178 _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN. January 22, 1915. which is supported by two self-oiling bearings. The crankshaft of the pump is also fitted with five bearings, the main spurwheel running between the two outer bearings. A gear case is fitted over the wheel and pinion, so that the gearing runs continually in oil, as illustrated in fig. 13. The Hutton seam haulage gear, which was supplied by Messrs. Markham and Company, of Chesterfield, is of the main and tail type, and is of very massive construction, as will be gathered from the drawing and photograph, figs. 14 and 15. The drums are 6ft. diameter by 2 ft. wide, arranged for a rope speed of about 10 miles per hour, the two drums being carried upon a shaft 11 in. diameter. The outer end of the drum shaft runs ■> '"4 ■ Fig. 15.—Main-and-tail Haulage Gear. Fig. 13.—Thmb-theow Pump. between two bearings and carries a double helical machine cut spur wheel into which a forged steel pinion gears. The clutch for operating the main and tail drum is placed between the drums, and is controlled by a hand wheel and lever from the driver’s platform. Two brake rims are fitted on each drum with heavy post brakes operated by foot levers from the driver’s platform, but with additional hand wheel and screw so that the brakes can be held in position if required. The electric motor for operating the gear is of 350 normal horse power on continuous running, but is capable of developing up to 800-horse power for short periods. It is of the slip ring type with specially heavy slip rings and brush gear. The controller is of the Allen West liquid type operated from the driver’s platform. The whole is mounted upon a very massive girder bedplate. An exact duplicate of the above haulage, electrically and mechanically, is arranged for the main coal seam, and will very shortly be in service. The whole of the underground switchgear in connec- tion with this installation has been supplied by Messrs. Siemens Brothers Dynamo Woiks Limited, and the cables and junction boxes by Messrs. Callender’s Cable and Construction Company Limited. As mentioned at the outset, this installation was designed by, and has been carried out under the direc- tion of, Messrs. W. C. and K. A. Mountain, consulting engineers, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, to the general require- ments of Mr. Vincent W. Corbett, the chief mining engineer of the Londonderry Collieries Limited, and Messrs. W. A. Swallow and R. Curry, the manager and mechanical engineer respectively of the Seaham Colliery, to whose courtesy the writer is indebted for permission to visit the works and publish the aforegoing particulars and illustrations. __________________________ The public examination was held before Mr. Registrar Hood at the London Bankruptcy Court on Thursday, the 14th first., of Sir John Pepys Lister Kaye, who applied to pass upon accounts showing total liabilities £137,367 and a deficiency of £48,185. In reply to Mr. W. P. Bowyer, official receiver, the debtor stated that in April 1910 he obtained a concession relating to coalfields in Croatia, Hungary, and was afterwards interested in companies formed to acquire this concession and an option on another Croatian concession, which he secured in 1912. A Parisian banker was unable to carry through an undertaking to find £120,000 with which to take up shares in the Croatia Lime, Coal, and Lignite Company Limited, and the Government of Austria-Hungary had now taken over the properties. If the scheme had gone through, witness would have made a profit of £34,000, and it was entirely owing to the war that the Croatian venture had brought him to the Bankruptcy Court. He had lost £32,000 in cash over it, and his outstanding liabilities connected with it were £38,000. The witness added that he had lost £150,000 in other ventures, but he did not regard them as speculations. The examination was concluded. SAFETY LAMPS IN MINES. The following is a brief summary by Captains Desborough and Thomas, given in Part II. of the General Report on Mines and Quarries for 1913, of the work done in regard to testing of safety lamps up to the time of writing since the issue of the last report Since the issue of the last report the following numbers of safety lamps and flame lamp glasses have been submitted for test: Number of flame lamps, 51; number of electric lamps, 11, two of which failed, and in addition many minor modifications of lamps already approved; new brands of glasses, five, one of which failed, and, in addition, the range of sizes of brands already approved has been extended in several instances by further testing. Samples of lamps and glasses have on several occasions been forwarded to us for examination or test by H.M. inspectors of mines to ascertain if they com- plied with the requirements of the official descriptions. Table A. Number of gauzes. Number Method of locking. Kind of illuminant. . Division or district. Total number in use. One. Two. Three. nS 4) £ CO Unshielded. 