April 18, 1913 THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN. 803 MINING INSTITUTE OF SCOTLAND. Annual Meeting. The thirty-sixth annual meeting of the Mining Institute of Scotland was held on Saturday, 12 th inst., in the rooms of the institute, 39, Elm bank-crescent, Glasgow. Mr. James Hamilton, Glasgow, occupied the chair, and there was a representative attendance of members. At the outset the following gentlemen were admitted to membership:—Messrs. James McCulloch, mine manager, Maple Leaf, Alberta, Canada; David Trons- dale, oversman, Uddingston; Henry Birrell, colliery manager, Polmont; John B. Jones, B Sc., lecturer in mining and science master, Hong Kong College, China. Associate member: Heinrich Ollendorff, 163, Hope- street, Glasgow. Associate : Matthew S. Moore, mecha- nical engineer, Cambuslang. Student: John A. Nimmo, Prestonlinks Colliery, Prestonpans. • The Council’s Report. Mr. James Barrowman, secretary, on behalf of the council, submitted the 35th annual report, which showed that the total membership now stood at 664, being an increase of 14 as compared with the corresponding date last session. The general meetings during the year, which had been held alternately in Glasgow and Edin- burgh on Saturday afternoons, had been well attended, and the council proposed to continue this arrangement. The treasurer’s accounts, further, showed a satisfactory balance to the credit of the institute. The adoption of the report was agreed to unani- mously. Election of Office Bearers. The following office bearers were elected for the ensuing session:—President: James Hamilton, Glasgow. Vice-presidents : D. M. Mowat, Summerlee, Coatbridge; Douglas Jackson, Newmains; Wm. Walker, Tyne Lodge, Edinburgh; Wallace Thorneycroft, Bannock- burn : James Barrowman, Stanacre, Hamilton; and James Bain, Alloa. Councillors : Messrs. A. Anderson, Wishaw; Dugald Baird, Cumnock ; Mark Brand, Kilsyth; Daniel Burns, Royal Technical College, Glasgow; Wm. Caldwell, Mid Calder; Wm. Clark, Broxburn; George Gibb, Rutherglen ; Thos. J. Jamieson, Carr on ; Sam. Mavor, Glasgow ; Peter- Milligan, Gorebridge; Henry Rowan, Cowdenbeath . W. H. Telfer, Glasgow; Robert W. Dron, Glasgow; Robert Wilson, Giff nock ; John Masterton, Ayr; John B. Thomson, Hamilton; Neil A. Wilkie, Cardenden; and J. D. McLauchlan, Edinburgh. Mr. J. Barrowman’s Retirement. The President said that Mr. James Borrowman, Hamilton, who had been for the long period of 30 years secretary of the institute, was now retiring, and the council proposed that he should be elected an honorary life member. Mr. Barrowman, who had discharged the secretarial duties excellently, had seen the institute grow from very small beginnings to its present influential and important position. There would be a later occasion when it would be possible to eulogise more fully the work of Mr. Barrowman. Mr. D. M. Mowat seconded the motion, which was carried with cordial unanimity. Testing for Firedamp and Blackdamp by Means of a Safety Lamp. The President said that the discussion of the paper by Mr. Henry Briggs, Heriot-Watt College, Edin- burgh, on “ Testing for Firedamp and Blackdamp by Means of a Safety Lamp,” read at the February (1912) meeting, having evoked considerable diversity of opinion, a committee was appointed to make experi- ments with the view of testing the accuracy of Mr. Briggs’s conclusions. He had now to call upon Prof. Burns to submit the report of the committee. Prof. Burns read the report, which explained the nature of the tests and experiments which the committee had carried out, both in the Royal Technical College, Glasgow, and below ground at Bothwell Castle No. 5 pit. The inference from the experiments suggested to the majority of the members of the committee that as a practical appliance, the Briggs’ loop appears to be inferior to the lowered flame for gas testing purposes in the mine. Further, in order to obtain results with it, a much more careful process of manipulation was required than was necessary with an ordinary lamp. Mr. Peter Milligan, Arniston Colliery, Gorebridge, said that, as one of the committee who carried through the tests referred to by Prof. Burns, he did not agree with the conclusions which had been formulated. Mr. R. W. Dron, Glasgow, exhibited a Naylor bifold lamp, which, he explained, had been used in a colliery in England for the past two years. It was fitted with a loop very similar in principle to the Briggs arrange- ment, and he had the assurance of the manager in question that he had no difficulty in testing | per cent, of firedamp with it. Further discussion on the committee’s report was adjourned. Underground Fires. Mr. Henry Rowan, Cowdenbeath, thereafter con- tributed a paper on “ Underground Fires.” At the outset he said that in all the work a mining engineer had to