THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN AND JOURNAL OF THE COAL AND IRON TRADES. Vol. CVIII. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1914. No. 2815. Report on the Wharncliffe Silkstone Explosion. The Home Office has just issued a report on the circumstances attending the explosion which occurred at the Wharncliffe Silkstone Colliery on May 30, 1914, by Mr. Samuel Pope, barrister-at-law, and Mr. Thomas H. Mottram, H.M. inspector of mines in charge of the Yorkshire Division. [Cd. 7720.] The explosion occurred on Saturday, May 30, 1914, at about 2 p.m., in the Whinmoor seam, and caused the death of 11 persons, and fatal injury to one other person, who succumbed to his injuries a few days afterwards. The Wharncliffe Silkstone Colliery is situate five miles south of Barnsley, and has worked for a considerable time, sinking operations having first started as far back as 1854. It is worked by the Wharncliffe Silkstone Colliery Company Limited, Mr. G. Blake Walker being the managing director and agent, and Mr. Jonathan Wroe the certificated manager. The colliery has four shafts, Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4. Nos. . 1 and 4, both downcasts, about 45 yds. apart, are used for winding purposes; No. 3, a similar distance from No. 1 pit, is the main upcast shaft; and No. 2, also an upcast, is used by means of a separate fan for keeping the goaf of former workings clear of gas. No. 1 shaft is 12 ft. diameter, and sunk to the Silkstone at 151yds.—the seams worked there being the Fenton, Parkgate, and Thorncliffe Thin. Below the Silkstone a staple pit exists to the Whinmoor. No. 4 shaft is 14 ft. diameter and sunk to the Whinmoor at 218 yds.—The seams worked there being the Silkstone and Whinmoor. In the Whinmoor seam the coal is about 2 ft.! 9 in. thick, the roof consisting of bind, which breaks in lines parallel to the face as the coal is worked. The holing dirt underneath the coal is fireclay and coaly matter occa- sionally mixed with pyrites. The Athersley Whinmoor district where the explosion occurred is the only part of the Whinmoor seam being worked. The method was longwall, as shown in fig. 1. The length of face opened out was just over 900 yds. The holing of the coal in the parts B G, D E, and F G was done by electrically-driven coal cutting machines, >’st i! £ « :• G Coalcutter------- IV Fishers Gate — J Z Fishers Gate N. 1*4 I I One coalcutter ant . one conveyor electrically driven. One coalcutter air driven !■' ;l ‘‘‘Box Hole 360^ 1 }l' A "^from H*4 Topside I One coalcutter and £ .Conveyor one conveyor electrically dnveq^r^ coalcutters and three 4— conveyors electrically driven Fig. 1.—Plan of Athersley Whinmoor District. A to E, portion of face inspected by Slack. E to G, portion of face inspected by Clayton. as shown in fig. 1. Electrically-driven conveyors were employed on the same face in order to convey the coal along the face into tubs at the gate end. Between A and B the face was holed by a machine driven by com- pressed air, and between B and C an electrically-driven conveyor had recently been installed. The main haulage road into the workings referred to runs from No. 4 shaft straight in a north-easterly direction for a distance of about 1,700 yds., and the greater portion of this road, which is a fairly level one, is the intake air courseTor the Athersley Whin moor district. ' For a dis- tance of 1,210 yds. the haulage was by endless rope driven by an engine on the surface, the speed of the rope being about 24 miles per hour. Beyond the ter- minal wheel the haulage was done by horse, and this part of the road is known as No. 2 level. The Wharncliffe Silkstone Colliery is ventilated by a Capell fan at the surface of No. 3 pit. For present use, running at 251 revolutions, about 130,000 cu. ft. of air per minute are circulated with a water gauge of 54 in. The fan is- rope-driven, connected to a Korting two- cycle double-acting gas engine by Mather and Platt, capable of developing 300b.h.p. by the use of cleaned coke oven gas. A steam engine is held in reserve, the fan being changed over periodically to clean the valves of the gas engine. Of the 130,000 cu. ft. of air referred to, the quantity recorded in the’ colliery report book as ventilating the Athersley Whinmoor section during May this year was 20,400 cu. ft. per minute (measured in the SECTION ON X Y. Fig. 2.—Method of Working Coal Cutters and Conveyors. intake at end of the endless rope haulage). The average total number of persons employed daily during two coal shifts and a repairing shift was 299, but, as during the largest shift the number was 207, the total air enter- ing the Athersley Whinmoor seam was about 100 cu. ft. per person employed. As shown in fig. 1, part of the air in the main intake travelled up No. 2 topslide slant and No. 3 topside slant, the remainder being conducted by two doors in No. 2 level up No. 4 topslide slant into Wm. Fisher's gate and the rise side of that gate. From this point it travelled down that part of the coal face traversed by the explo- sion to the working places beyond. Four days after the explosion, when the ventilation had been restored along the coal face of Wm. Fisher’s gate, the velocity of the air was found to be about 5 ft. per second, and the quantity 3,200 cu. ft. per minute. Electricity was employed underground for lighting, pumping, coal cutting, and conveying. The electric power in use, generated at the surface, was direct cur- rent at 500 volts. Three electrical coal cutters were employed in the Athersley Whinmoor workings, but only one of the machines was at work at the time of the explosion in No. 2 section. Its position is shown near J. T. Fisher's gate in fig. 1. The machine was of the disc type, by Messrs. Clarke, Steavenson. and made a cut 4 ft. 6 in deep by 5 in. in the holing dirt below the seam. The whole of the coal, except that above J. T. Fisher’s gate, which was filled by hand and sent out by the two top gates, was carried along the face on canvas belt conveyors electrically driven, and loaded into tubs at No. 2 level, at which point the motors operating the conveyors were placed. A fair amount of coal dust was produced at the load- ing place in No. 2 level, caused by the coal falling from the conveyor belt into the tubs; also along the coal face due to the operation of holing by the machine, though here and there moisture oozed from the coal. There was not much dust in the rest of No. 2 section outbye of these points. The main level right from the pit bottom was damp, and the floor wet to a point 13 yds. inbye of No. 4 slant, and water was also running down this slant from a point 70 yds. from the level. The water in the workings percolated through the roof from the Silkstone waste 67 yds. above. Samples of dust were taken at different points after the explosion and analysed by Dr. Wheeler.* The dust at the loading places w’ould be nearly pure coal dust when deposited, but in view of the fact that about 2 ft. of bottom stone and 1ft. of top stone were ripped to form the roads, this operation, by the admixture of stone dust, would tend from time to time to diminish its dangerous properties. In addition to this, inert dust was artificially applied in No. 2 level, and this is borne out by the analysis of sample No. 5, which was taken from the top of coal in tubs in No. 2 level. The main level or intake aircourse was lighted by electricity from the pit bottom to a point about 210 yds. inbye. As firedamp was given off in the workings, safety lamps were used throughout the colliery, and *In an appendix are given results of an examination by Dr. R. V. Wheeler of 15 samples of dust collected from the Whin- moor seam. Determinations were made of (1) the degrees of fineness of the dusts, and (2) their proximate analyses. From the latter, rough calculations were made as to the extent to which coking of the dusts had taken place. One sample (a large sample) was sized and separate analyses made of the coarsest and finest portions, as follow :— Fineness. Percentage of total weight. Proximate analyses. Mois- ture. Vola- tile. Ash. On 10 x 10 mesh, 46‘3 . .. 1’3 . .. 25’7 . .. 18 9 On 30 x 30 mesh, 26*2 . — — On 60 x 60 mesh, 13 2 . — — On 100x 100 mesh, 6'7 . — — On 20