THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN

133

January 16, 1914.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

£8,281,937 (£7,043,477). The mining machinery exported
is classified according to country of destination as
follows:—

To—-

Countries in Europe ....
United States of America...
Countries in South America
British South Africa ....

„ India.............
Straits Settlements *.....
Cejlon ..................
A ustralia................
Other countries...........

1912.	1913.
£	£
2,247,944	... 2,444,214
103,348	128,512
1,036,758	... 1,177,350
460,964	428,374
742,866	... 1,007,052
155,300	226,559
106,696	131,255
811,976	856,831
2,451,881	... 2,240,537

Total................ 8,117,783	8,61C,684

* Including Federated Malay States and Labuan.

Turning next to imports, we find that prime movers
(electrical excepted) of the value of £258,993 were
imported in 1913, as compared with £205,965 in 1912.
Included were the following:—Rail locomotives, £2,983
(£4,059); pumping, £35,541	(£37,092); winding,

£1,529 (£3,596). Electrical machinery of all kinds, of
the value of £1,345,100, was imported, as against
£1,151,351 in 1912. The total value of the machinery
imported, other than prime movers and electrical

machinery, was £5,677,953, as compared with £5,463,367
in 1912. Included were:—Boilers, £24,183 (£5,899);
machine tools, £361,440 (£282,643); mining, £114,478
(£87,818); textile, £366,468 (£273,511).

Exports and	Imports of Exports.	Pig Iron.	
	1911.	1912.	1913.
To	Tons.	Tons.	Tons.
Sweden 		67,399 ..	81,038 ...	94,991
Germany 		126,950 ..	. 212,205 ...	129,942
Netherlands		72,728 ..	88,377 ...	69,662
Belgium		62,629 ..	80,620 ...	89,243
France 		142,098 ..	. 126,467 ...	157,5<»0
Italy 					135,104 ..	124,227	109,567
Japan 		146,140 ..	. 129,605 ...	97,158
United States of America 112,249 ..		. 106,521 ...	124,767
British East Indies 		12,363 ..	14,828 ...	15,110
Australia 		46,840 ..	36,152 ...	36,257
Canada 		91,024 ..	68,024 ...	35,689
Other countries		.. 187,785 ..	.	194,319 ...	164,929
Basic 		20,365 ..	7,090 ...	2,264
Fo i ge and foundry ..  Haematite		. 849,236 ...  195,778 ...	845,726 ...  247,215 ...	701,107  242,433
Spiegeleisen, ferro-"			
manganese and	’	137,930 ..	162,352 ...	179,011

ferro-silicon

Total 	  1  Basic—	From	1,203,309 .  rmports.	________  .. 1,262,383 ..	________  . 1,124,815
Sweden 		427 .	907 ..	1,838
United States of America	2,569 .	10,418 ..	5,920
Other countries		270 .	4,345 ..	22,419
Total 		3,266 .	15,670 ..	30,177
Forge and foundry— Sweden 		27,145 .	50,140 ..	34,431
United States of America	8,3*6 .	14,747 ..	12,196
Other countries		6,842 .	1,829 ..	490
Total 		43,093 .	66,716 ..	47,117
Haematite—  Sweden 	....	33,833 .	38,084 ..	66,144
United States of America	—	101 ..	1,376
Other countries 		64,138	47,517 ..	39,960
. Total 			97,971 .	85,702 ..	. 107,480
S piege leisen ,f err o-mangan- ese, and ferro-silicon— Sweden 		13,041 .	25,962 ..	5,992
United States of America	656 .	1 498..	2,647
Other countries		17,326 .	21,924 .	23,295
Total 			31,023 ..	49,384 ..	31,934
Total 		175,353 ..	.. 217,472 ..	. 216,708
Imports	of Iron	Ore.	

The following shows the imports of iron ore (including

chrome ore, &c.):—  From  Manganiferous — Spain 	  Other countries 			1911.  Tons.  .... 192,066 ...  24,031 ...	1912.  • Tons.  150,961 .  12,221 .	1913.  Tons.  .. 188,954  23,448
Total 	  Other sorts—	.... 216,100 ...	163,182 ..	.. 212,402
Spain 		.... 3,753,539 :..	4,139,028 ..	.. 4,525,085
Other countries		.... 2,376,960 ...	2,300,273 ..	.. 2,704,752
Total 		... 6,130,499 ...	6,439,301 ..	,. 7,229,837
Total, iron ore			 6,346,599 ...	6,602,483 ..	.. 7,442,239
In addition, 122,807 tons of old		iron and steel were	
imported (not including old rails), as against 63,181 tons			

in 1912.

