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AStar Is Earned •

A little better than six months ago when Anaconda and Creat Falls, including East. Helena, were honored by Washington with the coveted Army-Navy "E" a:ward flag, inrecognition of the}r outstanding contributions to the war program, they said: "We'llkeep it flying." And they have. We're all mighty proud of the records which earnedfirst the flag itself and now the star. '

Keeping the Army-Navy "E" flag flying means that the folks have kept theirword and are keeping up the production of the vital war materials so needed by theboys on the Firing Front.

.. Washington itself is proud of the workers who have contributed in keeping upthese production records. Robert P. Patterson, Under Secretary of War, in a letterto the men and women contributing in the making and maintaining of the produc-tion records which earned this honor, said the following:

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"I am pleased to inform you- that you have won for thesecond time .the Army-Navy Production Award for meritori-ous services on the production front.

"You have continued to maintain the high standa;dthat you set for you,rselves and which won you distinctionmore than six months ago. You may well be proud of yourachievement.

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"The White Star, which the renewal adds to your Army·,Navy Production Award flag, is the symbol of appreciation ..from our Armed Forces for your continued and determined ef.fort and patriotism:-

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AUGUST 27, 1943._10 \

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In This Issue:MORE ABOUT DR.ILLINC 4

Calyx drilling is different. Calyx drillsbore round holes in solid rock in the I

mines around Butte from three to fourfeet in diameter. These holes are usedprimarily for ventilation between levels.Better ventilation provided by calyx drill-ing speeds up production of the vital oreneeded for necessary war materials.

THAN KS TO YOU : _.. .. 1

COPPER COMMANDO is now one yearold. With this issue we launch Volume2. It wouldn't be fair not to thank allyou folks who have contributed in mak-ing COPPER COMMANDO proud 'of itsrecord for the first year. We hope thatyou folks will all continue to give thesame fine cooperation and help in thecoming year.

POWER FOR PRODUCTION __...__._.....8

Power Plant is the right name for theplant at Anaconda which furnishes thepower to keep things moving on the Hill.Compressed air and steam are essentialtwenty-four hours a day to just aboutevery department if production recordsare to be topped in turning out needed

.. .. war materials. Here's how that com-pressed air is made.

EAST HELENA ._ _ 10This is a trip through the East HelenaSlag Treating Plant so that you can seehow zinc, an essential war metal, is re-covered through the treatment there. Thepart that Uncle Sam likes about the SlagTreating Plant is that up to the time theplant was built, this zinc would have beenlost.

•••• where you pray to God in your ownway, according to ycur own beliefs, in thepeace and blessing of religious tolerance.Where freedom of belief and action hasbuilt a great nation. This;s your America,

l(" .,,~~~ ~-~ };.~~l.1L••1\"t.IJb Il!'~,- ..,'''',. . ~

O-lIltS Sbeldon-Claue, ~o

AUGUST 21, 1943

This shot was taken in the Power Plant at Anaconda. It shows the sixteen poundconverter blowing engine C-9, which is driv~n by two, eight hunared h. p. motors,capacity 11,040,000 cu. ft. for eight hours. This is the vertical type compressor. TheEnglish system' rope drive from the motors to the compressor is shown at the right.See the American system on page eight.

•COPPER COMMANDO is the official newspaper of the Victory Labor-ManagemenfProduction Committees of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company and its Union -Representatives at Butte, Anaconda, East Helena and Great Falls, Montana. It isissued every two weeks .•• COPPER COMMANDO is headed by a joint committeefrom Labor and Management; its policies are shaped by both sides and are dictatedby neither .•• COPPER COMMANDO was established at the recommendation ofthe War Department with the concurrence of the War Production Board. Its edi-tors are Bob Newcomb and Marg Sammons; its safety editor is John L. Boardman;its chief photographer is Bob Nesmith; its staff photographer is Les Bishop .•• ItsEditorial Board consists of: Denis McCarthy, CIO; John F. Bird, AFL; Ed Renouard,ACM, from Butte; Dan Byrne, Cf O; Joe Marick, .AFL; C. A. Lemmon, ACM, fromAnaconda; Jack Clark, CIO; Herb Donaldson, AFL, and E. S. Bardwell, ACM, ~romGreat Falls ... COPPER COMMANDO is mailed to the home of every employe ofACM in the four locations-if you are not receiving your copy advise COPPER COM ..MANDO at 112 Hamilton Street, Butte, or, better still, drop in and tell us. This isVolume 2. No. 1.