do, no part of it called for more care and consideration than that in connection with the spontaneous heating and firing of underground workings. Although a great deal had been written and said on the subject, investigators were still very much in the dark regarding the cause of such fires. There was great diversity of opinion amongst mining engineers and others, both as to the cause of the heating and also as to the best method of dealing with outbursts of fire. Underground fires in the district of West Fife had been almost without exception confined to the Lochgelly Splint seam. There were really two distinct seams, the upper seam being known as the “ Lochgelly Splint ” and the lower as the “ Lochgelly Parrot.” The two seams are found close together over a considerable area of the district, and vary in thickness from 8 to 14 feet; while in other parts of the district the two seams are separated by bands varying from a few inches up to several fathoms- The fires take place most frequently where the two seams are close together. Various proposals have been put forward as to the best means of dealing with active underground fires, but the writer agreed with those who hold that each gob fire must be taken on its own merits. To dig out some of the fires which have had to be dealt with would have been a hopeless task. Isolation in some form was the only reasonable method to adopt. If, however, the application of inert gas could be applied to the fires without affecting the men employed in the mine, mining engineers would, to some extent, be better equipped for dealing with underground fires than they have been hitherto. In digging out fires recently it has been found that the work is greatly facilitated by having a pipe led forward to the site of the fire, by means of which water at a high pressure can be applied. With a pressure of 150 lb. to 200 lb. to the square inch the water is forced into the burning material for a considerable depth, and renders the place much more comfortable for the men who are filling out the material. After all, however, digging out can be only undertaken with comparatively small fires. When a large body of fire exists in a longwall waste, some means must be taken to exclude the air from the fire area. Building off with a wall and claying it over has at times been successful, but success can only be expected if the strata overlying the waste have come to rest. If there is still movement the wall breaks, and it is then almost impossible ,to keep the air from reaching the fire. Where a seam has been worked in panels, the difficulty of building off is not so great, because there are only the openings through the barriers to build. The whole problem is of great importance to those who have to deal with underground fires, and as time goes on one is forced to the conclusion that some form of hydraulic stowing would be the most effective method of preventing such disturbing occurrences. The grinding due to the sub- sidence of the overlying strata would be very greatly reduced; fewer small pillars would be left in the waste, because the fallen-in places would be reduced to a minimum; all the interstices would be filled by this method of stowing, and so prevent short-circuiting of the air. The writer is of opinion that if that method were adopted, a great quantity of coal could be recovered from those areas which have been abandoned in consequence of fire. The greatest diffi- culty in the Fife district would be the want of stowing material, but if the landlords were prepared to assist the coalowners in the attempt to recover this coal, the writer is hopeful that these efforts would meet with some measure of success. The most disturbing problem in connection with underground fires, however, is the safety of the men. Very serious trouble has been experienced at times from carbon monoxide, and various means of guarding against the dangers due to the presence of this gas have been adopted. In the early stages palladium chloride was tried. A piece of litmus paper was saturated with the chloride and hung in an airway on the return side of the fire. If carbon monoxide was present, the paper became black, but, as smoke and fine dust also blackened the paper, the test was not reliable. Mice in cages have been employed very extensively for detecting the presence of the gas, and this method was a great improvement on the palladium chloride test, but it has frequently been found that in a cage with three or four mice one would be found dead, while the others remained quite lively. In the writer’s opinion, the most reliable test for detecting carbon monoxide is a small bird, such as a canary, especially if it has become accustomed to live in a cage. It was agreed to adjourn the discussion on the paper till next meeting. The Testing of Fans. Mr. John