- Email: [email protected]
Do the “Red beds” of wyoming contain potash salts?
168
CURRENT ToPIcS.
[J. F. I.
3I,ooo Horse-Power Turbines. ANON. (Engineering News, vol. 76, No. 20, November 16, I916.)--The three turbines built for the initial installation of the Tallassee Power Company, a subsidiary of the Aluminum Company of America, at its Yadkin River development in North Carolina are by far the largest single-runner Francis turbines yet built. The remarkably steady load to be furnished by the nearby aluminum works permits of an efficient use of very large generating units, larger than is commonly desirable in general practice. Each turbine will develop 27,000 horse-power at maximum efficiency and 31,ooo horse-power at full gate. Each turbine drives an 18,ooo kilovolt-ampere, 36-cycle, I32O-volt three-phase generator with its exciter on top. The notable points of interest are the use of steel-plate scroll casing embedded in concrete and a scheme of dismantling the runner from below without disturbing the generator or disturbing much of the turbine its~f. The runner diameter is IO8 inches; the speed 154 revolutions per minute; and the head, 165 to I8O feet. The casing inlet is 12 feet in diameter, and a tapering thimble connects to IS-foot penstocks. The upper part of the draft tube is of cast iron and telescopes into the section below, which is moulded in the concrete substructure. The draft tube is I I feet in diameter at the top, but immediately begins to flare; and it flattens as it makes the usual right angle turn, the outlet being 32 feet wide and 13 feet 3 inches high. D o the " Red B e d s " of W y o m i n g Contain P o t a s h Salts? AI,r0N. ( U. S. Geological Survey Press Bulletin No. 297, ,November, igI6.)--The Embar formation of Wyoming is known chiefly for its extensive phosphate beds, which are supposed to have been derived in some manner from animal remains. The rocks contain abundant fossils, many of which are phosphatic, and all of which prove that the Embar beds of western Wyoming were deposited in the sea. Recent study of the eastward extension of the Embar formation in Wyoming shows that along the east margin of this ancient sea, or throughout the Bighorn Mountain region, the climate was probably more arid than that of any part of Wyoming to-day. By long evaporation beds of gypsum were deposited at some places in arms of this sea to a thickness as great as IOO feet. It is a question of practical importance whether beds of salt, and perhaps of potash salt, may also have been deposited in this formation and whether they may now be found below the surface. The United States Geological Survey, Department of the Interior, urges that oil men, in drilling through the Chugwater and Embar red beds in Wyoming collect samples of drillings and of brines and submit them to the Survey for examination as to their possible potash content. A paper by D. Dale Condit, describing the relations of the Embar and Chugwater formations in central Wyoming, and designated professional Paper 98-0, may be obtained on application to the Director of the U. S. Geological Survey.
CURRENT ToPIcS.
[J. F. I.
3I,ooo Horse-Power Turbines. ANON. (Engineering News, vol. 76, No. 20, November 16, I916.)--The three turbines built for the initial installation of the Tallassee Power Company, a subsidiary of the Aluminum Company of America, at its Yadkin River development in North Carolina are by far the largest single-runner Francis turbines yet built. The remarkably steady load to be furnished by the nearby aluminum works permits of an efficient use of very large generating units, larger than is commonly desirable in general practice. Each turbine will develop 27,000 horse-power at maximum efficiency and 31,ooo horse-power at full gate. Each turbine drives an 18,ooo kilovolt-ampere, 36-cycle, I32O-volt three-phase generator with its exciter on top. The notable points of interest are the use of steel-plate scroll casing embedded in concrete and a scheme of dismantling the runner from below without disturbing the generator or disturbing much of the turbine its~f. The runner diameter is IO8 inches; the speed 154 revolutions per minute; and the head, 165 to I8O feet. The casing inlet is 12 feet in diameter, and a tapering thimble connects to IS-foot penstocks. The upper part of the draft tube is of cast iron and telescopes into the section below, which is moulded in the concrete substructure. The draft tube is I I feet in diameter at the top, but immediately begins to flare; and it flattens as it makes the usual right angle turn, the outlet being 32 feet wide and 13 feet 3 inches high. D o the " Red B e d s " of W y o m i n g Contain P o t a s h Salts? AI,r0N. ( U. S. Geological Survey Press Bulletin No. 297, ,November, igI6.)--The Embar formation of Wyoming is known chiefly for its extensive phosphate beds, which are supposed to have been derived in some manner from animal remains. The rocks contain abundant fossils, many of which are phosphatic, and all of which prove that the Embar beds of western Wyoming were deposited in the sea. Recent study of the eastward extension of the Embar formation in Wyoming shows that along the east margin of this ancient sea, or throughout the Bighorn Mountain region, the climate was probably more arid than that of any part of Wyoming to-day. By long evaporation beds of gypsum were deposited at some places in arms of this sea to a thickness as great as IOO feet. It is a question of practical importance whether beds of salt, and perhaps of potash salt, may also have been deposited in this formation and whether they may now be found below the surface. The United States Geological Survey, Department of the Interior, urges that oil men, in drilling through the Chugwater and Embar red beds in Wyoming collect samples of drillings and of brines and submit them to the Survey for examination as to their possible potash content. A paper by D. Dale Condit, describing the relations of the Embar and Chugwater formations in central Wyoming, and designated professional Paper 98-0, may be obtained on application to the Director of the U. S. Geological Survey.