1184

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

May 29, 1914.

good the ordinary precautions will generally suffice, but
nearing the coal face, and for gate haulage further pre-
cautions will be necessary, by enclosing the whole of the
small gate haulage sets in a steel box. A useful and
compact design for this purpose has been registered by
Messrs. W. Bardill and Co., Eagle Works, Popham-
street, Nottingham, makers of mining machinery, as
illustrated in fig. 1.

This shows a small enclosed endless rope hauling set,
which is made in standard sizes from 5 to 25-horse
power. In this design the whole of the gear is enclosed
inside the steel casing shown, takes up a minimum of
space, and all parts are strongly proportioned. The
cover which prevents danger from either falls of roof into
the machinery, and anyone being entangled in the
gearing is removable, and the parts are then easy to get
at. Oiling is from the outside, and in all details conforms
to Government regulations.

Figs. 2 and 3 show the gears arranged for single drum,
and main and tail haulage respectively.

Fig. 1.—General View of Switch-operating Device.

In a third case it may not be advisable to use electrical
power at all for gate haulage, in which case the useful
alternative presents itself of placing an endless rope
haulage set of adequate power, electrically driven, in a
convenient spot on the main road, and hauling up the
gate by a series of jig wheels, operated by friction clutch
and driven by endless rope from the gear in the main
road previously mentioned. These jig wheels may be
either of the endless rope or drum type, according to the
inclines and the geographical plan of the workings. Such
a set is illustrated in fig. 4.

In other cases where the use of electric power below
ground may be regarded as unsafe by those best able to
judge, there is still left the good and well established

Fig. 4.—Section Through Switch-operating Device.

Direction of			Switch			Levers.				
Train		2^	3	4	6	1	8			
Krom east road							—			
„ west ,,						—	4-			
,, north ,,					4-	4-	4-			
'Io shaft					4-		4-			
Th rough from north rd.					+		+			
										
	i									

Fig. 7.—Signalling Plan.

a

Fig. 5.—Plan View.

system of a powerful surface haulage, either steam or
electrically driven of the endless rope type, with the
haulage rope passing down the shaft, and penetrating to
the remotest workings, by means of friction jig wheels,
guide pulleys, etc., which practice is common even now
in many of the oldest collieries in the Midlands, and
same has always been found absolutely safe and very
efficient; in fact an over-all efficiency of 60-70 per cent,
is not uncommon on this system.

There are but few mines, however, where it is
impossible on the ground of safety to apply electrical
power below at all, and in some cases this is being used
at or near the pit bottom to compress air for use in the
distant workings, both for haulage and coal cutting, and
where some portion of the plant was already available,
something may be said for it.

Immingliam Coal Exports.—During the week ended 21st
inst. the exports of coal from Immingham were :—Foreign :
To Arlborg, 1,817 tons; Alexandria, 1,830; Bruges, 1,356;
Brunsbuttel, 1,003; Copenhagen, 2,282; Flensburg, 1,596;
Hamburg, 1,939; Novorossisk, 5,291; Oporto, 1,326; Oxelo-
sund, 2,239; Biga, 3,159; and Stockholm, 2,740—total,
26,578 tons. Coastal: To Chatham, 1,020 tons; London,
400; and Woolwich, 1,550—total, 2,970 tons. During the
corresponding week last year the exports were 26,578 tons
foreign, with no coastal shipments.

Grimsby Coal Exports.—The exports from Grimsby dur-
ing the week ended 21st inst. were :—Foreign : To Antwerp,
414 tons; Christiania, 1,678; Christiansand, 652; Dieppe,
1,016; Esbjerg, 365; Gefle, 2,916; Gothenburg, 2,072; Ham-
burg, 1,457; Malmo, 591; Nexo, 592; Patras, 849; Banders,
90; Biga, 1,918; Botterdam, 152; Sikea, 380; Skien, 778:
Trondhjem, 2,094; and Uddevalla, 1,436—total, 19,450 tons.
Coastal : To Lerwick, 600; and London, 99—total, 699 tons.
During the corresponding week last year the totals were
13,919 and 1,213 tons respectively.

Underground Central Signal Boxes in German Mines.

O. DOBBELSTEIN, Gluckauf.

The increased activity of underground haulage in
colliery work consequent upon the introduction of loco-
motive haulage and of mechanical appliances for loading
and unloading the cages has necessitated the simplifica-
tion of the work of operating the track switches,
substituting mechanical auxiliaries for hand labour, as
being quicker and safer.

An installation of this kind, constructed by Scheldt
and Bachmann, Munchen-Gladbach, is in operation on
the No. II. level of the Auguste Victoria Colliery, Huis
(Westphalia), and has been found to work satisfactorily.
Fig. 1 gives a comprehensive view of the arrangement
for operating the track switches by compressed air. The
air is drawn from the pit main, and is throttled down to a

Fig. 3.—Cross-
section.

