February 14, 1913

THE COLLIERY GITA ROTAN

333

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Liquid Products.

Tar per ton of coal..................	9 65 gallons

Ammoniacal liquor per ton of coal....	8 75 gallons

Strength of ammoniacal liquor .....	3 0 degs. Twadd.

Hygrometric water per ton of coal....	5 37 gallons

Aqueous absorbent capacity of coal

(determined by complete saturation) 2*56 per cent.

Solid Products

Coke per ton of coal ........................1,544	25 lb.

Carbon in the coke.................. 91 20 per cent.
Ash in the coke .................... 8 80 per cent.
Sulphur in coke per ton of coal ......	9’85 lb.

Heating power in 1 lb. of coke (water

from boiling point into steam) ....	12 51 lb.

Remarks.—This is an excellent gas and coking coal, and
as such it yields a large volume of good gas, and affords
13’77 cwt. per ton of fine, massive and firm coke, with a
minimum of breeze. As a house coal it gives an excellent
heat, possesses great durability, and contains a very
moderate amount of sulphur. Compared with main
Lesmahagow cannel coal, represented by 100 (calculated on
the bases of a production of 13,000 cubic feet of gas and
1,535’5 lb. of sperm value per ton, and having regard also
to the value of the secondary products and the cost of the
purification of the gas), this coal is equal to 51 48.

(Sd.) Geo. R. Hislop, F.C.S., M.S.C.Ind., F.R.S.SA.

Paisley, January 27, 1913.

It will be seen from the foregoing that the coal should
possess valuable gas-making and coking characteristics,1
and under the circumstances its softness is, in some
respects, even an advantage. It may be observed,
however, that the Beresford seam will prove of doubtful
value as an auxiliary to this and other collieries in the
Kent Coal Concessions Group, viewed from the stand-
point of present necessities. Large quantities of Welsh
coal are now being used for driving the machinery at
Snowdown, Tilmanstone, Guilford, Wingham, &c., all of
which has necessarily to pay a heavy freight, but it is to
be doubted whether the Beresford seam is capable of
providing an efficient substitute. It is believed that
some of the underlying seams contain coal of superior
steam-raising qualities, and the owners may find it
necessary to develop these in the first instance. Ignoring
this consideration, there would appear to be an ample
market in the locality for all the coal that can be raised
from the Beresford seam.

NORTH OF ENGLAND INSTITUTE OF MINING
AND MECHANICAL ENGINEERS.

Mr. W. C. Blackett presided over a meeting of the
members of the North of England Institute of Mining
and Mechanical Engineers, held in the Wood Memorial
Hall, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, on Saturday afternoon last.

The council reported that the president’s letter
asking for support to the guarantee fund which is being
raised in connection with the International Congress of
Mining, Metallurgy, &c., to be held in London in 1915,
had met with an exceedingly generous response. The
Daglish travelling fellowship for the current year had
been awarded to Mr. Leo Dorey Ford and Mr. Henry
Norman John Liddell. Mr. Liddell had since declined
the fellowship, however, having obtained an appointment.

not, however, be considered representative, since an analysis
of coal from any particular seam varied very considerably in
different parts of the coalfield. The coal, as a whole, was
high in ash, that being the case with all Indian coals,
excepting the Assam mineral.

Power Supply.

As to future development, power, deep shafts, the system
of working, haulage, pumping, ventilation, cost of working,
labour, &c., had to be considered. The more economical
production and transmission of the power required for the
development of deeper workings was one of the main points.
Up to 1911, five companies had installed their own generating
plants, with a total capacity of about 1,500 kw. All these
plants, with one exception, were driven by high-speed engines
producing three-phase alternating current, and, for the most
part, had proved entirely satisfactory. A general power

scheme was brought forward in 1908, and the authority to

Dr. W. E. Garforth’s proposal for the establishment t--------—---------„__________________,----------------------------

of a capital fund for the institution of Mining | form a company obtained, but, for various reasons, it was
Engineers was approved by the council, and arrange-1 allowed to drop, and, although subsequent attempts had
ments were in progress with a view to that district been made to revive it or to introduce an alternative

raising its proportion of the required amount.

The following were admitted to the institute : —
Members.• Mr. Hugh Clarkson Annett, colliery manager,
Hartford Colliery, Cramlington, Northumberland ; Mr.
Albert Henry Hooper, mining engineer, 29, Station-
road, Keswick ; Mr. Wm. Kirtley, engineer, 61, Hutton-
avenue, West Hartlepool ; Mr. Wm. Smith Wilson,

arrangement, nothing definite had yet been done. It was
evident that more electric or other power would be required
in the future; and although in individual cases a private
installation might possibly prove more economical than
current obtained from a general power company, that would
undoubtedly prove the exception. One or more power
companies would, therefore, have to be formed to deal with
the requirements of the^coalfield, the shape and formation

engineer, 54, Queen’s-road, Jesmond, Newcastle; and I of whiOh lent itself to the development of central stations.

