"Design of efficient oil shale retorting plants and evaluation of the thermal efficiency of proposed retorts require information on the rate of heat transfer to a bed of shale. A search of the literature does not reveal any data of this type. To provide some preliminary values on the rate of heat transfer from a gas stream to Colorado oil shale, data obtained from experiments in the heat of retorting apparatus were used. These experiments were not designed originally to provide heat transfer data and consequently some data that would be desirable are not available. However, because of the urgent need for heat transfer data, this report was prepared from the data at hand. Studies planned for the future will cover this subject more adequately."