Dec., 1911 T H E J O U R N A L OF I N D U S T R I A L

Consumption,

Malt liquors. Wines. Distilled spirits. -

---7 ------ Gallons Gallons Gallons

Million per cap- Million per cap- Million per cap- Countries. gallons. ita. gallons. ita. gallons. ita. United

United States (1910)

Kingdom (1909) Germany (1909-10) France (1909) Austria (1908-9) Belgium (1909) Russia (1908) Spain (1909) Sweden (1908-9) Switzerland (1909) Denmark (1909) Italy (1909) Bulgaria (1909) Hungary (1908-9) Netherlands (1909) Norway (1909) Portugal (1909) Romania (1909) Servia (1909) Australia (1909) Canada (1909-10) Cape of Good

Hope (1909-10) Transvaal (1909)

1,851.3 20.09 60 .5 0 . 6 6 133.5 , 1.45

1,397.3 31.44 15.2 0 . 3 1 4 0 . 1 0-96 1,703.5 26.47 74.6 1.16 94.2 1.48

375.0 9 .51 1,541.4 39.36 70.9 1 .81 492.9 17.17 178.6 6 .34 54.7 1 .81 411.7 55.2 9 . 1 1 .21 10.7 1.42 231.4 1.46 nodata nodata 232.7 1.45

no data no data 345.9 18.23 no data no data 72.3 13.31 nodata nodata 8 . 6 1.57 64 .6 18.00 5 2 . 2 14.55 3 . 6 0 . 9 9 61.7 22.98 nodata nodata 8 . 0 2.97 17.4 0 . 5 1 1 ,012 .031 .17 26 .1 0.76 3 . 2 0.75 34.9 8.19 0 . 6 0.13

55.7 2 .90 98.6 4.76 43 .7 2 . 1 1 nodata no data 2 . 3 0 . 4 0 10.8 1.84

11.8 5.02 nodata nodata 2 . 0 0.87 no data no data 146.3 27.39 no data no data

4 . 9 0 .72 33 .7 5 . 0 2 6 .7 0 .96 2 . 9 1.02 10.5 3 . 7 0 no data no data

56.9 13.20 5 . 6 1.30 4 . 6 1.07 47 .4 6 . 3 6 0 . 9 0 .12 7 . 3 0.97

3 . 3 1.32 3 . 5 1.44 1 . 2 0.53 3 . 9 2.88 0 . 5 0 . 3 8 ' 0 . 8 0.67

REPORTS ON STREAM FLOW. The United States Geological Survey has announced

the publication of four reports on the flow of streams in the United States. They are designated as Water- Supply Papers 265, 266, 267 and 268. The first- meptioned relates to rivers in Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Illinois, and Iowa, which drain either into the Mississippi River or northward into Canada. The second relates to rivers draining into the Missouri, the streams being located in Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, Colorado, Nebraska, and Missouri. The third comprises those streams draining into the lower Mississippi mainly through Arkansas and Red Rivers, the streams being located in Colorado, New Mexico, Arkansas,, Missouri and Mississippi. The fourth gives information concerning streams draining into the western part of the Gulf of Mexico, such as the Rio Grande and the Pecos.

The records contained in these reports show the flow of the rivers for each day during the year 1909 as measured by employees of the Geological Survey a t permanent stations maintained along the streams. They are essentially a record of the performance of those streams and they furnish an account of the water resources available for use in the regions in which the records were made.

Many of those who are unfamiliar with engineering practice do not realize the necessity of procuring information of this kind. The importance of knowing how much water is available for its various uses grows enormously as the United States becomes more thickly settled and as industrial pursuits advance. We need water for domestic supplies and for navigation. The arid West is dependent on it for the irrigation of dry

AND ENGINEERING C H E M I S T R Y . 945

lands. One of the most important features of our industrial prosperity has been the development of water power.

The four reports above described give a faithful record of each river's performance so that the persons or the community undertaking any development of water will know all the facts concerning, the supply available.