Mr. Chas. Cuthbert Wood, mechanical and ventilating
engineer, 21, Mosley - street, Newcastle. Associate

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MANCHESTER GEOLOGICAL AND MINING
SOCIETY.

The monthly meeting of the Manchester Geloogical
and Mining Society was held on Tuesday, in the society’s
rooms, 5, John Dalton-street, Manchester. Sir Thomas
Holland, K.C.I.E., president, was in the chair, and
there was a large attendance.

The following were elected members :—Federated :
Mr. Stanley Greenhalgh, mechanical engineer, Gilded
Hollins, Little Hulton, Bolton, and Major Algernon
Edward Johnson, managing director, Penmaenmawr
and Welsh Granite Company Limited, Penmaenmawr.
Students—Federated : Mr. James Henry Bramah,
mining student, 58, Doncaster-road, Wath-on-Dearne,
and Mr. Albert Edgar Davies, mining student, Ebor-
terrace, Atherton, near Manchester.

Mr. Vincent Bbamall, of the Pendlebury Collieries,
exhibited two new electric safety lamps.

Colliery Cables.

Mr. William T. Anderson, M.Inst.M.E., M.Inst.
E.E., read a paper on “ Electric Cables for Mines,”
illustrating his remarks with lantern slides. (An
abstract of this appears on page 330.)

On the motion of Mr. Hugh V. Hart-Davis, seconded
by Mr. John Gerrard, H.M.I.M., the cordial thanks
of the meeting were tendered to Mr. Anderson for his

members: Mr. Walter John Benson, Collingwood-
buildings, Newcastle ; Mr. Alfred Strathmore Bowes,
Valuation Department, Inland Revenue, 32, West-street,
Gateshead; and Mr. Fredk. Tillotson Walker, 27,
Woodbine-avenue, Gosforth, Newcastle. Associates :
Mr. John Batty, colliery under-manager, South Wood-
house, Whitehaven; Mr. Thos. Berryman, mining
engineering draughtsman, 64, Dolcoath-road, Camborne;
Mr. Eric Loufwin Ford, colliery under-manager, Nant-
y-Gaer, Chop well, Ebchester, co. Durham ; Mr. Leo
Dorey Ford, mining engineer, 13, Ivy-terrace, Langley
Park, Durham ; and Mr. John Brown Graham, assistant
overman, 9, Low Kells, Whitehaven.

Past, Present and Future Coalmining in India.

Mr. Geo. Harold Greenwell contributed a paper
on the “ Jherria Coalfield, India, and its Future
Development.”

After a brief description of the coalfield and its develop-
ment, the author referred to the fact that throughout the
whole of the coalfields of Bengal, and particularly in the
Jherria district, a very large amount of the coal had been
destroyed by burning, the coal thus burnt being known as
" jhama ” Where the streams of molten matter had
penetrated the coal measures, they appeared, in some cases,
to have passed through a seam in the form of vertical
sheets or walls varying from 3 to 4 inches to from 30 or 40
feet in thickness, without having appreciably affected the
coal to any great distance on either side; while, in other
cases, the molten strata appeared to have found some line
of weakness above, below, or, in some cases, in the seam
itself, and to have spread out in sills over large areas. In
the latter cases the coal was almost invariably burnt for a
greater or less distance away from the sill, a 30 ft. seam
being often found with, perhaps, 4 or 5 feet unburnt in the
centre or at the top or the bottom. That burning of the
seams varied all over the coalfields, those seams which were
completely burnt at one point being untouched at another
only a mile distant; while, possibly, another seam had been
destroyed at that point which was untouched at the first.
It was therefore impossible to estimate the conditions at
one point on the basis of those observed at another, and the

So far as private installations were concerned, there seemed
to be no doubt as to the suitability of high-speed compound

sets in all cases where the largest generator installed had
a capacity of no more than 700 to 1,000 kilowatts. There
was no reason why native enginemen should not, with proper
supervision, be as capable of looking after a high-speed as
of a low-speed set.

As to prime movers, the application of gas engines would
necessitate the use of suction gas or of running the supply
company in connection with a by-product or other form of
coking plant. Suction gas engines might possibly be used
with success, although it was believed that large suction
gas plants had not proved so uniformly successful in India
as to warrant their adoption without very careful trial;
more particularly as the question of fuel consumption was
not so serious as in the case of places where a high railway
freight made such consumption one of the heaviest items to
be reckoned with. The running of a power supply installa-
tion in direct connection with a by-product coking plant
would ensure a double advantage, as it would give a
constant supply of gas to the power plant and a regular
outlet for the surplus gas from the coke ovens. That
scheme, however, seemed hardly feasible, as the Tata Iron
and Steel Company, which went very carefully into the
question of installing the coking plant required for their
steelworks on the coalfield, decided to give up the idea and
had now installed the plant required at their works at
Kalimati. The chief objections to such a plant being
installed in the Jherria district were the difficulty of
utilising the surplus gas and the uncertainty of being able
to obtain a sufficient water supply throughout the year
without the expense of constructing the enormous reservoirs
which would otherwise be required to keep the plant
working during the dry season.

