August 11, 1916. THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN 269 REDUCING AND ENLARGING PLANS. The smallest scale permissible for colliery plans in this country is now, for mines opened up after the passing of the Act, 40 in. to the mile, or | in. to 66 ft. Where the concession is a small one a scale much larger than the minimum is often used with advantage. In these small undertakings the advance of the face is not very rapid, and a larger scale plan gives more space for printing dates of surveys, level figure, and any other information which may from time to time have to be put thereon. Moreover, the face or extent of any particular survey may, if required, be more clearly traced. The advance all over the field is more clearly shown the larger the scale used. This minimum permissible scale is that usually adopted in the collieries of Scotland, and is found a very convenient one for the working plans of an average size estate. When it is desired to have under view the whole field or district for the purpose of the economical lay-out of the working, a much smaller scale must be adopted—one such as would show the area in a convenient and workable size of a plan, without being bulky or unwieldy. On such .occasions the Ordnance scale of 25 in. to the mile is used, as the 25 in. sheets of the required area can be mounted to form suitable plans. Ordnance sheets are usually mounted for this purpose, though the practice is not to be recommended, since when these sheets are used too much surface is shown, and, besides, the surface of the sheets is not of a very durable quality. A much better course is to, procure good mounted plan paper and on it reduce the surface shown on the working plans. To reduce the surface or the underground workings of a colliery, various methods may be employed, all of them differing in accuracy. Provided that the same surface is shown on both plans, the smaller and larger scale proportional compasses may be used. With these compasses, however, only small areas can be conveniently reduced, and, moreover, the surfaces of both plans are liable to be injured by the operation, which consists in taking off and applying a number of lengths to the face of the respective plans. Another objection to this method is the considerable time required to reduce even a small area. A more rapid but less accurate method is that in which squared paper is used, a piece of tracing being divided into squares, the sides of which generally represent a chain length on the scale of the plan which is to be reduced, whilst & similar piece of the paper is divided into similar squares on the reduced scale required. The first piece of paper is laid on the large scale plan, and the relative positions of the Table A.-—Analysis of Samples. No. of sample. Thickness sampled. Proximate analysis. Yield crude oil in gals, per ton.* Remarks. Gas m cubic feet per ton. 1 Mois- ture. Volatile matter. ' Fixed ; carbon. 1 A K | Ash. 1 Ft.in. 0 8 3’0 37’3 (531) 32’9 (46’9) 26’8 51’0 (35’2) Finely laminated, brittle, conchoidal 6,510 Coked 2 0 5 2-7 30'6 (58’4) 2F8 (41-6) 44’9 31’9 (22’0) coal, with brown streak. Films of calcite on cleats. Har -, dull, laminated, conchoidal coal, 6,407 slightly. Did not 3 1 9 3’3 37*4 (49’4) 40'3 (50’6) 19’0 39’0 (26’9) i with dark brown streak. About 20 per cent, of coarse coaly brown shale (acci- dentally included) i emovedfrom sample. Alostly bright laminated conchoidal coal 8,510 coke. Coked 4 1 1 3*3 39’5 (49'6) 40-2 (50’4) 17’0 41’5 (28’6) with dark brown po-wder and well- marked cleats. ! Slightly duller and less pure than 3. 8,406 slightly. Caked 5 0 6 3’1 39*4 (47’2) 44’0 (52’8) 13’5 44’7 (30’8) Coaly shale inclusions amounting to 10 per cent, removed from sample. Fine grained laminated conchoidal coal, 8,970 only. Coked 6 1 6 3*4 391 (46-8) 44’4 (53*2) 131 38’3 (26’4) with a few jet-like seams. About 3 per cent, coaly shale included. Bright laminated conchoidal coal, some 9,430 slightly. Coked of it jet-like, but most well cleated with dark-brown powder. slightly. * The oil yield was determined by heating the sample in an iron tube and measuring the oil collected and the gas evolved in the process. Table B. Analysis of Drillings. No. of sample. Thickness sampled. Proximate analysis. Yield ’ crude oil in gals. ; per ton.* Remarks. Gas in cubic feet _per ton. 1 Mois- ture. Volatile matter. Fixed carbon. Ash. ‘ 7 Ft.in. 4 0 3’3 39’5 (49’3) 40’6 (50’7) 16’6 41’5 (28’6) Mostly ground up hard conchoidal coal— less than in. in greatest diameter. In the test tube it gives off large quantities of brown oily liquor and leaves a weakly coked residue. Ground up (gunpowder-like) conchoidal 8,610 1 Coked A. 3 8? 4’0 ; 35’0 (45’2) 42’5 (54’8) 18’5 slightly. coal. * “ The crude oil was of similar appearance to that obtained from samples 1 to 6.”