Fig. 2.—Front Elevation.

u u u

pressure of 22-29 lb. per sq. inch by a pressure regu-
lator a. It then passes through a container 5, where
its contained water is trapped, and enters a distributing
pipe c, whence it is delivered through cocks d to the
switch-operating devices. Turning a cock to the left
opens the switch so that the train of tubs continues
along the main track, whilst turning the cocks to the
right closes the switches, to shunt the train on to a
siding, right or left of the main track. Half-inch hard
lead pipes 1 and 2 convey the compressed air to the
switch-operating devices, each of which consists of a
cylinder and piston, the rod of the latter operating the
switch. With the cock in the position shown in fig. 1,
the piston is driven back towards the right, and closes
the switch, the compressed air on the opposite side of
the piston escaping through the pipe 2 and the open way
in the cock into the air. To indicate to the signalman
that the movement of the switch has not been obstructed
by lumps of coal, etc., jamming the points, a third air
pipe 3 branches from the middle of the cylinder, into
which pipe the air cannot escape until the piston has
reached the end of its stroke. This third pipe leads to a
small piston, situated above the cock, and the rod of
this piston carries a signal disc visible through a window.
So long as no air enters the third pipe the piston and
signal disc remain lowered under their own weight and
the pressure of a spring, the disc only becoming visible
when the switch has been properly operated.

Figs. 2 and 3 illustrate the construction of the switch-
operating device, as a front elevation and cross section,
with five control cocks and the corresponding repeating
signals. The cocks are operated by crank handles. The
actual working of the switches is seen from'figs. 4 and 5.
The compressed air cylinder a is firmly mounted between
two sleepers, and the piston rod b acts on a sliding
member provided with two projecting noses c. Accord-

ing to the direction in which the piston is moved, one
or other of these noses engages with one of the hooks
d1 d2, hinged on to the switch points. To open the
switch—which is shown in the closed position in fig. 5
—the sliding member is moved from left to right by the
piston. A cam member between the noses c lifts the
hook dl and allows the hook d2 to drop, thus releasing
it from its locking position. The further movement of
the sliding member towards the right causes the hook
dL to engage with the corresponding nose and pushes the
switch open, the hook d2 being meanwhile raised by the
cam so that the recess in its head bears against the over-
lying plate, and locks the points. Notwithstanding this
locking effect, any tub running back from the siding on
to the main line will pass over the points without

damaging any of the parts. The mechanism is covered
over with an iron plate to prevent lumps of coal, etc.,
from dropping on to the sliding member and checking
its action.

The signal box also houses the central electric signal
lamp device, which is operated by the signalman, so
that he can stop trains coming along the main haulage
track when necessary. The signal switchboard (fig. 6)
is connected up to the signal lights in front of the
various track switches (points), and is provided with six
green and six red lamps, mounted, with the switch
appliances, on a marble plate. A green light indicates
“line free,” a red “line blocked.” By means of a
.movable switch lever on the switchboard eight different

Fig. 6.—Front View of Lamp Signal
Apparatus.

circuits can be completed. If anything goes wrong all
the signal lamps can be set at danger, and when traffic is
suspended the whole installation can be switched oft.

To enable the signalman to remember which of the
points to operate in order to divert the traffic in any
desired direction, a table of instructions (fig. 7) is hung
up in the signal box. On this table the plus sign
means “ open switch,” the minus sign “ closed switch.”

The general plan of the main haulage roads leading
to the pit eye, with the tracks, switches, and signal
lamps, is given in fig. 8. The spring points are hatched,
the green lamps are indicated by circles, and the red
ones by dots. The simplest way of explaining the work-
ing of the switches is by describing the procedure in the
case of a train coming from the eastern haulage road,
for instance. Assuming all the switches are closed, the
control cock for switch No. 8 is turned from left to
right, to close the points. When the repeating signal
shows that the points have been closed, the signalman
moves the lamp signal lever into the position for “ train
entering from east road.” This causes the lamp
No. III. in the east road to show a green light, as
indicating “ line clear,” whilst lamps I. II., IV., and
V. show red lights. The oncoming train can then run
past the points 8 into the northern road; but before it
can be run to the shaft the switch 8 must be closed
again. The switches 6 and 7 remain closed, and the
signal lamp lever is turned over from “ train entering
from east road ” to “ train entering road to shaft.”
Lamps I., III., and V. show’ red lights, and lamp II. a
green light, thus notifying the engine driver that the
road to the shaft is clear. Similar measures are adopted
for the trains coming from the other roads.

Signalling and switch arrangements of a similar
character, but more extensive, are in use on the electric
locomotive haulage road in the Saturn Colliery, Sosno-
wice. The system is improved by combining the
mechanism for operating the point switches and the
lamps by an inter-locking arrangement, so that the lamp
lever cannot be worked until the points have been set in
the proper positions. The locking device consists of an