December 10, 1915.

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

1197

The “ Diamond ” Coal Cutting and Conveying Machines.

By T. CAMPBELL FUTERS, M.I.M.E.

(Continued from page 1132.)

Turning now to conveying machinery, the Diamond
Coal Cutter Company Limited are the sole licensees for
the manufacture of the Blackett conveyor, shown in
fig. 21, which appears to have been the first practical
conveyor for the longwall system of working, and was
patented by Mr. W. C. Blackett in 1902. It consists

of an endless chain, working in a fixed trough. The
coal is thrown into the trough, and the chain scrapes it
along to the delivery end.

Following this, in 1904, Mr. Sidney Bates took out a
patent for a bogie type of conveyor, a very simple
apparatus, consisting practically of a small coal tub
mounted on wheels, which was hauled backwards and
forwards along the face by ropes and a small hand
winch. Its discharge was, of course, intermittent. This
was followed soon after by the Gibb conveyor, which con-
sisted of several small bogies attached together, and
hauled by a compressed air or electric motor. Other
conveyors of the intermittent type are the Cummings
and Nelson conveyors, both of which have been

conveyor, in which the pans were slung on chains from
props. This appears to be the first practical application
of an under conveyor worked on the Zimmer or Marcus
conveyor principle. Milligan, in 1908, patented an
apparently practical form of jigging trough conveyor for

,w

Fig. 21.—Blackett’s Patent Coal-face Conveyor.



also patented in 1908 by Inglis and McPhee, and subse-
quently by Thompson and Ritchie, Hare, and others.
In all of these the loading gate was placed in the centre
of the coal face, and the coal conveyed alternatively
from either side of the gate. Scraper chains, bogies,
belts, and plates were employed by these several inven-
tors as the conveying medium. An inversion of the
Blackett patent was protected by Allerdiee in 1910, the
coal being scraped along by the return chain on the
floor.

In 1909 the roller j'igging conveyor began to be
adopted in steep mines in Austria and other parts of the



PACK

PACK

PACK

□
□

a

Fig. 22.—The United-Bridgewater Patent Centre-gate Conveyor.

Fig. 23.

Fig. 24.

Figs. 23, 24 and 25.—“ Diamond ” Compressed-air-driven Jigging Conveyor.









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£

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described in the Colliery Guardian. Various other
forms of conveyors were introduced, amongst others, the
Sutcliffe continuous conveyor, which consisted of an
endless belt mounted on a fixed frame. In 1908 the
Summerlea Iron Company introduced a jigging trough

mines, and later Reiger’s patent described, for similar
conveyors, the roller principle for supporting the troughs,
as previously used by Marcus and others for screening
and conveying purposes.

Intermittent conveyors on somewhat novel lines were

Continent. These all followed the general principle
adopted by Marcus, but improvements in detail were
made by Kinselmann, Eickhoff, and others to adapt the
conveyor to underground conditions.

In all longwall conveyors it has hitherto been neces-