearing bearing rock Is at also o an American invention Some of these mills are so o strong that they the arc are able to strike a ablow blow of thirty tons One of the most valuable inventions for forthe forthe the thc recovery of gold old Is known n as the cyanide process proc the tho first patent pa tent for or which 1 was granted to J. J W. W Simpson of Now Jersey Tersey By this process gold may be S se secured so- so cured from sources that could not be worked profitably in any other way ay The rock first is mashed into nto a pulp by huge hugo stamping machines and nd this pulp is mixed with cyanide of potash A chemical chamical chemi chemi- cal for which gold has hRs a a. strange affinity The mixture is then poured into sheet iron boxes containing zinc shavings sha This causes the gold sold to break away from Its first affinity and make mak friends with the zinc It is then treat treated d to a wa washing which rt recovers coP r a goodly portion of the gold and then small man quantities of sulphuric sulphuric sul sut- sul- sul acid Reid ar are added to it and this produces pro pro- duces ducs S zinc sulphate This Is washed out with lIh boiling water and the gold residue is then placed pac in a furnace with soda borax and sand Vh When n heated these torn form forma torna a flux which allows th the pure old to settie settle set set- tie tic to the bottom and the Impurities to tobe tobe tobo be bo eliminated ted It I is said paid by mining men that new methods of gathering gold must b be found or the value alue of this metal will be co so Increased in increased tn- tn creased as to require the time change of all standards s of value of the world Nearly all of th profitable gold fields an srI being worked thoroughly and unless th tha pre pr- precious Ious cious metal can be taken from sources sources' not hot now susceptible to profitable operation opera opera- lion iou It will cost mor morp in the future to produce a po nd of gold than ever er be be- be fore It has been profitably d from materials which yielded i only on 3 cents cents' worth to the cubic yard ard of dirt It is said sald there Is one opE grain of gold In every ton of sea seR water and inventors are di Idl directing directing di- di their energies toward its Us bl ble extraction The demands upon the coa coal coa mine min In Inthe tile the United States tateR are are so so heavy that Av every ry sort sort- ort of mechanical appliance for forthe forthe the mining of coal is now v in use tse The pneumatic drill driven by hy compressed air is able to do the work of a dozen m men n. n From the figures figure of a as aE to the working I power of th thA average a human being it appears that the coal ol which Is Istak tak m nut of th Am American mine mint In a avear's vears vear's r time Is even under present wasteful waste wastA- ful conditions capable of doln doing as much work worl as s could b be accomplished by every man woman and child on the whole earth in five fi years Many of the inventions inventions for II the separation of coal oal from slate and arid other wa wastes tes have haYA been brought out by Americans One of these is a coal wash wash- er Pulses of water 1 ar are thrown up through h a sieve containing the coal and the slate The coal bein being lighter than the slate is forced out with the stream of water and is thus separated from the tha un- un material It is th the b belief lI f of many mining experts that the thA da day will come when coal will be transformed into alec clec- at the thc mine and carried to the user by giant Jiant transmission sion plants A re recently ro- ro cen Invented appliance soon foon to be adopted d. d i is an acetylene mining lamp which is said to be superior to any other kind of Ii light hl for tho the miner In th the ml minim niner of iron ore the American inventor has given to the world some tome of its cheapest processes It is said that nowhere else in th the world orld can ean a a. ton of ore be taken from the ground round and transformed transformed transformed trans trans- formed into Iron and aud steel stE-el so cheaply as asIn asIn asIn In the tho United States Huge steam shovels shoy- shoy els Als immense ore- ore ore carrying carrying steamers steamer giant loaders and unloaders ers and a thousand and one other contrivances ances have havo so cheapened cheap cheap- one cued ened the cost of iron that it Is now b bt be- be vond ond the tho competition of any foreign na na- na tion lion I It Jt i is In th thc thA application of nr metallurgical ial science that the American inventor hi Vh 11 tl alchemist nf of ago sought tp LQ transmute the he baser ls Into gold Jold he 10 laid the tho Cound foundation ton of of modern modern mod mod- ern cnn chemistry B By the aid of chemistry the Is able ablo to give to iron properties which do not actually make mako gold golds but do make riches Iches In a hundred hundred hun bun dred ed form forms l Ia Marty v people b believe that Be of first Invented it the modern process proc for making steel but Andrew Andrew An An- drew Carnegie c certainly an eminent authority authority au au- au- au thorit gives Iv's the credit to Pig Pih Iron Kelly an American The Tho invention of or orthis this process has revolutionized mining and metallurgical science Today roday steel is being produced by electric furnace methods and it Is generally believed b by metallurgists metallurgist that it marks as important an era in the manufacture manufacture- of iron ore into steel altel as af did the time invention of the hearth processes ps By the use tuc of or various arious rarer metals in In combination with with- iron or ore the metallurgist gist ift is IE able alle to produce product steel of widely varying lea One of the mo most t Interesting Inter Inter- sting esting of these is combining with tho the ore in the furnace A small per of added to the ore will make malc a a. steel much more marc cla elastic and of much greater greater- tensile str strength than Athe the pure steel An experiment as to the rela rela- relativE relative tive strength of and carbon steel showed that in a vibration testing machine tho the carbon steel steer stood vibrations as compared with for forthe forthe the steel The carbon steel 1 withstood blows or oVa a light hammer as compared with for nickel nicel steel and for steel Some SO steels need to suffer no loss toss of temp temper r under under under un un- un- un der tremendous heat The addition of a I Ismall small percentage of tungsten gives to I steel this and tUli tungsten sl n n. stool steel i is used In the manufacture of high speed tools Many other of or the rare metals m tats have been made to serve t th the needs of the time lime The metallurgist has found for In Instance that selenium is a better conductor of or electricity wh n exposed to light than under other conditions This knowledge o has enabled him to perfect a a. light alight buo buoy for the navigator which is almost auto auto- matic matle This light tight consist of or an acetylene acetylene acety acety- lene ga gas tank and an electrical sparker operated by selenium cells As soon as tho sun ceases to shino shine on these cells cell 1 the thespa spa sparker is automa automatically operated the supply valve automatically opened and the light turned on When the sun comes comesup up next morning and shines hines on the cells eclis again fig the light la is automatically turned off oft Selenium also algo has been made to operate the most complete burglar alarm in existence A burglar with a dark lantern lantern lan Ian tern is almost certain to direct the tho rays of his lantern upon the s selenium of the alarm system The Tho moment he lie do does s so it sets a lar large e gong ringing and automatIcally automatically automat automat- leally lights every gas as jet in th the house houfe Aluminum has b been en put to manifold uses through h a process of extracting it discovered by b Charles M. M Hall Ha of Oberlin O. O It is true that European metallurgists metallurgists brought out similar methods about tho the same time lime but tho the American method is th the most widely used Today it is so so o cheap that combs comba cooking utensils and hundreds of other common articles are mado made from it ft It is so ductile that sometimes sometimes some some- times it Is used in making makin books bools and sheets may occupy the tho space of a single inch inch- Tomorrow AmerIcan American Inventions VII In In Various Vallous Fields |