There appeared to be no reason why steam turbines
should not be adopted, either alone or in connection with
high- or low-speed reciprocating sets. High-speed sets,
with or without the addition of low-pressure turbines,
presented the most probable solution. Alternating three-
phase current had almost universally been found the most
suitable for heavy-power requirements, and would doubtless
be adopted. For underground use, medium pressures would
be generally adopted, in view of the restrictions under the
Indian Electricity Act.

results obtained from boring could not be relied upon, since,
in the area to be proved, any particular boring might have

Deep Mining.

The deepest shafts at present sunk were just over 500 ft.

paper.

There was a short discussion, in which Mr. Hart-
Davis, Mr. Long, Mr. Paton, Mr. Bolton Shaw, Mr.
Richards, Mr. Corlett and Mr. Preece took part.

_____________________________

At the last meeting of the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce
a letter was read from the Scottish Coal Exporters’
Association bringing before the notice of the Chamber a
communication from merchants in Alexandria with reference
to the importation of American coal by the Egyptian State
Railway, and suggesting that if the Chamber would make
representations to the Chamber at Alexandria the latter
would take the matter up and make representations to the
Tailway authorities, which would give an opportunity to
the Scottish trade to recover the market there. One of
the members said the coal exporters of this country had no
objection to fair competition. He believed the Egyptian
State Railways supply was a public tender, and through
the representations of the Alexandria Chamber Scottish
coal might be permitted on the list. Another member said
the difficulty they had just now was to provide Scottish
coal for the markets they had. There would be no harm,
however, in their being put on the list for tenders. The
Glasgow Chamber is taking the necessary action in the
matter.

passed through the only burnt or unburnt patch of coal.
The presence of " jhama” also caused the estimation of the
quantity of coal in any area or seam to be problematical.
Unfortunately, so far as could be judged, the better classes
of coal appeared to have suffered quite as much as, if not
more than, the seams containing coal of inferior quality.

Continuing, he said the production of coal in the Jherria
district, excluding the Raneegunge series, was 14,818 tons
in 1894 ; from that point it steadily increased to a total of
6,263,680 tons in 1908, falling to 5,575,506 tons in 1909, and
rising to 5,577,894 tons in 1910. Of the approximate quantity
of 43,650,000 tons raised in the Jherria district, 300,000 tons
were carried away by miners, &c., for their own use. Some
8,141,000 tons of coal were lost in getting slack left in pit,
pillars lost, &c. The total tons worked up to the end of 1910,
therefore, were 51,790,000 tons. The total tonnage in the
exposed area, after deducting the percentage of unworkable
coal, was 7,636,400,000 tons; the total at depths of less than
500 ft., 1,989,700,000 tons ; and the total at a depth of more
than 500 ft., 1,566,200,000 tons. Analyses of coals taken
from 10 different seams gave the following results:—
Percentage of carbon, from 57*58 to 67’89 ; volatile matter,
16’60 to 32T9; ash, 8 20 to 21’46; moisture, 0 61 to 1’77;
sulphur, 0’39 to 0’93; specific gravity, 1’231 to 1’405; and
calorific value, 6,358 to 7,555 B.T.U. The analyses could

In the course of the next few years that depth would
certainly be greatly exceeded, and the time was not far
distant when shafts of 1,000 ft. and upwards would have to
be sunk. It was more expensive and difficult to sink a
shaft in the Jherria than in the Raneegunge coalfield, on
account of the much larger quantity of water and the more
difficult strata met with. In the past, a great many of the
difficulties had been created by an inadequate supply of
power for winding and pumping, causing constant delay
and expense. With the provision of ample power, sinking
could be carried on economically and efficiently; even for a
shaft 1,000 ft. deep, there was no reason why the sinking
should not be carried out at an average cost for sinking
only of between £2 and £2 13s. 4d. per foot. For the
sinking of shafts of any considerable size and depth, the
provision of permanent and powerful headgear and winding
engines was necessary. Under steady supervision, certain
classes of native labour could give excellent results in
sinking, and, if power drills were used with a small electric
or steam driven compressor, a good return would be obtained
on the money spent, especially where there were any beds
of hard strata to be passed through. On the completion of
the sinking, the compressor and drills would be found of
great use for main-gallery driving or where jhama was
found in the workings. At present, there was no indication