May 7, 1915. THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN. 963 KEP GEAR AT A MIDLAND COLLIERY. The accompanying drawing and photograph illustrate a patent gear which has recently been designed and manufactured by Messrs. George Fletcher and Company Limited, of Derby, and erected by them at one of the leading collieries in the Midlands. Four keps are employed for each cage, all of which are operated by one hand lever, which can be moved easily, without lifting — Eno Elevation of Kep Cear. — _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ In the medium seams of the Franco-Belgian, West- phalian and Saar coalfields, the surface subsidence is considerable, amounting to as much as 65 per cent, of the thickness of the seams and leading to a restriction of working and to flooding. Consequently in the Rhine valley it has been found necessary to insist on the goaves being fully packed, notably at the Deutsche)- Kaiser Colliery. On the other hand, the general tendency is to concentrate the working of thin and medium seams in a restricted number of workings, each having a small number of long faces, served by jig conveyors, thus reducing the expense of upkeep and reducing the labour of heading. Now, the necessity of packing the goaf completely tends to limit the length of the face, so that the possibility of using face conveyors is closely bound up with the question of packing; and though in the Ruhr district there is plenty of washery and screening waste available, the operation is costly. It will therefore be apparent that, in these circum- stances, hydraulic packing may render important service in connection with the working of these comparatively thin seams. It has prevented surface inundations and flooding under water-courses in the Pas-de-Calais, and safety pillars to be worked under (for instance) the Krupp works at Essen, or under factories, &c., without having to meet heavy claims for damage. At Deutsche)- Kaiser it has enabled the workings to be very largely increased, instead of, as formerly, confining them to the limits imposed by the available supply of packing material available on the spot; and in several collieries in the Liege district (Patience-Beaujonc and Esperance- Bonne-Fortune), the combined employment of hydraulic packing and face conveyors has allowed the faces to be extended to a length of over 100 yds. For seams of medium or small thickness, the cost of packing material, and therefore of the cost per ton of coal, is the determining factor controlling the applica- tion of the hydraulic system. In the Ruhr district its use on a large scale is restricted to two mines: Salzer- Neuach (where waste from the Krupp works is employed) and theDeutscher Kaiser (blast-furnace slag), the cost (2s. per ton of coal) being prohibitive elsewhere. In the Pas-de-Calais and Belgium it is used only in small mines with an output of about 300 tons per diem, the supply of cheap material being ample. Possibly, in the future, the growing scarcity of labour and the reduction in working hours will justify its further extension, especially in conjunction with hand packing, employing underground waste. the housing fitted with adjustable cap or lubricator. The links, levers, and pins are of mild steel, all accurately machined and fitted. The operating shafts, hand levers, and quadrants are of mild steel, machined and fitted up complete, ready for fixing in position. It is claimed for this type of patent kep gear that (1) it is compact, strong, and requires comparatively little space; (2) the loaded cage is gradually released on to the ___________________________ New Demurrage Regulations.—At the present time two different sets of regulations in regard to charges for demur- rage on wagons and sheets are in operation on English railways. One of these applies to South Wales, and the Birmingham and South Staffordshire district; the other to the remaining parts of the country. Next year, however, will see the disappearance of this lack of uniformity and the adoption of a general arrangement for the whole country. Notice was given by the Railway Clearing House on March 25 that the change would come into operation on July 1, 1916. The uniform regulations and scale of charges will be as under Fbee Period. Before conveyance— At stations............. At private sidings and docks After conveyance— At stations.............. At private sidings and docks At docks (shipment traffic only). One day, exclusive of the day upon which the loading is begun. Two days, exclusive of the day upon which the loading is begun. Two days, exclusive of the day of arrival. Three days, exclusive of the day of arrival. Four days, exclusive of the day of arrival. Charges. Ordinary wagons.......... Sheets .................... Is. 6d. per wagon p» r day. 3d. per sheet per day. Per wagon per day. High-capacity wagons— s. d. Above 16 tons and not exceeding 20 tons carrying capacity..................................... 2 0 Above 20 tons and not exceeding 30 tons carrying capacity..................................... 3 0 Above 30 tons................................. 5 0 Specially constructed wagons— Above 15 tons and under 20 tons carryingcapacity 3 0 20 tons and under 30 tons carrying capacity ..... 6 0 30 tons and above............................. 10 0 Refrigerator and insulated vans— If not unloaded within one day, exclusive < f day of arrival ................................... 6 0 What the prospective alteration really means is that the special regulations which are now in operation in South Wales and the Birmingham and South Staffordshire dis- trict, respectively, will be cancelled, and the basis already applicable to the rest of the country will become general. The Railway Gazette recalls that in 1905 the railway com- panies introduced revised regulations in the Birmingham and South Staffordshire district, and a couple of years later in South Wales. For a considerable time there was strong opposition to the new regulations on the part of traders in South Wales, who withheld payment of the demurrage charges due. At a later date, however, they fell in with the decision given in the Scotch Courts in 1910 in a test case brought by the Glasgow and South-Western Railway Company against a colliery company, this decision being in favour of the railway company. A revised and modified scale of charges was introduced on January 1, 1913, in the areas outside of the two districts where special regulations were already in force. This met with some amount of opposition from chambers of trade, various other bodies, and individual traders, and the railway companies, after several conferences with the parties chiefly interested, agreed to concede further modifications, with the result that the regulations were favourably amended as from February 1, 1915. The regulations, as amended on this occasion, viz., those which will become general next year, are as set out above. - Plan View. — -t- Figs. 1 and^2.—End Elevation'and Plan of Kep System. S3 Bi ■ .--f Fig. 3.—Side View of Kep Gear, Showing Cage on the Fan Kbps. the. cage on the winding ropes when withdrawing the keps preparatory to lowering; the action of withdrawing the keps is such that the eage is lowered on to the rope, and not dropped. The kep blocks and kep block housings are made from hard cast steel, accurately machined to slide one in the other; the operating shaft bearing is in one piece, with rope by the keps, due to their special construction. They are operated by a hand lever, which withdraws the keps under full load ready for lowering without having to raise the cage off the keps, and this effects great economy where electric winders are used, and also saves the ropes and time on any system of winding; (3) this is the most suitable type for use when winding is carried on from several levels in the same shaft; (4) if the keps are left in, the upward-going cage passes them, and they automatically drop back ready to receive the cage when it lands at the docking level; (5) they can be arranged to suspend the cage from the top hoops of the same, or from the bottom, as is the general practice with other types of kep gear; (6) the construction is such that practically no loads come on the levers and pins: thereby the wear of the same is negligible, the load being taken on the keps and housing eastings only. The drawing illustrates a set of patent kep gear, arranged to support the cages at their bottom hoops. The keps are supported on their kep girders, and coupled together by means of rods and shafts; the position of the hand lever and quadrant may be arranged to suit the conditions of the site. The following are the leading particulars of the different types of these patent kep gears :— Total loads due Freight weight Size. to one cage of keps for in tons. two cages. 1 . 0—10 _____ 1’3 tons. 2 _____ 10—20 ..... 2'1 „ 3 ..... 20—30 ..... 3'2 „ 4.............30—40 ..... 4'25 „