# The "Find the Errors in Hoke" Contest



## FrugalRefiner (Oct 27, 2013)

About nine months ago I posted my printer friendly version of Hoke's book, _Refining Precious Metal Wastes_. I'm humbled that there have been over 800 downloads of the file, and I want to give special thanks to those who have provided links to the thread. When I posted the file I asked that if anyone found any errors or omissions they let me know so I could correct them. I am surprised that to this day, I have not received a single message regarding errors.

I have been rereading the book for a new edit I'm working on. In the process, I have found many errors or omissions, some obvious, some more difficult to spot. And yet, none of our sharp-eyed members have reported any of them.

So I thought about how I could get members involved in spotting and reporting errors they find... A Contest! We haven't had a contest in a while! With Prizes!!

My reasons for doing this are twofold. First, I'd like to correct as many errors as possible in the upcoming version. I have found 20 so far. There are probably more that I have missed. I'm asking the help of our members in finding them. Second, I want to provide an incentive for new members and veterans alike to read through the book again. Every time I read it I learn new things.

*Here are the rules:* The contest is open to all forum members. I will provide the prizes and cover postage within the continental U.S. If a winner is outside the U.S., I will contact them to discuss the cost of postage to their country. If the postage is too high, I will send the value of the prize via PayPal.

The prize for each error or omission reported will be one thin, U.S. dime. That's a pre-1965 dime, approximately 2.5 grams of 90% silver! OK, so it's not worth a million dollars, but when silver hits $150.00 an ounce, they'll be worth over $10.00 each! :lol: 

All entries must be posted to this thread. The first submission of any individual error will win one prize. No editing of posts is allowed. If a post is edited, it will be disqualified. There will be a limit of 2 prizes to any member so many members can participate*. For the purposes of this contest, I am looking for typographical errors, like misspelled words, words run together without a space, punctuation errors, etc. in my printer friendly version of the book. 

The contest will run till midnight, November 30, 2013. All entries must be submitted before that time based on the forum time stamp.

I hope to see many entries. I know of 20 errors. How many more can you find?

Good luck,
Dave

* Yes, there was an asterisk. I want to get as much participation as I can, so I'm setting a limit of 2 prizes per member for errors posted on the forum, but I also sincerely want to catch as many errors as possible, so here's the exception. If you find more than 2 errors, only post 2 on the forum. Then PM any others to me. If another member posts the same error on the forum, I'm afraid you won't get any additional prize. But if no one posts the same error on the forum by the end of the contest, and no one else reports the error by PM _before_ you, you will get the prize(s) for the additional error(s). Let's keep this fun!


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## RikkiRicardo (Oct 27, 2013)

Great work Dave
love this now everyone will read no more excuses
page for page
Read and experment Good luck everyone

RikkiRicardo


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## silversaddle1 (Oct 27, 2013)

Wow! Might just as well have a "find the errors in the Bible" contest! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:


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## pattt (Oct 27, 2013)

Hi FrugalRefiner, nice contest ,
since I was reading Hokes book again on my Ipad, I continued reading the printer friendly version on my computer and I think I found one maybe two.(the second, because I pasted and copied that part)

Page 63 (the one that wasn't on my Ipad version seems a goldmine)   

MOREABOUTGOLD. ALTERNATIVEMETHODS	63 (this was the copied part, and there seems to be no spaces between MORE ABOUT GOLD and ALTERNATIVE METHODS)
then same page :

"For example, one worker reports: “Recently we had occasion to test the *prity* of our gold, by assay, by wet analysis, and by hardness."(page 40 on the PDF)
and I will send you a third one in a PM.

anyways great fun :lol: 
Thank you and I hope others are going to find more :!: 

Pattt


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## FrugalRefiner (Oct 27, 2013)

Well, it's more like a find the errors the OCR software made when the bible was scanned into a digital format contest. 