—Government Analyst. workings or roadways, which are visible through the tracing paper, are sketched on to the other piece of bracing paper containing the reduced squares. This reduced work can then be transferred to the plan in any suitable manner. When it is remembered that the work has to be sketched in on the reduced squares, its accuracy is at once apparent; but the degree of accuracy varies inversely as the size of the squares. The third and best method, being most accurate, is to reduce or enlarge plans or drawings by means of the pantograph or eidograph, the latter being the more accurate of the two, and when made of square brass tubes, a very serviceable and suitable instrument for reducing. In using the pantograph the collars for the pencil point and the upright stock of the weight must be set at exactly similar readings, otherwise the results will be much out. Their accuracy can be checked by measuring on the two scales the travel of tracer and pencil points along straight lines. Another check must also be made before finally clamping the collars on the arms, viz., by tracing out an angle of 90degs. with the tracer and, if correct, the angle described with the pencil point will be similar. In actual use these same tests should be applied periodically. One source of trouble is that the pencil point, when revolved, describes a small circle instead of a point. This is due to faulty sharpening of pencil or the pencil holder being dented to one side. The pencil having to be lifted in its socket repeatedly, has «a tendency to move round, and if the point is no tcentral, mistakes occur. Probably, if the socket hole were square instead of round, and the pencil were thus rendered unable to revolve, more accurate results would be obtained. Two methods can be adopted for reducing colliery plans with the pantograph. One is to reduce direct from the plan on to tracing paper and then apply this to the plan. The other is to make a tracing from the plan and then lay the tracing in position on the reduced plan or beside the latter, and, by going over this tracing with the tracing point of instrument, the pencil will transcribe its work direct on to the plan. Each of these methods has advantages over the other. The former is not easy when reducing an old and cracked plan with a roller instru- ment, in which case the second method is better. Again, if the reduced plan is cracked, the second method cannot very well be adopted. The eidograph is an instrument in which the same principle is involved, but is of entirely different con- struction. The results are more accurate, though the methods are the same as when using the pantograph. To enlarge a drawing the only way to obtain correct results is by construction from original measurements. OIL FROM AUSTRALIAN COAL.* Mr. Lionel C. Ball, Third Government Geologist (Queensland), reporting on the coal at the Sugarloaf Colliery, on the Oakey-Cooyar Railway, states that a series of samples taken from the face of the coal seam now being worked, in descending order, and as far as possible omitting bands, have been subjected to close examination by the Government analyst, to determine the yield of oil, and, if possible, its quality, the amount of gas evolved, and the proximate analysis of the coal. The results are given in Table A. The crude oil distilled from each sample was a some- what thick blackish brown liquid, with an odour sug- gesting phenols. The water collected with the oil had a more or less reddish tinge. The oily distillate was not homogeneous, but contained some thick tar-like sub- stance, which had a tendency to leave the oil, and fall through the water to the bottom of the containing vessel. Eor further test the six distillates were mixed (total, 77 c.c.) and transferred to a separator. After running off the water, the oil was shaken with caustic soda solution (oz., 1’33) and ether. The washed ether layer was taken, the ether carefully evaporated, and the oil measured. It was found to have lost 31 per cent, of its volume. The alkaline liquor on acidifying with dilute sulphuric acid gave a considerable amount of black sticky tar substance, with a strong odour of phenols. A very distinct odour of pyridine was also noticed in the above tests. It is evident that the crude oily distillate contained a considerable proportion of coal tar mixed with the oil. The removal of so much tarry substance from the oil would, of course, be an important item in the economic treatment of the shale. * Queensland Government Mining Journal. Samples of drillings from two coal seams met in the bore at the respective depths of 139 ft. and 186 f:. fiom the surface were obtained from the manager. The coals are none of them low in ash, and the ash percentage is quite unreliable as a criterion of oil pro- ducing capacity. The fuel of ratio of unity indicates that they belong neither to the true humic coals nor to the true kerosene shales, but that they may be regarded as low-grade cannel coals. This is made plainer by the bracketed figures representing the composition of the theoretically pure coal substance. The variability of the ratio of volatile matter to fixed carbon is striking. Read alone, the analyst’s figures denoting oil yield are apt to be