1 Lead rivet. Mag- netic. Screw. Other. Colza or colza and petro- leum. Petro- leum. Volatile spirit. Elec- tricity. Other illumi- nant. Scotland Northern York and North Midland Manchester and Ire- land Liverpool and North Wales South Wales Midland & Southern 37,991 134,140 228,769 47,370 67,510 188,495 73,549 9,915 48,059 86,688 5,410 21,570 146,317 34,805 26,916 79,419 117,077 40,744 45,555 39,462 38,064 — 22,140 127,247 202,892 42,518 62,825 185,202 72,766 14,691 231 873 3,636 4,300 577 103 11,065 51,061 134,241 41,228 54,724 85,637 42,029 12,506 55,496 78,450 5,958 12,599 91,404 26,444 13,859 25,297 16,000 112 54+ 675 5,000 561 2,286 78 72J 151 10,779 76 10,070 103,069 131,942 29,302 42,259 137,081 36,706 5,803 9,244 21,735 2,835 7,062 1,866 9,590 20,823 7,421 35,485 9,290 13,259 9,831 26,572 1,160 6,662 25,004 1,216 385 2,716 680 135 7,744 14,603 4,727 4,545 37,001 1 Total in 1913 Total in 1912 777,824 749,177 352,764 385,245 387,237 353,150 44* 715,590 707,607 24,411 30,825 419,985 416,715 282,857 250,095 60.997+ 69,781 14,003+ 12,586 490,429 545,198 58,135 59,062 122,681 93,404 37,823 10,727 68,756 49,786 * Includes 20 with, four gauzes + Includes 18 lamps which are also locked by lead rivet. J Includes eight electric lamps which are not locked. Among these cases may be mentioned that of the Wharncliffe Colliery. Samples of the different flame and electric lamps in use at the time of the accident on May 30, when 11 men were killed, were submitted to us, and the manager of the mine and H.M. divisional inspector were present at the tests. The electric lamps and the bonneted flame lamps were found to be of approved types, but some unbonneted Mueseler lamps were also sent. These were not tested, since such lamps are ipso facto unapproved. On June 25, 1914, repre- sentatives of the South Wales Miners’ Federation visited the testing station. It had been found that some of the bonneted Marsaut lamps which were in use at the Risca Colliery were not so sensitive in detecting firedamp as other lamps of the bonneted Mueseler type. The representatives were therefore anxious to witness fully the tests to which lamps were subjected for approval. We carried out the official tests with lamps of the types in question, and supplied them with all information possible. It appeared that the insensitive bonneted Marsaut lamps to which the representatives referred were provided with air inlet holes of very small area, and it was suggested to tl em that the lamps might be much improved by increasing the area, but in such a way as to prevent a horizontal current from impinging directly against the outer gauze. Three manufacturers have submitted large flame porch lamps. These, after being tested, have been approved for use, but within certain limits only. Several electrical devices, consti noted with a view to indicate small percentages of firedamp, have been sub- mitted from time to time. Lamps fitted with the devices were tested as regards safety, and in certain cases facilities were given for the manufacturer to demonstrate with samples of the lamps below ground. Up to the present only one electric lamp fitted with an electrical detecting device has been approved, but the official description makes it clear that the Secretary of State expresses no opinion regarding the efficiency of the device. The moulded flame lamp glasses, to which reference was made in our last report, have again been occupying attention. These glasst s, as has been pointed out before, are far tougher than the ordinary approved blown glass, but they crack all over if fractured, and several reports of spontaneous fractures have been received. While on the subject of glasses we would like to call the attention of English glass manufacturers to the present opportunities of supplying mines with approved flame lamp glasses, since almost the whole of the supply of approved glasses, with the exception of those supplied by Messrs. Butterworth Brothers, has up to the present come from Germany and Austria. Table A shows the number of safety lamps in use in the various inspection divisions or districts during the year 1913. The types in use were as follow:—Davy, 10.202; Clanny, 301,570; Mueseler, 35,473; Marsaut, 337,553; Wolf, 11,934; Hepplewhite Gray, 637; Routledge and Johnson, 2,975 ; electric, 37,823; miscellaneous, 39,657. The last table shows the method of lighting the safety lamps in the various inspection divisions or districts during 1913 :•—■ By . By B Division or district. elec- internal tricity, igniters. °Pening. Scotland ................ 14,481 ... 1,100 ... 22,410 Northern ................ 64,612 ... 2,205 ... 67,323 York and North Midland ... 109,699 ... 3,680 ... 115,390 Manchester and Ireland... 1('„-513 ... 3,027 ... 33,830 Liverpool and North Wales 26,440 511 ... 40,559 South Wales ............ 109,174 ... 75,360 ... 3,961 Midland and Southern ... 53,054 ... 237 .. 20,258 Total in 1913 .......... 387,973 ... 86,120 ... 303,731 Total in 1912 .......... 354,974 .. 27,825 ... 366,378 ____________________________ A meeting of the members of the Association of Mining’ Electrical Engineers (Notts and Derbyshire branch) will be held on Saturday (to-morrow), at the University College, Nottingham, at 3.30 p.m. The annual examinations for the association’s first-class and second-class certificates of competency in mining electrical engineering will be held in the various mining centres of the United Kingdom on Saturdays, March 13 and 20, 1915. An engineering scholarship of the annual value of £70, tenable for three years at the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire, will be offered for competition in April 1915, by the South Wales Institute of Engineers. The examination will commence on April 22, 19 5. All applications must be sent in before March 22, 1915, Candidates must not be above the age of 25 years on the first day of the examination. For particulars apply to the secretary of the Institute, Cardiff, or to the Registrar. University College, Cardiff.