896

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

April 24, 1914.

The erection of the engine was proceeded with at
once. In the meantime, the main road was widened
to 22 ft. for a length of 10 yards on the outbye side
of the pit, and a similar width was made between the
pit and engine-house. The height over these latter
distances is 14 ft. under the girders, which are of
steel 1 ft. deep with 6 in. flanges. The distance from
the centre of the pit to the back of the engine-house
is 78 ft. The shaft landing, 60 yards long, was
widened out to 14 ft. by 7 ft. high. The whole of the
widened road in the vicinity of the pit top has brick
walls 18 in. thick, in order to carry the girders. The
widening and completion of the road round the pit was
completed by July 1909. At the same time as the
engine-house was being made, the rope-drift was being
driven uphill out of the engine-house at an angle of



Fig. 3.—Cage on Movable Platform in Tunnel-

50 degs., so as to reach the shaft at a suitable height
above the landing level. This drift was so shaped that
the ropes passed up the pulleys without touching the
sides at any point. The shaft was 17 ft. in diameter
before being bricked, and was sunk uphill for a distance
of 18 ft. above the point where the rope drift entered.
This space was made for the pulleys, and to enable the
timbers for carrying same to be got into position with
ease. The first crib was laid at the point where the
rope drift entered the shaft, and brickwork 14 in. thick
was put in. The roof over the shaft was made secure
by fixing girders of suitable length close together, and
old ship plates were used to make a close covering, so
that nothing could possibly fall from above.

This upper sinking was carried out in the red marl,
which gave some trouble, as it began to weather and
flaked off. The rope-drift was in strong sandstone, and
was left unlined except for an arch 7 ft. wide, which was
turned in close to the pit. The whole of the ground in
which the engine-house and main road were driven con-
sisted of strong sandstone—a circumstance which was
of material help.

Sinking now commenced downhill in order to make a
connection with the main road at the bottom level; at
the same time sinking was commenced uphill from the
bottom level, so as to meet the top sinking; and a

holing was made in August 1909. The total distance
from the level of the bottom road to the top of the shaft
is 62 ft. The second crib laid was on a level with the
girders of the roof of the lower- road—that is, 14 ft.
from the floor level—and as this crib was adjacent to
the pit-top entrance for the main road, it was necessary
to make a strong job. Two steel girders measuring
23 ft. long by 14 in. deep were placed side by side on
each side of the shaft, and built into the side walls; a
pitchpine frame of timber of 14 in. section, mortised
together, was laid on the girders, and the four ends
built into the side walls. The oak crib, 14 in. wide by
6 in. deep and 14 ft. in diameter, was laid on this frame,
and the brickwork, 14 in. thick, was then built up to the
top crib. The work of completing this part of the
sinking took until September 1909.

The whole of the drifting and stonework in connection
with the making of the pit top was done with the aid of
hammer drills of the Flottman type, working with an
air-pressure of 50 to 60 pounds. As many as eight drills
were working at the same time, and they proved quite
satisfactory, the speed of the drilling being fairly fast.
These drills certainly beat hand labour in point of
speed in the sandstone which had to be dealt with ; in
fact, without a drill of this type the work would have
been impossible, owing to the inaccessibility of many of
the places where holes had to be put in.

During August 1909 preparations were made for
fixing the winding engines, which it was decided should
be placed on a timber frame made of baulks 16 in.
square. The cross-pieces were cut into the rock, and
afterwards solid brick pillars were built under the
timbers, in order to support and fix the whole weight of
the installation. The engines were taken down the pit
during one week-end, conveyed inbye, and stabled in an
old road part way to the sinking, from where they were
transported as required. They consisted of a pair of
22 in. cylinders, with a 3 ft. stroke and drum 6 ft. in
diameter, direct coupled and fixed on girder bedplates.
The diameter of the drum was subsequently increased
to 7 ft. A powerful brake of the post type was fitted to
the engines, and worked by the foot at the time of erec-
tion, but subsequently, in 1912, the engines were fitted
with a Melling overwinder and a brake cylinder actuated
by compressed air, so arranged that in the event of the
failure of the compressed air the brakes will come on
and hold the engines. This device was a strong feature
in respect of safety, when the peculiar position of the
winding engine is taken into consideration.