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IN previous issues you've seen and readhow holes are drilled in rock for loadingwith powder and blasting. But Calyxdrilling is different. Primarily used forboring ventilation holes between levels.Calyx drills bore round holes in the solidrock. These holes are much larger thanthose drilled for other purposes. Fact is,they are from three to four feet in diame-ter and are not blasted. The core, drilledby the bit, is removed and the smoothrock wall acts as a chimney and creates anatural draft. They extend from onelevel to another for ventilation before theraises are driven, Generally, they are thefirst holes, besides the original shaft, tomake a connection between the workinglevel above and the new level beingopened. Sometimes these holes are laidout vertically-c-one above the other-andelectric cables and air conditioning pipelines are carried through them. This cutsout long distances of pipe lines that other-wise would have to be installed alongthe level from the shaft. •

These holes are driven with a CalyxDrill, so called from the calyx-like bitwhich is nothing more than a large cylin-der with slots cut into the lower edge.This cylinder-you can see what it's likein the lower left picture with Andy Ver-beck inspecting it before it is lowered intothe hole--is rotated by means of a rodor shift extending up the calyx hole tothe driving machinery. In the ·Iowerright shot, Andy is guiding the bit intothe hole. Chilled shot. like Melvin Wil-

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More About DrillingCalyx drilling plays an important role in keeping the vital copper ore roUing toward theFiring Front. If there isn't air circulated through the mines, it means slower drilling anda long delay after blasting before the men return to headings. Calyx drills bore the holes

.-4 • AUCUST 27. 1943..

Iiams is scooping up in the lower picture,about the size of small BSs, and waterare fed to the cylinder and are distributedby the slots to the cutti ng edge of thecylinder. In the upper picture, page six,Melvin is putting the shot into the linewhile Andy watches the drill. The bit,rolling around on the shot, produces amilling action which grinds a circular cutinto the rock at a rate of approximatelya foot an hour.

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When the bit has cut its way downto near the connecting rod, the circularcore of rock, like in the lower right nextpage picture, must be removed so thebit can be advanced further. To removethe core, the calyx bit is pulled up to thelevel of operations. In the upper picturepage four, Andy Verbeck is prepar-ing to pull the bit from the hole. Ifthe core is broken, rt is mucked into abucket and hoisted to the level where itis dumped into a car. Andy Verbeck ismucking out a core in the top picture onthis page. Melvin Williams is on topoperating the hoist. If the core is solid,it is broken off at the base by a lightcharge of powder placed in the circularcut. A plug hole is drilled into the topof the core into which an anchor bolt canbe fastened so that the solid piece can behoisted to the level. Sometimes the corecan be lifted by wedging it to the bit.

AUGUST 27. 1943 ...

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The amount of shot and water usedfs very important and must be determined6y the action of the bit: Too little or too)t"Iuch will cause the drilling speed tostow down.

Sometimes the bit goes through a

soft piece of ground and this section hasto be cemented or grouted to keep thehole from caving farger. In selecting theplace for the calyx hole, the geology ofthe area is carefully considered in orderto avoid cutting faults or soft ground.

The cover picture shows the shaftand the top of the bit in the hole. Noticethe smooth rock wall.

A lot of the miners haven't workedwith Calyx Drills, but each and every oneappreciate the work done by Calyx Drills.

IN the picture to the left Earl LaGue and Geor,eGlogosky, welders, are welding a four ft. Calyxbit. Herman Gillis, top assistant foreman at theBelmont Mine, is supervising the job.

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.6. AUCUST 271. 1943

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THANKS TO YOU

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COPPER COMMANDO is now one yearold. The last issue of its first year rolledoff the press two weeks ago. With thisissue we launch Volume 2.

When we we ..e struggling with ourfirst issues of COPPER COMMANDO, wesaid that ,its success hinged upon theen,thusiasm, co-offeration and help givenit by its readers, COPPE,R COMMANDOstarted off with none of the answers. Ithad only the zeal to find the answers. Ithas found theln in the comments, criti-cisms and friendly guidance of the peopleof Butte, Anaconda, East Helena andCreat Falls. For your fine help, guidanceand co-operation this past year, your

I editors thank you.We are .grateful to our Editorial

Boards for their fine support. They haverea1ized that COPPER COMMANDO is,and must remain, a neutral medium de-signed to pull us all together for our com-mon good in winning the war; that laborand management have an equal stake inwinning the war. They have sat downwith us and ,helped us plan the contentsof our issues in. advance ,in order that wecould keep on the beam. They havehelped us show the workers in relation totheir jobs and the jobs in relation to thewar.