Dave


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## pattt (Oct 27, 2013)

Hi all,

Ok the third one I thought I found wasn't an error, so i can post it here now ,

My PM was :

Page 63:

"Recently we had occasion to....." sounds strange to me, but English is not my language so I don't know for sure, shouldn't it be "Recently we had *an* occasion?? "

I was wrong  , but learned something :lol: 

Pattt


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## FrugalRefiner (Oct 27, 2013)

pattt said:


> MOREABOUTGOLD. ALTERNATIVEMETHODS	63 (this was the copied part, and there seems to be no spaces between MORE ABOUT GOLD and ALTERNATIVE METHODS)
> then same page :
> 
> "For example, one worker reports: “Recently we had occasion to test the *prity* of our gold, by assay, by wet analysis, and by hardness."(page 40 on the PDF)
> and I will send you a third one in a PM.


We have our first winner :!: 

Pattt I can only give you one prize so far. The title on page 63 is the same as on the other odd numbered pages of that chapter. It is an odd format, but in the first page of the chapter and on page 63, there is a single space between the period and the "A" of Alternate. That is how it appears in my 2003 reprint as well.

But the second error you mentioned is definitely what I'm looking for. The word should be purity. It is one of the 20 errors I found and wins you one prize. You are still eligible for a second one if you find others.

Thanks for participating!
Dave


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## pattt (Oct 27, 2013)

YIPIEYAYEE , Nice, Thank you, :lol: 

But, I think i was just lucky, I wanted to read page 63 first since that one was missing from my Ipad version of Hoke's book :lol:

So, I want to donate my price as a thank you, to the forum. 

For people like you (FrugalRefiner) doing all that work so we can learn. 
And Noxx for starting this forum.
And the moderators for putting time in keeping this Forum as nice as possible ( Good work guys )
And for the Forum members for asking questions so we can learn more.
Thank you all and ... without anyone having to tell me, I am going to read some more pages in Hoke's book 8) 
Have a nice night or day.

Pattt


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## FrugalRefiner (Oct 27, 2013)

pattt said:


> MOREABOUTGOLD. ALTERNATIVEMETHODS	63 (this was the copied part, and there seems to be no spaces between MORE ABOUT GOLD and ALTERNATIVE METHODS)


I just reread Pattt's post and see that he was talking about a lack of spaces between each of the words. I agree, it looks pretty tight on the printed page but there are spaces there. Sorry for any confusion. I was just so excited to have someone send in an error!  

Dave


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## silversaddle1 (Oct 27, 2013)

Oh, so not an error in the data, but in the format?


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## FrugalRefiner (Oct 27, 2013)

Correct, "For the purposes of this contest, I am looking for typographical errors, like misspelled words, words run together without a space, punctuation errors, etc. in my printer friendly version of the book."

There are errors in the data as well. They are the subject of the edit I'm currently working on.

Dave


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## Golddigger Greg (Oct 28, 2013)

What a great excuse to re-read Hoke! Wonderful idea! :idea:


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## pattt (Oct 31, 2013)

Hi all,

Ok, I found another one :shock: ( I think )

"their motors are either specially enclosed and ventilated, or *skilfully* placed so as to be outside the reach of the fumes.

skillfully?

its not easy I have to read every word 2 times for finding one so this read of Hoke's again, counts as two reads :lol: 

this was enough for tonight :lol: 

Pat


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## pattt (Oct 31, 2013)

sorry forgot the page , nr 30

pat


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## FrugalRefiner (Nov 1, 2013)

Pat,

Thank you for continuing the search!

When I first read your post, I thought you had found one I had missed. After some further checking, it appears that both skilfully and skillfully are accepted spellings. Skilfully is considered correct in British English. Skillfully is correct in American English. Of course, that's the current interpretation in 2013. I would guess the distinction wasn't as clear in 1940. 

My hard copy of Hoke has the spelling as skilfully, so I can't consider it an error of the OCR software.