INDUSTRIAL GAS APPLIANCE LABORATORY. The Consolidated Gas Company, of New York

City, has for several months been concerned in the work of fitting up an Industrial Gas Appliance Labora- tory, in the Schleicher Building, corner of Second avenue and Twenty-second street.

The equipment of the laboratory contains, among other things, a six h. p. Otto gas engine, a three h. p.' steam boiler, a combination tool-room furnace, clay annealer, melter, round annealer, bar annealer, forge, tool-room forge, oil tempering furnace, oven furnace, tempering furnace, rivet heater, muffle furnace with D. C. motor and fan blower, lead hardening furnace with extra pot for cyanide, muffle furnace with cupelling attachment, portable melting pot, 1,000 pound soft metal furnace with hood, wire basket and thermometer; brazing tables, automobile and wagon tire heaters, 40-gallon butchers' cauldron, 50-gallon cauldron with bottom draw-off, agitator and pump, china kiln, incinerator, oven with damper and thermometer, core-drying oven, japanning oven, aluminum water still, heating machines, positive blowers, confectioners' stoves-one with D. C. motor and blower-making in all 43 appliances standing on the floor. There are 75 bench appliances on metal tables, which, with a few suitably attached to the walls, make a total of 135 devices, all connected, ready for instant demon- stration. The appliances on the tables embrace soldering furnaces and self-heating soldering irons, melting furnaces, glue heater, bench forges, rivet heaters, soft metal furnaces, and a great variety of burners, the largest being connected with D. C. motors and fan blowers, consuming about 700 cubic feet of gas per hour. A complete assortment of blowpipes and brazing burners is also in evidence. The ap- pliances are located in sections, each section being served by a 30-light meter, with special reducing device which consists of a straight line control, the figures changing for each I O feet, and so arranged that the counter can be turned back after each demonstra- tion. Portable baths are also provided, one each for fresh or salt water; and for a cotton seed oil "dip," if one is so inclined. Then there is a portable sawdust drier, and the several things last enumerated are set on casters, so that one can readily be taken to any other appliance, the contiguity of which is needed for a complete demonstration.

PHOSPHATE MINING, 1910. The mining of phosphate rock for fertilizer showed

increased activity in 1910, with the greatest pro-

THE J O U R N A L OF I N D U S T R I A L A N D ENGINEERING C H E M I S T R Y . Dec., 1911 946

duction in the history of the industry. The output was 2,654,988 long tons, against 2,330,152 tons in 1909, an increase of 324,836 tons. Prices, however, were lower, the value of the 1910 output being $10,- 917,000, or $4.11 per ton, against $10,772,120, or $4.62 per ton, for 1909. Thus while the tonnage in 1910 increased 13.9 per cent., the value of the year’s output increased less than 2 per cent. Nearly half of the phosphate rock produced in 1910 was exported, the shipments being 1,083,037 long tons. In 1909 the exports were 1,020,556 long tons. These and other statistics of production, exports, imports, etc., are given by F. B. Van Horn, of the United States Geological Survey, in an advance chapter from “Mineral Resources” for 1910.

According to Mr. Van Horn, there are a t present five producing phosphate fields in the United States.

‘ I n the order of quantity of production they are (I) Florida, (2) Tennessee, (3) South Carolina, (4) Arkansas, ( 5 ) Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah.

By far the largest of these fields is the Idaho- Wyoming-Utah field, where enormous deposits of high-grade ’ phosphate rock, recently discovered, are available for mining. The field next in available unmined rock is probably Tennessee, where large areas are underlain by deposits of high-grade rock. Florida has a large reserve tonnage, but a t the present rapid rate of mining i t will not be many years before the rock will be exhausted.

*

MARKETED PRODUCTION OF PHOSPHATE ROCK IN THE UNITED STATES, 1901-1910, IN LONG TONS.