Of our Copper -Issue, Robert P. Pat-terson, Under Secretary of War, wrote:"I have read the special issue of COPPERCOMMANDO from cover to cover. Thepart that copper miners are taking in win-ning victory cannot be stated too strongly.They are true soldiers of productio ...Planes, tanks, guns and ammun,ition callfor huge quantities of copper. The plaintruth is that the war cannot be won with-out copper. We need it as never before.COPPER COMMANDO presents the factsf.rcefully, and I wish to commend theeditors for the patriotic Hf'Yice 'they aregiving."

. Naturally, we of COPPER COM-MANDO are p"ased with the friendlyacceptance here of our Labor-Manage-ment newspaper. We are pl~ased, toe,that the Wat' Department a..d the WarProductiOft Board, whic'" are responsiblefor its creation, feel that it is doi..g a job.To you, who make it possible, again wesay "Tha ..k you."

AUGUST 27, 1943

People ~ PlacesSAL PINTO, color photographer for theSaturday Evening Post, headquartered atthe COMMANDO office during his re-cent visit to Butte. A few years ago Salrealized the future of color photography.Today he is recognized as one of the best.He was here getting colored pictures tobe used in a story on Butte which will ap-pear in the near future in the Post.

Emmett Lyon of Anaconda stoppedin the COMMANDO office the other day.Emmett was on his vacation and assuredus it was a wonderful feeling.

RECOCNITION CERTIFICATESGeorge Holderer of the Copper Divi-

sion of WPB was another who headquar-tered in the COMMANDO office. Georgecame out to consult with the CertificateSub-Committee of the Victory Labor-Management Committee. He presenteda suggested design for a recognition cardto the committee, composed of Ed Ren-ouard and Jimmy Cusick. This card willbe presented in the near future to themen frozen to their jobs in copper pro-duction.

AN APPEAL FOR MEAlThe "More Meat for Copper Work-

ers" Sub-Committee of the Victory Labor-Management Committee presented anappeal for more meat for copper work-ers to the Committee at the field hear-ing of the U. S. Senate Small BusinessCommittee in Helena. The presentation

was made by Jerry Harrington, chairman,Witnesses include representatives of theLabor-Management Committee and civiQleaders.

OLD-TIM,E·ROne of the old-timers we met in the

Power Plant at Anaconda was MichaelPramenko. The boys call him "Mike."Everybody around the Plant has a goodword for him. He's been in the Plant for.the last thirty-four years and has his own,way of helping in the war program. Iiithe picture below Mike is standing by theequipment which he uses in reprocessingoil. Mike knows that oil is needed to winthe war, so he does his part in salvagingevery bit of waste oil in the Power Plant,He processes the oil by "squeezing" itfrom the waste. That is, he uses a cen-trifuge (a basket which whirls at a highspeed and throws the oi lout). Then heputs it through a filter and oil reclaimingtank where water is added and heat ap-plied. He lets it settle over night andthe next morning he reheats it. The oil'comes to the top and is drained off. Theoil from changing crank cases is also re-processed in the oil reclaiming device bywhich Mike is standing. It is boiled withsoda ash and water and allowed to settleover night ; reheated and the oil is drainedfrom the top. Strange though it mayseem, the oil is just as effective after it isreprocessed. Seven or eight barrels of oila month are reclaimed in just this way

~ by Mike.

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Powerfor

Produ~tionIf production records are to be topped atAnacoRda. it's mighty essential th'at thePower Plant be 0.. the job twenty-fo .....hours of the day. Compressed air andsteam mean power a..d that power keepsthings movi..g·on the Hill•

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JUST to walk into the Power Plant atAnaconda and see the massive machineryis enough to convince an outsider thatthe plant carries the right name-PowerPlant. To give you an idea of the' im-portance of the Power Plant, here aresome facts about the power needed andfurnished by the Plant.

Nine hundred pounds per squareinch compressed air is needed to keep thelocal tram operating. For the generalutility work all around the Hill, it takesninety pound air. The electrolytic zincpachucas require thirty pound air; whilesixteen pound air is used for the con-verters and two and one-half pound forthe flotation work in the concentrators.The Power Plant makes a vacuum for theElectrolytic Zinc Plant filters. It gen-erates steam at the Reverberatory fur-naces' waste heat boilers and also on somegas fired boilers-enough to make up thesteam requirements. The Plant uses1000 h.p. to heat the buildings and proc-ess work.

