E
UROPE ill many places is cutting steeply inclined coal by cutters that move straight up the pitch. Strangely enough, there is a distinct advantage in highly inclined coal where the seams are thin, because men are able to stand upright in a seam so tilted, whereas, if it were flat, they w'ould have to grovel on their knees and perhaps m ight find even that mode of progression impossible.
Rarely is a man so thick from front to back that he cannot climb around in the thinnest w orking seams where
cut tends to be kept clean by gravity.
This reduces the resistance of the cut
ter and decreases the degradation, which is especially desirable when the coal rolls down a long inclination and raises a dangerous dust. No one should work below the mining machine for fear it may break loose and th at coal broken off the face might fall down the inclination.
As the machine has a greatly reduced purchase on the mine floor, if the coal has soft and hard layers, difficulty is
1 _ _ L *___! i 1. 1 — T'l» a n ... A
September, 1Ç29 — C O A L A G E 549
W hen the coal is brought down, these are concerned. British engineers have strayed further away from precedent than have their A m erican confreres,
companying high tem peratures and need for large volumes, w ith mines grow ing w ith the years and none too well planned for the extensions that those years have affected, B ritish engineers have needed to be resourceful. W hether their de mining public needs stirring. Interest
in ventilation is rather dead, an assur M ines Research Committee, Great B ritain; Paper N o. 51, 50 pp. and 5 there were certain irregularities associ
ated w ith it, and it was desirable to most suitable because the flammable gas in the mines is almost exclusively
lose, using thermophylic bacteria for that purpose. T he product contains Blower for Auxiliary Ventilation in Mines
I: vase opening
to 9 per cent methane with plus and minus 0.25 per cent tolerances. The committee concludes with the following sentence: “It should be possible with the new test to increase the strength of certain existing permitted explosives to an appreciable extent.” If a guess that direction they become insensitive and then fail to explode and thus create
peratures of mines when occasion served, and this book incidentally gives the re
sults. These have been rearranged and abridged as in the accompanying tabula
tion. Some of the states are missing, consequence, being under-saturated, it draw s the w ater from mine roof, ribs w eather and differences in temperature and humidity have any marked influence upon fatalities from falls, apparently be
cause there are no such changes in the increase falls in intake roadways, espe
cially in the summer months and also where there is a shale roof. In nie
550
C O A L A G E — Vol.34,No.9
Appalachian field haulage and traveling
Some Phases of Coal-Mine Ventilation, by J. J. Forbes and M . J. A nkeny,
Capitalism’s Individual Ownership, by George L. Bolen. Pp. 760. Price, $7.50.
flammability of gas mixtures consisting of methane, hydrogen, carbon monoxide, nitro
gen and carbon dioxide combined in vary
hardt Thiessen and Wilfrid Francis.
Bureau of Mines, Washington, D. C. papers giving the results of paleontological studies of fossil forms belonging to the Pennsylvania (coal measures) system of Illinois. them, and practically no consideration is given to the fact th at a man may be
“Any conscientious foreman,” the authors say, "should know that when production, value, men employed, days worked, etc., a special study of consumption of bituminous coal, distribution of coal, mechanical loading in bituminous mines and a study of screening and sizing of bitu
minous coal.
The Northward Extension of the Sheri
dan Coal Field, by A. A. Baker. U. S.
Geological Survey, Washington, D. C.
(Contributions to economic geology, 1928;
Part II, pp. 15-67.) Bulletin 806-B ; illus
trated. Gives, the results of a geologic examination of. about 700 square miles in southeastern Montana, including parts of Rosebud and Big Horn counties.
Fuel Briquets in 1928, by O. E. Kiessling
Coal-Dust Explosions in Mines: Causes, Effects and Recommendations for Preven
tion, by George S. Rice. Bureau of Mines, Washington, D. C. Technical Paper 448;
24 pp.
Carburetion of Combustible Gas with Butane and Propane-Butane Mixtures, With Particular Reference to the Carbure
tion of W ater Gas, by William W. Odell.
Bureau of Mines, Washington, D. C.
Bulletin 294; 96 pp., illustrated.
The Bureau of Mines, Washington, D. C., recently issued the following in
formation circulars : Some Phases of Coal-Mine Ventilation, by J. J. Forbes and M. J. Ankeny; Circular 6126, 18 pp.
Safeguarding Electrical Equipment Used in Gassy Mines — European Practice;
Practical Aspects of Resuscitation, by Edward Steidle. Reprinted by Mine Safety dangerous condition described would be reached if the fan stopped for a third
The Deterioration of Colliery W inding Ropes in Service, W ith Descriptions of Som e Typical Failures, by 5\ M.
D ixon, M. A . H ogan and J. M . R ob
ertson, Paper N o. 50, 42 pp. text, 2 tabular charts, 6 pp. plates, 6^x9$
in., Safety-in-M ines Research Board, Great Britain. lubricant soon decomposes and disap
pears. W hatever may be the condition with a graphitized core, other dry cores certainly will absorb moisture.
Possibly this is well, for if moisture con ascertaining the condition of the inte
rior of the rope. Such pieces should
C o a l A g e
S y d n e y A . H a l e , Editor
Ne w Yo r k, Se p t e m b e r, 1929