Exports of iron ore last year amounted to 5,191 tons,
as against 6,142 tons in 1912, the value being £10,758, as
against £11,179. Of the total last year, 34 tons were
manganiferous ore, as against 164 tons in 1912. The
amount of old iron or steel exported (excepting rails)
was 115,716 tons, valued at £401,010, as against 125,584
tons, valued at £398,156, in 1912.

____________________________

Hull Coal Export!.- The official return of the exports of
ooal from Hull for the week ending Tuesday, January 6,
1914, is as follows Antwerp, 284 tons ; Alexandria, 2,231;
Amsterdam, 987 ; Abo, 1,007; Ancona, 3,781; Bilbao, 1,807 ;
B >na, 2,920 ; Bremen, 1,408 ; Christiania, 501 ; Copenhagen,
1,368 i Corunna, 1,462; Degerhamn, 640; Drammen, 758;
Gnent, 454 ; Hamburg, 5,773 ; Harlingen, 680; Landscrona,
1,237; Libau, 200; Marseilles, 501; Novorossisk, 2,734;
Nawfairwater, 368; Oxelosund, 4,530; Odessa, 4 243; Rouen,
1,593; Rotterdam, 2,159; Riga, 8 899; Stettin, 1,541;
Santos, 5,399—total, 59 515 tons. Corresponding period
January 1913, total, 67,697 tons.

SPRINKLING MACHINE FOR USE DURING
SHOTFIRINC.*

A machine, the invention of Kahler and Junker, for
preventing the occurrence and propagation of coaldust
explosions during shotfiring, has been in use at the
No. I./VI. shaft of the Consolidation Colliery since July
last. The underlying idea is to preclude the possibility
of any shot being fired unless the vicinity of the
shotholes is surrounded, before, during and after the
firing of the shots, by a dense curtain of water, thus
counteracting any omission on the part of the men
charged with the task of watering; and, above all, carry-
ing down at once the coaldust produced by the shots.

These purposes are accomplished by connecting up in
the watering pipe the device ’llustrated diagram-
matically in fig. 1, and by arranging that, in operating
the electrical shotfirer, the watering tap is turned on
first of all, and not until this is done is the shotfiring
circuit completed by the piston rod of a cylinder
mounted in the watering pipe.

A small box, near the roof of the gallery, contains a
relay a and electromagnet b. The valve c controlled by
the relay is connected on the one hand with the watering
pipe d by the branch pipe e, and on the other hand with

Fig. 1.

a

ajjgLaHl

S3

— —

m,____r

‘n

------1

w

I If -

F ^nl/77
gU iwzznsW/?

Fig. 2.	Fig. 3.

the sprinkling device f by the pipe g. The electro-
magnet b, operating the relay, is connected to the
battery k by the wires h and

When the current is generated, it energises the
magnet b, which opens the valve c through the inter-
mediary of the reversing device a (fig. 2), thus admitting
the water into the sprinkling device f, which sprays a
curtain of water in front of the shotholes. Up to this
stage the shotfirer I (fig. 1) is not affected, the circuit

n, which forms an extension of the circuit h, is being
incomplete and requiring to be closed at o by the con-
tact^ before the spark for firing the shot can be passed.

In fig. 2 the yoke d is pivotally mounted in the
uprights of the baseplate a, and is held by the one
limb e of a spring /, which can be compressed by the
forked lever h. At the other end of the yoke is an
angular fillet i, which, on the yoke being released,
strikes, against the crank pin k of a cone wheel Z,
which engages with a second cone wheel n, mounted on
the stem m of the valve c, thus opening the valve fully.
The baseplate a is also provided with an opening for the
reception of a swing plate o, the arm p of which carries
a tongue q, which coacts with a similar tongue r on the
yoke <Z, in order to hold the latter down until it is to be
released. The release is effected by the aid of a drop
bar s, the arm t of which is carried by the shaft u
mounted on an upright. The locking arm v of the
shaft u engages under the nose w of the armature x of
the electromagnet b mounted on a bracket.