While the engines were being fixed on their founda-
tions, a drift measuring 10 by 6 feet was driven at right
angles up to the engine-room, so as to provide room for
the air-receivers, six of which were fixed in that space,
and two more at the back of the engines, one on top of
the other. The receivers were 10 ft. in length by 3 ft. 3 in.
in diameter, and made of steel plates. The work of
widening and making height near and at the pit top was
by no means easy, as the roof had to be supported during
the operation. Until this stage, however, no mishap had
occurred; but when the walls were up and the girders
were being got in, a very large piece of sandstone rock,
3| ft. thick and 15 ft. long, came away just over one of
the walls, causing the death of a loader. This stone had
been tested with a pick not an hour before, but, owing
to its thickness and close-grained nature, it rang sound
and appeared to be secure. This accident illustrates the
difficulty experienced in making quite sure that the
apparently solid rock is safe. The only reason that
could be assigned for the fail of the stone was that it
had been shaken by heavy shotfiring recently carried out
in this place.

During September 1909 the sinking pulley was fixed
on strong pitchpine cross-timbers, 14 in. square, built
into the wall on one side, and resting on a cross-timber
in the mouth of the rope drift on the other side of the
pit. At the conclusion of the sinking, these timber
baulks were removed, as they showed signs of decay on
account of the excessive damp. They were replaced by
four steel girders of suitable lengths, 14 in. deep by 6 in.
wide, so placed that two pulleys could be mounted for
coal-drawing with two cages in the shaft in the future.
While fixing the pulley for sinking, a strong detaching
plate was fixed 7| ft. below the pulleys, as a detaching
hook of the King's type was used during sinking
operations.

Sinking Operations.

During the third week of September 1909 a start was
made in the sinking from the low-level road, and the
first few yards of rock were soon got out. It had been
decided to use a travelling bridge over the sinking, so

Fig. 4.—Winding Engine.

that some of the bottom stone on the outbye side of the
shaft had to be removed, in order to allow the top of
the bridge to come down to the existing rail level of the
main road, so that the tubs might be easily moved on and
off the bridge. While this work was being performed,
the erection of the winding engines was completed, and
a flattened strand rope 1 in. in diameter and 400 yards
long was put on the drum. The rope was of special
construction, so as to ensure non-twisting, its breaking
load being 48 tons. No guides were used in the shaft,
and consequently no rider was required.

The “ bowk ” used was so designed as to hold enough
stuff to fill the colliery tub in use, the average load
being 18 cwt. of dirt. The bow of the bowk was made of
2| in. round iron, and was fitted with two safety catches.
The inside bottom of the bowk was boarded over in order
to preserve it; the sides were 3 ft. 9 in. in height by J in.
in thickness, the diameter of the top being 2J ft. A
strong spring hook for attaching the chain to the bow
was used.

By the third week in October 1909 a depth of over
90 ft. was reached, when the sinking was temporarily
stopped for reasons that are unnecessary to detail in this
paper. During this short period of sinking everything
had been found to work satisfactorily. During the
stoppage, a small dynamo of 6.1 kw. and 220 volts was
put in and direct coupled to a Bumsted and Chandler
engine, with cylinders 5 in. in diameter, for lighting
purposes. It was felt that it was absolutely essential to
have a good light for sinking and round the pit top. The
set was put to work, but the direct-coupled engine was
shortly discarded for a belt drive, the reason being that
the engine continually froze up, owing to the high speed
run—namely, 675 revolutions per minute. This difficulty
can be overcome by using a reducing valve, but a larger
cylinder is required. A slow-speed engine, running at
120 revolutions per minute, was put in, with a flywheel
and governors, and no further trouble ensued.