There are ai r stations all around theHill. The local tram air engines stop atthese stations and fill their air tanks withnine hundred pound air. On these air en---gines are reducing valves which reduce>this pressure to one hundred sixty poundsper square inch, at which pressure it isused in the air cylinders on the locomo-tives and that's what keeps the enginesmoving.

Remember the picture in a previousissue showing the air being blownthrough a stream of molten zinc? Itblows through with such force that zincdust is _!he result. It takes a ninetypound pressure to make that zinc dust.In the copper furnaces a ninety poundpressure churns up the copper. Fact is,the Smelter couldn't operate without theninety pound air, 'for it is used in manyplaces. In the converters sixteen poundpressure air is used to burn out the im-

-AUCUST 27, 1943

purities. The iron goes into slag and theimpurities go out of the stack as a resultof this compressed air. There are nine con-verter blowing engines used to supplythe sixteen pound pressure air in the con-verters, for air is essential in purifying thecopper.

Now since we know how' importantthe Power Plant is to the operations onthe Hill, let's take a look at the machineswhich produce this needed power. Inthe center picture opposite page EugeneTobin is checking on alSO K. W. 500-volt D. C. Turbo generator set. It's usedfor emergency operation of the convertermotors. When the regular supply of elec-tricity fails for any reason whatsoever.this unit automatically cuts in. The con-verter operators can then turn the con-verters out of the stack, thus avoidingplugging the tuyeres and production isnot stopped.

Albert <Subs)' Long is oiling thesixteen pound converter blowing enginein the bottom picture opposite page. Itis electrically driven by a 750 h.p. motorand has a capacity of 5,952,000 cu. ft. ofair for eight hours. In the foreground isshown one of the two cylinders whichcompress the air to sixteen pounds persquare inch. This unit is driven by anAmerican system rope drive which meansthat the rope is one continuous piece.Actually, it is 2,750 feet long. It drivesfrom the motor to the compressor. Thesheave or fly wheel i~ the backgroundreduces the speed so as it will be suitableto the compressor. The valves shownare opened and closed automatically asthe piston moves back and forth. Theair is discharged through the verticalpipe and then on to the main line to theconverters.

The upper picture shows Bill Jones,foreman of the Power Plant, at the switchboard panel which governs the operationof the thirty pound compressors andvacuum pump. In the lower picture,Peter Crus, machinist, is pointing out aphase of the operation of the two flywheels on the Converter 2 and 3 equip-ment to Jim Monroe, machinist's helper.

There are about sixty-five men'..:;; working in the Power Plant-fifty-five'

are steady employees and the other tenare called in when there is extra work ..

~ Frank Adams is the superintendent andhas been for the past twenty-seven years.Del I. Grush, assistant superintendent.has been in the Power Plant for twenty-''five years. That's a shot of Del andfrank in the upper picture opposite page,

The Power Plant is an interestingplace to visit. It's kept spotlessly clean. .il"he boys are a congenial bunch of fel-lows and the fact that most all of themhave been in the Plant for a good manyyears tells its own story. You hear it'from all of them: "Ir's a swell place towork."

~UGUST 27, 194J

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AUCUST 27, 1943

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EastHelena

Vital zinc; an es~ential metal for the warprogram, is recovered through the treat-ment at the East Helena Slag TreatingPlant. Here's how the Slag TreatingPlant cleans up the metallurgical proc-esses of the Zinc ptant at Great Falls.

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IN a previous issue we Introduced youto the East Helena' Slag Treating Plantfrom the outside. Let's take a trip nowthrough the plant and see just how thiszinc is recovered. As you know, thelea~h residue from the Electrolytic ZincPlants in Great Falls and Anaconda stillcontains a certain amount of zinc, as wellas part of whatever lead was present inthe original zinc concentrate. The leachresidue is first sent from Great Falls andAnaconda to the American Smelting andRefining Company's lead smelter at EastHelena, where most of the lead is re-covered in a lead blast furnace operation.