Since both spellings are accepted, and the text matches the hard copy, I'll leave it as it is in the printer friendly version of the book. But your continued effort deserves to be rewarded, so you have won your second prize!

Thank you for your hard work in helping find the errors.

30 days left and still at least 19 known errors. 

Dave


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## pattt (Nov 1, 2013)

Hi Dave, 

Ok learnt something new again :lol: 

I am having fun , I'll continue my search tonight, I'll go from page 30 to 50 :lol: 

Thank you and have a nice day.

Pat


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## FrugalRefiner (Nov 9, 2013)

Time for an update. I have received 2 more error reports by PM. I was already aware of one, but one of our members found one that I had missed! Thank you Pattt for continuing the search.

We have 3 weeks left in the contest. There are still at least 18 errors waiting to be reported. I would really love to give away some more silver!

Dave


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## FrugalRefiner (Nov 20, 2013)

One more bump. 10 days left.

Dave


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## FrugalRefiner (Dec 1, 2013)

Well, I guess this wasn't much of a contest.  I only received error reports from one member of the forum. Thank you very much Pattt for your help in improving my version of the book. I hope to post the update later this month.

Dave


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## Lou (Dec 1, 2013)

C'mon guys, give the man a hand at it!

Excellent work so far!


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## moose7802 (Dec 2, 2013)

My mac book pro battery took a crappy about a month ago so I have only been using my phone. I'm getting in for a genius bar appt. this week so I will be able to read the copy I downloaded. Then maybe I can win this thing! 8) 

Tyler


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## 9kuuby9 (Dec 2, 2013)

Well let's give it a go; (page according to the PDF program not according to the pages of the book)

At page 5; VII. SOME SPECIAL CASES ........................................................................ 65
Green gold. White golds...--->White gold*

Page 6; Nor were these the only complications that beset the precious metal worker of the early Nineteen Hundreds. New gold alloys
appeared—white golds and green golds—...---> white gold and green gold*.

Page 28; THE COMMONEST CASE 39
(4) Dissolving the gold in aqua regia.
(5) Removing excess nitric acid.
(6) Recovering the dissolved gold with copperas.
(7) Washing the fine gold.
(8) Melting it.
(9) Saving the silver, if worth while.---> worthwhile*

Page 33; 2 REFINING PRECIOUS METAL WASTES
(2) MEL TING THE MATERIAL INTO A BUTTON. QUARTATION
In Chapter V we said that this step may or may not he necessary.---> be* necessary.

Page 33; (Green golds will be discussed
again in Chapter VII.)--->(Green gold*...

Page 35; (7) Washing the refined gold.
(8) Melting the refined gold.
(9) Saving the silver if worth while. ---> worthwhile*

Page 37; the final clear and filtered solution should contain not more than
about 5% of total acids.---> should contain no* more than...

Page 40; It depends first upon the amount and nature of the impurities that
you start with, and then upon your own skill and patience. The final
rinsings are very important. ---> rinses* are very important...

Page 40; “Recently we had occasion to test
the prity of our gold, by assay , by wet analysis, and by hardness.---> purity* of our gold...

Page 41; Green gold. White golds.---> White Gold*.

Page 42; WHITE golds
White golds, nickel golds, palladium golds, dental golds,white golds, nickel golds, nickel white golds.
------>
WHITE gold*
White gold*, nickel gold*, palladium gold*, dental gold*,white gold*, nickel gold*, nickel white gold*.


I will continue further when I have some freely available time. :mrgreen: 

Hope this helps!


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## FrugalRefiner (Dec 2, 2013)

Thank you for the renewed interest. Although the contest officially ended Saturday night, my purpose was, and still is, to find as many errors as possible before I post my new update. So what the heck, I'll still accept any reports for the next couple of weeks and the prize remains the same.