Sinking was not resumed until July 1910, when it was
decided to work on the same system of shifts as before,
that is, three shifts working from Sunday night at
10 p.m. to Saturday at 10 p.m. Once started, the
sinking proceeded rapidly, as the following table will
demonstrate, as it shows the amount of sinking and
bricking done between July and March 1910:—

Yards sunk
and bricked.

July ................... 21

August ................. 39

September .............. 40

October................. 46

November ............... 39

December................ 34

January ................ 37

February ............... 26

Mai ch ................. 27

Total ................ 309

This gives an average of 34 yards per month. The
total depth sunk was 347 yards, and of this 38 yards
were sunk prior to July 1910. The sinking was let to
a contractor, but was supervised by the management.

The securing of the shaft before bricking was by
means of backing-deals 4 ft. long by 1 in. thick. These
deals were held in position by wrought-iron rings 5 in.
deep by f in. thick, bolted together by four bolts at each
point. There were six segments to a ring, the rings
being suspended by wrought-iron hanging-rods in. in
diameter, suitably bent top and bottom so as to catch
hold of the rings. The first ring below the last bricking
crib was suspended by chains fixed to the crib. The
bricking cribs were placed about 35 yards apart, each
crib bed being carefully prepared on strong ground.
Iron plugs in addition were required in some places.
Most of the cribs were 14 in. broad and 6 in. deep, and
were all made of oak. At first sight the distance
between the bricking cribs may seem excessive, but the
writer contends that, owing to the fairly good ground
passed through, and also to the careful timbering of the
sides, the satisfactory results quite justified the distances
apart. Further, the exceptional circumstances of sinking
underground, and the difficulties of getting the bricking
scaffold in and out of the shaft, made it necessary to go
as far as it was reasonably safe before commencing to
brick, so as to avoid excessive labour; moreover, once
the scaffold was in the shaft, it was advisable to do as
much bricking as possible.

Sinking and bricking were not carried on simul-
taneously. The bricking scaffold was constructed with
an under framework of two steel channels 10 in. deep,
with 4 in. distance pieces between of similar size. In
addition to this centre-piece, two wing-pieces were made
to hinge on to each side of this framework, these flap
pieces being detachable. The whole scaffold was
13 ft. 9 in. in diameter, and was covered over with
boards 3 in. thick. In order to give extra security, eight
square iron bolts of 2 in. section were made so as to push
over and into the brickwork. The bricking scaffold,
with eight men and materials, weighed about 5 tons.
It was manipulated by a special crab engine with two
drums geared 40 to 1 by worm-gearing and driven by a
pair of cylinders 6 in. in diameter. Plough-steel ropes
l|in. in diameter were attached to the drum, and passed
over small pulleys down the pit, the two pair of bridle
chains being attached to the steel frame of the scaffold
by strong D-links. The drums of the engine moved
together, and consequently no tipping of the scaffold
could occur. The type of crab used was eminently
satisfactory, being self-contained and capable of easy
handling.

The ventilation of the sinking had to be carefully
considered, and to carry this out a Bumsted and
Chandler fan and engine were installed. * The fan was

Fig. 5.—Bumsted and Chandler Fan.

placed in such a position that a constant supply of
fresh air was obtained, which was forced down air pipes.
The air pipes were 24 in. in diameter and 6 ft. long, with
mouthing ends; but after the sinking was completed
flanged air pipes 9 ft. long and of the same diameter
were fixed, and were found to be more airtight and
stronger. The fan was 5 ft. in diameter and 1 ft. wide,
running at 250 revolutions per minute, and at this speed
6,000 cubic feet of air per minute was constantly main-
tained. The fan was placed in the intake 300 yards
from the pit top, the air being carried down to the pit,
and at the top an elbow pipe was fixed so as to get the
range of pipes down the pit. These pipes were slung at