The. molten slag from the A. S. & R.furnaces is brought over to the East Hel-ena Slag Treating Plant in ladles as shownin the top left picture opposite page.That's Howard Beer and Bob Wood to theright and Henry Bovee to the left watch-ing Frank Benigner, the driver, bring inthe ladle on a truck. It is moved into thefurnace room, shown in the center leftpicture opposite page. Erman Burgherwas making an adjustment ,?n the furnacewhen we snapped the picture. In thelower left shot opposite page, a giantcrane picks up the ladle from the truckand transfers the molten slag to the fur-nace. Erman Burgher was helping it getstarted. The furnace is made up of aseries of water jackets with a charge holeon the top through which the slag isbeing poured in the upper right shot op-posite page. There is a tap-hole at thebottom of the furnace from which thewaste slag is withdrawn after the zincvalues have been removed and in thecenter right shot opposite page, that's theladle into which the wast slag pours. Inthe lower right picture, opposite page,Herbert Rate and Erman Burgher areplugging the furnace after the tap out.

Through tuyeres on either side ofthe furnace compressed air and crushedcoal are introduced into the bath of thefurnace. The coal acts both as a sourceof heat to maintain a temperature ofabout 1900 degrees F. and as a reducingagent to convert the zinc present in theslag to metallic zinc vapor. These vaporsare conducted through a horizontal flue._There are adjustable openings, throughwhich air is admitted to burn the metal-

AUGUST 27, 1943

lic zinc vapor to zinc oxide. Excess coaldust and carbon monoxide present fromthe reduction are also burned irvthis flue.The gases are then cooled to a degree,which allows them to be filtered in thebag house shown in the upper right. Thegases leave the furnace at approximately2100 degrees F. The cool ing system con-sists of a water jacketed steel downtakefrom the furnace which connects with asingle brick flue section. The brick flueleads into two parallel steel flues eightfeet in diameter and three hundred ninetyfeet long. Remember the picture of theflues? These steel flues terminate in aseries of thirty-two U-shaped coolingpipes each fifty-seven feet nigh.

In this system the gases are cooledfrom 2100 to about 300 degrees F. Ad-ditional cooling before entering the baghouse is accomplished by the admittanceof outside air, which further reduces thetemperature to around 230 or 240 de-

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grees F. This is important for a higher.temperature would result in burning thebags and a lower would result in con ..densation of moisture on the bags.

The bag house consists of five hun ...dred seventy-six wool bags, eighteeninches in diameter and thirty feet high..:The gases are drawn from the furnace,through the cooling system and thenforced through the bags by a seven and ahalf ft. fan. The accumulated zinc oxidefume drops into, hoppers, like you see inthe lower right shot. The hoppers dis-charge into cars as seen in the pictureand are shipped to Great Falls. There thezinc in the fume, which runs aboufseventy per cent. is recovered. throughthe regular electrolytic process. That'sthe way the vital zinc, which formerly'would have been lost, is_recovered. UncleSam appreciates this recovered zinc for.

, supplies can't be kept rolling to the FiringFront without it.

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Antiair~raft·Gun (;rews

•InNew Gui.nea

PRo'roo :BY u, S. ARMY SIGNAL OOlU'S

TEAMWORK is a must for the mem-bers of this New Cuinea antiahcraft guncrew. Every man has his appointed tasksand they are timed to the split secondwith the tasks of his crew members.Their work is fast and furious until thelast enemy plane is downed. In the 'up-per left picture, the snout of an antiair-craft gun pokes ·its way skyward. That'sthe "talker" with the telephone on hischest. Behiwd him are the boys handingup projectiles from ammunition dugouts.At the right of the gun, ~ shell is goinginto the fuse-setter which sets the fuseto. burst at a predetermined altitude. Theboys on either side of the gun matchpointers on the dials of the mechanismwhich keeps the muzzle of the gun onthe enemy. It takes a strong left arm,like in the center left shot, to ram homethe projectile with the.left fist while theright hand is on the handle ready to closethe breech. The loader must wear glovesto keep his' hands from burning on thebreech which heats rapid., from almostcontinuous firing. The gun crew areready for action in the lower left picture.When the battery is inactive, the nettingis pulled over the emplacement to con-ceal it from prying aerial eyes. The ap-paratus !thown ,in the upper right pictureis part of the fire control mechanism. Ithas tlte optical system of the finest tele-scope. These crew members locate aRdtrack enemy planes and relay the infor-matien to the gvn crew. Remember thatthe teamwork of the miRer, the smelter-man and the refiner produces the copperfor the teamwork of these antiaircraftgun crews.

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