The relay operates in the following manner :—After
the drop bar has been locked by the armature x engaging
with the locking arm r, the spring/is compressed by
the lever h, and the yoke d prevented from turning back
by the check lever y, the tongues are set in position, one
on the other, for the final adjustment of the yoke d.
The valve c is next shut down by means of the hand
lever z, and the check lever y is withdrawn from the yoke.
When the shotholes have been drilled, the wires for the
electric shotfirer and the coils of the electromagnet are
connected with the main wires. On operating the shot-
firer, the drop bar is released by the action of the
electro-magnet, causing the plate o to tilt over, thus
separating the tongues q and r, and causing the spring/
to push the yoke upward. The yoke, by means of the

* Bergassessor Cauolet. (jiliickauf.

fillet z, strikes against the pin ft, thus turning the cone
wheels Z, n, and opening the valve c, which allows the
water to pass into the spraying device.

The contact for completing the shotfiring circuit is
shown in fig. 3. The cylinder a is traversed by a piston b,
the rod c of which passes through the front end of the
cylinder, and is formed, at its lower end, into a conical
contact, which engages with the contact springs d on
the piston being forced downward against the pressure
of the spring g. The springs d are connected with the
wire m through the terminal screws e. When the water
enters the sprinkling device, pressure is set up on the
piston b, said pressure depending on the area of the
bore/and the pressure in the water main. The travel
of the piston can be regulated by the strength of the
spring g on the one hand and the diameter of the bore f
on the other, this latter being variable at will by the
needle valve hf so that the time which elapses between
the turning-on of the sprinkling water and the firing of
the shot can be determined with accuracy. The piston
may be replaced by a diaphragm of hard rubber.

At present six of these appliances are in use at the
Consolidation pit. They are slung from the roof timbers
about 5 to 10 metres from the working’places, and con-

nected by T-pieces with the sprinklers, so that the latter
can be used in the ordinary way if desired. They are
used in the gassy seams of the middle bituminous coal
group, the coal of which produces a deal of dust in shot-
firing. A dry battery shotfiring machine is used, and
the contact is set to operate so that from 5 to 20 seconds
elapse between the turning on of the water, valve and
the firing of the shots. The apparatus is easily worked,
and does not entail any loss of time in firing. It also
enables work to be resumed very soon after firing, since
both the dust and fumes are carried down at once by
the water.

_____________________________

Unjust Weighing Machines—A case of particular impor-
tance to coal merchants was before the Rochdale county
police magistrates on January 7, the Lancashire and York-
shire Railway Company being summoned for having in
possession for use for trade an unjust weighing machine.
It appeared from the opening statement of Mr. Cleaver, who
prosecuted on behalf of the Lancashire County Council, that
on December 8 last an inspector visited the Lancashire and
Yorkshire station at Whitworth to test a 10-ton weighing
machine. He found that the machine would not balance,
and, noticing that it was very dirty, he asked the station-
master to have it cleaned. When cleaned it was found that
there had been 89 lb. of dirt on the machine, and, when
tested after the dirt had been removed, it was still 83 lb.
out of balance against the purchaser. Mr. Cleaver believed
that from 16 to 20 carts of coal were weighed on the machine
every day, and the machine was used for all other goods,
so that every person who sent articles by rail would be
charged in excess of their freights. The inspector added
that on the next day he again tested the machine and
found it was 1001b. out of balance. For the defence it was
stated that there was no option but to plead guilty. The
company had a contract for the inspection of the machines
every three months, and in addition instructions were
given to employees to the effect that the machine should
be checked every day before being opened for public use.
Esch day the foreman balanced the machine with the little
screw balance and found it correct, but on the day in ques-
tion the foreman was busy, and the stationmaster said he
would do it. The matter, however, slipped his memory.
The defendants were fined 40s. and costs, and the advocate’s
fee was allowed.—Luk=» Thomas Clegg, colliery proprietor,
of Land gate Colliery, Shawforth, was summoned for a similar
offence. In this case a 6-ton weighbridge was at fault, being
unjust and incorrect, according to the statement of the
inspector, to the extent of 126 lb. against the purchaser.
Even after the balancing arrangement had been fully
screwed up it was wrong to the extent of 48 lb. Defendant
said the machine was last tested about 12 months ago by
the inspector. He always relied on the police inspection,
and if they found it was wrong he had it put right, A fine
of 20s. and costs was imposed.