Watson, M.I.Mech.E., followed with a paper on “ The Testing of Fans,” in the course of which he put forward a strong plea for standardised test con- ditions. In evidence of the divergence of practice in regard to the measurement of the air and the water gauge, the author explained that the following stipula- tions were extracted from recent fan specifications, not with the view of criticising the stipulations themselves, but solely for the purpose of exhibiting the differences of opinion existing:— Specification No. 1 states that the quantity of air and the water gauge are to be measured in the upcast shaft* Specification No. 2 states that the quantity of air and the water gauge are to be measured at the pit bottom near the separation doors. Specification No. 3 states that the quantity of air is to be measured in the fan-drift at a place specified, and the water-gauge is to be measured by a tube led into a box in the side of the fan-drift covered by a perforated plate. Specification No. 4 provides that the quantity of air, the speeds, the horse-power in the air, and the brake-horse-power at the fan-pulley, with varying water-gauges of 3, 4, 5, and 6 inches at constant equivalent orifice, must be stated. When conditions differing so much as those mentioned above are laid down, and where such differences in actual practice in testing as have been referred to are possible, one need hardly wonder that the results of tests are not readily comparable. The writer submitted, therefore, that the whole subject of fan-testing required careful consideration, in order that conditions universally applicable might be devised, so that the results of tests which might be carried out under these conditions should be readily comparable. This work was worthy of the attention of the institute, and the writer suggested that the most useful outcome of the discussion, which he hoped would take place, would be the appointment of a committee to confer with the other federated institutes on this important subject. It was decided to adjourn the discussion on this paper till a subsequent meeting. IRON AND STEEL INSTITUTE. The annual meeting of the institute will be held, by kind permission, at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Storey’s-gate, Westminster, on Thursday and Friday, May 1 and 2, 1913, commencing each day at 10.30 o’clock a m. On the opening day the Bessemer gold medal for 1913 will be presented to Mr. A. Greiner, and a selection of papers will be read and discussed. The annual dinner of the institute will be held in the Grand Hall, Hotel Cecil, Strand, W.C. On the following day the Andrew Carnegie gold medal (for 1912) will be presented to J. Newton Friend, Ph.D., and the awards of Research Scholarships for the current year will be announced. A selection of papers will be read and discussed, so far as time permits. The following is the list of papers that are expected to be submitted:— “ Critical Ranges of Pure Iron, with special reference to the Point A2.” By Dr. H. C. H. Carpenter (Manchester). “ Influence of the Metalloids on the Properties of Cast Iron.” By H. I. Coe (Birmingham). “ Economy of Dry Blast.” By Prof. J. von Ehrenwerth (Leoben). “ Corrodibility of Nickel, Chromium, and Nickel Chromium Steels.” By Dr. J. Newton Friend (Worcester), J. Lloyd Bentley, and W. West (Dar- lington). ° Influence of Silicon on the Corrosion of Cast Iron.” By Dr. J. Newton Friend and C. W. Marshall (Worcester). " Influence of the Presence of Sulphur upon the Stability of Iron Carbide in the Presence of Silicon.” By W. H. Hatfield (Sheffield). “ A New Form of Electrically - driven, Two - high, Continuous-running, Reversing Mill.” By Andrew Lam- berton (Coatbridge, N.B.). “Studies in the Cold Flow of Steel.” By Percy Longmuir (Sheffield). “ Rolling-mill Practice in the United States, Part II.” By Dr. J. Puppe (Breslau). “ Faults in Present-day Furnaces and their Remedies.” By Alleyne Reynolds (Brighton). “A New Method for Accurate Determination of Phos- phorus.” By C. H. Ridsdale and N. D. Ridsdale (Middlesbrough). “ Tenacity, Deformation and Fracture of Soft Steel at High Temperatures.” By Dr. Walter Rosen hain (Teddington) and J. C. W. Humfrey (Sheffield). " Chromiferous Iron Ores of Greece.” By Herbert K. Scott (London). “ Production of Sound Steel by Lateral Compression of the Ingot whilst its Centre is Liquid.” By B. Talbot ( Middlesbrough). The autumn meeting will be held at Brussels from September 1 to 5. Further particulars of the arrangements and of the excursions after the meeting will be announced in due course. Mr. Wm. Goddin, of Eston, has been appointed a mines sub-inspector for the Cleveland district, under the new Mines Regulation Act. Mr. Goddin has been in the employ of Messrs. Bolckow, Vaughan, and Co., as a deputy at the Eston Mines.