Year. Quantity. Value. 1901.. . . . . . . . . . . 1,483,723 $5,316,403 1902.. . . . . . . . . . . 1,490,314 4,693,444 1903.. . . . . . . . . . . 1,581,576 5,319,294

1905.. . . . . . . . . . . 1,947,190 6,763,403 1906,. . . . . . . . . . . 2,080,957 8,579,437 1907.. . . . . . . . . . . 2,265,343 10,653,558 1908,. . . . . . . . . . . 2,386,138 11,399,124 1909.. . . . . . . . . . . 2,330,152 10,772,120 1910.. . . . . . . . . . . 2,654,988 10,917,000

1904.. . . . . . . . . . . 1,874,428 6,580,875

GYPSUM PRODUCTION. The importance of the gypsum industry in the

United States is shown by figures compiled by E. F. Burchard, of the United States Geological Survey. For 1910 the value of gypsum products was $6,574,478 and the amount of gypsum mined 2,375,394 short tons. This was an increase over the figures for I909 of more than 5 per cent. in tonnage and more than IO per cent. in value. The value of the imports in 1910 amounted to only $502,111, or less than 8 per cent. of the domestic output.

New York was the largest producer of gypsum, with an output valued a t $1,153,977, an increase of $121,327 over 1909. Iowa came second with a value of $943,849, and Michigan third with $668,201.

The bulk of the gypsum produced was manufactured by grinding and partial or complete calcination into plaster of Paris, molding and casting plaster, stucco, cement plaster, fibered plaster, plaster boards, flooring

plaster and hard-finish plaster. The best known hard.-finish, anhydrous plaster is Keene’s cement, which sets very white and hard. It is used as a backing and surface for artificial marble and for ornamental moldings and castings, and its use as a wall plaster is increasing.

Refined grades of plaster are used in dental work, also as cement for plate glass during grinding, for making pottery molds, stereotype molds, and molds for rubber stamps, and as an ingredient in patent cements. A large quantity of gypsum is used in the raw state as a retarder in Portland cement. Consider- able quantities are ground without burning and used as land plaster or in fertilizers. Smaller quantities are used unburned in the manufacture of crayons, paper, imitation meerschaum and ivory, calcimines, water paints and tints, and dry colors, notably Venetian reds. When used in excess in mixed paints, gypsum is regarded as an adulterant. The unburned and dead- burned forms of gypsum may be used t‘o a certain extent with oil paints, because they are not very active chemically.

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COAL PRODUCTION OF 1910.

For the first time in the history of the United States, the coal mines of the country in 1910 were credited with an output exceeding half a billion short tons, the combined production of anthracite, bitumi- nous coal, and lignite having amounted to 501,576,- 895 short tons, with a spot value of $629,529,745. This great output according to Edward W. Parker, Coal Statistician of the United States Geological Survey, was attained in spite of the fact that most of the mines in Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma were closed for nearly six months by one of the most bitterly contested strikes in the history of the industry. The heaviest tonnage mined in any year previous to 1910 was in 1907, when a total of 480,363,424 short tons was produced.

The output in 1910 showed an increase of 40,- 762,279 short tons, or 8.85 per cept. Prices generally were a little higher in 1910 than in 1909, the average for Pennsylvania anthracite being $2.13 per long ton, against $2.06 in 1909, and the average for bituminous coal was $1.12 per short ton in 1910, against $1.07 in 1909.

The output of anthracite in Pennsylvania increased from 81,070,359 short tons, valued at $149,181,587, to 84,485,236 short tons, valuea at $160,275,302, a gain of 4.21 per cent. in quantity and 7.44 per cent. in value. The bituminous production, including semi- anthracite, semibituminous, cannel, splint, and sub- bituminous coals, lignite, and a small quantity of anthracite from Colorado and New Mexico, increased from 379,744,257 short tons, valued at $405,486,777, to 417,091,659 short tons, valued a t $469,254,443, a gain of 9.83 per cent. in quantity and of 15.73 per cent. in value.

The total increase of 40,762,279 short tons in 1910 over 1909 was equal t o 2 0 per cent. more than the

The total value increased 13.50 per cent.