I'm going to make one change in the rules and remove the limit per member. Following is a list of the errors already reported:

page 63 - prity = purity reported by Pattt 10/27 3:42 pm
page 110 - discussedin = discussed in reported by Pattt 11/08 5:30 pm via PM
page 105 - fiom = from reported by Pattt 11/08 5:30 pm via PM
page 128 - recoverv = recovery reported by Pattt 11/10 1:37 pm via PM
page 128 - nrecious = precious reported by Pattt 11/10 1:37 pm via PM
page 249 - Bntannica = Britannica reported by Pattt 12/01 3:43 pm via PM
page 255 - ROCESSES = PROCESSES reported by Pattt 12/01 3:43 pm via PM
page 256 - comon = common reported by Pattt 12/01 3:43 pm via PM

And now we have a new winner. 9kuuby9, thanks for taking the time. Several of the examples you've provided are more cases of writing style, especially writing style in 1940.


> At page 5; VII. SOME SPECIAL CASES ........................................................................ 65
> Green gold. White golds...--->White gold*


This is correct as written. On the next page she points out that "white golds, to the refiner, are of two classes: those that are whitened with nickel and those that are whitened with palladium."



> Page 6; Nor were these the only complications that beset the precious metal worker of the early Nineteen Hundreds. New gold alloys
> appeared—white golds and green golds—...---> white gold and green gold*.


This is from page viii of the preface. Again, it is correct as she is referring to the new varietes of alloys being used to create these colors.



> Page 28; THE COMMONEST CASE 39
> (9) Saving the silver, if worth while.---> worthwhile*


I had to look this one up. It's not an OCR error or a typographical error as that is how it appears in my 2003 reprint. According to the Oxford Dictionaries, "The adjective worthwhile is used both attributively (that is, before the noun) and predicatively (that is, when it stands alone and comes after the verb). In both positions, it is always correct as one word (a worthwhile book; we didn’t think it was worthwhile), but when used predicatively, it may also be written as two words: we didn’t think it was worth while." I believe that is how Hoke used it.



> In Chapter V we said that this step may or may not he necessary.---> be* necessary.


Now that's a winner! It's a perfect example of OCR error. When I look at my 2003 reprint, the bottom of the circle on the b isn't quite filled out as it should be. The OCR interpreted it as an h. Thank you for catching that one!



> Page 37; the final clear and filtered solution should contain not more than
> about 5% of total acids.---> should contain no* more than...


This one is a matter of style. It is correct as written.



> Page 40; It depends first upon the amount and nature of the impurities that
> you start with, and then upon your own skill and patience. The final
> rinsings are very important. ---> rinses* are very important...


Again, just a different way of saying it. It's not an error in the digital/printer friendly versions of the book compared to the original published version.



> the prity of our gold, by assay , by wet analysis, and by hardness.---> purity* of our gold...


This one was reported by Pattt on 10/27/13.

The remaining references to golds are also correct as she is referring to different varieties of each color.

I hope that covers them all. 9kuuby9, if you'll PM your address, I'll check on the postage. Thanks for participating!

Dave


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## 9kuuby9 (Dec 2, 2013)

Thank you FrugalRefiner, I just wanted to help out a fellow member of the forum. :mrgreen: 

I'll try to learn her writing style, I must say it's quite different from today. It's probably due to the decline of the human intellect.

I'll report as soon as I find any other OCR errors.


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## FrugalRefiner (Dec 8, 2013)

I just received another PM from Pattt with six more errors. I knew of two of them but he also found four more that I was not aware of. They are:


> Page 277 : where it is boiled up with water to which is then added a small quantitiy of sulphuric acid......
> 
> Page 277 : are collected in a sump tank and pumped to a special cemening tank in the slime plant.....
> 
> ...


Thank you Pat for all of your hard work!

I'll be closing the contest in another week or so, so consider this last call everyone. The Belgians are way ahead on this contest!

Dave


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## FrugalRefiner (Dec 24, 2013)

OK, Last Post. The contest is officially over. The new versions of the book are posted in the Books and Other Information category. Thank you pattt and 9kuuby9 for helping me improve my versions of the book.

Dave


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