misinterpreted, the term crude oil standing for oily and tarry liquid, of which only about 70 per cent, is oil. Consequently, the correspondingly reduced yields have been interpolated (in brackets) in the tables. The gas yield is not as high as might have been expected, but that is probably due to the analyst’s care in keeping down the temperature of the retort during distillation, with a view to obtaining as great an oil yield as possible. Notwithstanding this, there is an absence of any sort of ratio between oil and gas yields. It might have been expected that a high oil production would connote a low gas yield, but any tendency towards such inverse proportion is rudely broken in several instances. The analytical results, nevertheless, should be of interest to the colliery proprietors, who may perhaps consider the advisability of having their coals more fully tested, rather than of going to any further expenditure in search of marketable oil shale. THE LATE SIR A. B. MARKHAM. We regret to announce that Sir Arthur Markham, Bart., M.P. for the Mansfield Division of Nottingham, died at his home, Newstead Abbey, Mansfield, on Saturday evening. He travelled to Mansfield on the previous Thursday, and later had one of the heart attacks from which he had suffered for many years. Sir Arthur was born in 1866, a son of the late Air. Charles Markham, of Tapton House, Derbyshire. He entered Parliament as Liberal member for the Mansfield Division of Notts at the General Election of 1900. He retained the seat with ease at each succeeding election, his last majority being over 7,000. From the first he showed himself independent, and on the Thursday before his death he was in his place in the House of Commons, asking aggressive questions as usual. By general acknowledgment, he was one of the most vigorous and picturesque figures in Parliament. He became a baronet in 1911. For several years he devoted himself to colliery engi- neering at Broad Oaks Works (C. Markham and Com- pany Limited), Chesterfield. He was one of the pioneers of the new coal field, and to him more than to any other man, probably, its speedy development within the last decade or so was due. His interest in the extension of colliery enterprise to the east of the old Barnsley and Don Valley districts dated back to the opening of the Hickleton Alain Colliery in the early ’nineties, but it was with the sinking of the Brodswrorth Main, started in 1905, that the name of Markham began to be so well known in the Doncaster district. The successful operations at Brodsworth were followed in quick succession by similar operations at Bullcroft and Edlington, both within four or five miles of Don- caster, and in both places the perseverance of Sir Arthur was severely tested by the nature of the task which con- fronted him. At Bullcroft, in particular, the difficulties of piercing water-bearing strata were encountered in an acute form, and all Sir Arthur Alarkham’s first calcula- tions were upset. The freezing process, however, proved successful when all milder measures had failed. At Edlington, in the course of an unusually deep sinking, water troubles were again encountered; but the worst difficulty came when the seam had been reached, the coal being found in the midst of a jumble of “ faults.” In both cases, however, Sir Arthur’s patience was rewarded, and to-day Brodsworth and Edlington are pro- ducing well, and are highly promising colliery property. More recently, the Markham interest has acquired large areas of coal in the neighbourhood of Barnby Dearn, which have yet to be tapped, and an interest- ing venture to which Sir Arthur committed himself a year or two ago was that of working the coal under the Doncaster racecourse and the adjoining lands, a lease of this area having been transferred from Earl Fitzwilliam. The preliminary operations for sinking are now in hand, and the actual sinking of *’ Alarkham Alain,” as it is to be called, at Wrenthorpe, close to the borders of Don- caster, will be put in hand at least as soon as the country has returned to conditions of peace. Sir Arthur was a man after the miner’s own heart. He called a spade a spade. If he had anything to say, he said it -without verbose garnishing, and it was this outspokenness and independent spirit he always exhi- bited that made him such a favourite with the industrial population he represented. His interest in their home conditions was evidenced by the fact that he laid out the colliery village at AVoodlands, attached to the Brods- worth Colliery, and associated himself in a practical manner with the welfare of other model villages in the district. In the House of Commons on Alonday, Air. Lloyd George said he felt sure that men of all parties heard of Sir Arthur’s death with regret. His sincerity, patriotism and fearlessness were undoubted. The House had lost a?i honest and a courageous representative at a time when the nation most needed such men. Sir E. Carson and Air. T. Af. Healy endorsed this tribute. Our reference to Sir Arthur would be incomplete if we