THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN

AND

JOURNAL OF THE COAL AND IRON TRADES.

Vol. CXII.	FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1916.	No. 2917.

AMERICAN COAL TIPPLES.—II.*

By HENRY J. EDSALL.

The Warrior Coal Company’s plant is located at War,
West Virginia, on the Dry Fork branch of the Norfolk
and Western Railroad, and was built in 1915. The coal
is comparatively clean, and as most of the impurities
occur in the larger pieces, the picking is done entirely on
the conveyor leading from the dump hopper to the
screens.

The coal is fed from the hopper by means of a feeder,
and passes over a lip screen so as to bring the slack on
the bottom, and then goes to the apron conveyor, on
which the picking is done, and from which the
coal is discharged to the shaking screens. The
apron conveyor is 5 ft. wide by 75 ft. centres, and
is set at a slight incline. The refuse removed
from the coal is dropped into a hopper, and taken
away by mine cars. The shaking screens (fig. 1)
are 6 ft. wide, and of the double balanced type.

There are four tracks under the screen house,
the lump and egg coal, or run-of-mine, being
loaded on two of these by means of loading
booms, and stoker coal being loaded on the
remaining two by means of chutes. Provision
is also made for loading run-of-mine by means
of an emergency chute, in case it is necessary to
shut down the shaking screens or loading booms
for repairs.

The plaint of the Tierney Mining Company
(fig. 2) is, in general arrangement, somewhat
similar to the plant of the Warrior Coal Com-
pany. It is located at Stone, Kentucky, on the
Williamson and Pond Creek branch of the Nor-
folk and Western Railroad. The tipple has a
capacity of 400 tons per hour, and is equipped
with balanced shaking screens 8 ft. wide. Lump
and egg coal is loaded by means of loading booms,
and there are horizontal sections of these loading
boom conveyors used as picking tables. Provi-
sion is also made so that the slack and nut can
afterwards be re-combined with the egg and lump,
thereby making a carefully picked run-of-mine.

The coal is transferred from the dump hopper
to the shaking screens by means of an apron con-
veyor set at a slight downward incline, and the
preliminary picking is done on this conveyor. A
reciprocating feeder delivers the coal over the lip
screen to the apron, so that the slack will be
on the bottom and the lump on top. The
screens separate the coal into lump, egg, nut, and slack,
which can be loaded separately on four different tracks,
two of these being served by loading booms and two by
means of chutes; or by means of a mixing conveyor, the
smallest sizes can be added to the larger, so as to form
almost any combination desired. The lower run of
the mixing conveyor acts also as a refuse conveyor, and
takes the refuse up to a hopper on the hillside, from
which it is removed by mine cars.

The apron conveyor from the dump hopper to the
screens is 5 ft. wide by 73ft. centres; this conveyor,
the screens and a small cross conveyor for transferring
slack to the mixing conveyor are all driven by a 35 horse-
power motor. The two loading boom conveyors are
driven by a 10 horse-power motor. The mixing and
refuse conveyor, which is of the flight conveyor type
with two strands of chain, is driven by a 20 horse-power
motor. The tipple structure is built entirely of wood.

Fig. 3 shows an interior view of the steel tipple of the
Allegheny River Mining Company, at the Cagodan Mine,
on the Allegheny River, opposite Logansport, Penn-
sylvania. At this mine two seams of coal are mined,
the lower Freeport and the upper Kittanning, and the
tipple is built double so that the two kinds of coal
can be handled separately or combined in any propor-
tion desired. Each of the two sets of equipment has a
capacity of 250 tons per hour, which makes a total
possible capacity for the tipple of 500 tons per hour.

The mine oars are brought in on two bracks, each of
which has its own dump hopper and its own kickback for
running the empties back on another track, where they
are picked up by a short ear haul conveyor and taken
up to a somewhat higher level for making up into trains.
This arrangement brings the dump house down close to
the ground level, and reduces the amount of structure
necessary. Each dump hopper delivers to an inclined
apron conveyor 3 ft. 6 in. wide by 120 ft. centres, which
takes the coal up an incline, and delivers it to two sets

* See Colliery Guardian, August 25, 1916, p. 349.

of double balanced shaking screens 6 ft. wide. The
screens separate the coal into slack, nut and lump, the
smaller sizes being delivered by means of chutes to
cars on two tracks under the screen house, and the larger
sizes to two other tracks by means of loading booms.

The picking is done on horizontal sections of the load-
ing boom conveyors. For taking care of the bone and
refuse, there is a double chain flight conveyor, with a
partition in the middle, so that the bone can be handled
on one side and the refuse on the other; this is done so

■tool

. ■ • «

- • •• »'

• cjex:

Fig. 1.—Shaking Screen and Loading Boom at the
Warrior Coal Company Plant.







J

’">■ -

Fig. 2.—Tipple Arrangement of

the Tierney Mining Company.

that the bone may be crushed and used in the boilers,
whereas the refuse is taken away in mine cars and dis-
posed of. This same partition flight conveyor connects
with a cross conveyor, which is also partitioned, and
takes care of the mixing of the smaller with the larger
sizes, and also the mixing of the two coals from the
different seams. In addition to this, there is an emer-
gency run-of-mine chute leading from the head of each
apron conveyor, so that unprepared coal can be delivered
to ears on one track in case the screens or loading booms
are shut down for repairs.

The motive power is derived from two 50 horse-power
motors for the apron conveyors and the screens, one 25
horse-power motor for the refuse conveyor and crusher,
one of the same horse-power motor for the trip feeder,
another for the trip maker, one 5 horse-power motor for

the boiler house conveyor, and one 7| horse-power motor
for the reciprocating feeder. This tipple is built with
steel frames covered with corrugated iron, with ample
windows and wire glass skylights for giving plenty of
light, and with trimmer walks alongside of the railroad
ears for use of the trimmers.

A very complete steel tipple is shown; in figs. 4 and 5,
and is being erected for the Powhatan Coal and Mining
Company, at Powhatan, West Virginia. In this case,
the preparation is to be carried still further, by
separating the pea and slack coal, the device for accom-
plishing this Being a rotary cylindrical screen. It
obviously would not be feasible to attempt to separate
these very small sizes by use of a shaking screen, as
the slack would tend to pass over the small openings,
instead of going through them.

The dump house in this case is up on a hillside, and
the coal is lowered to the screens by means of a retard-
ing conveyor of the double strand flight type. The
shaking screens are 8 ft. wide, and of the double
balanced type. There are five tracks under the screen
house, three of these being served by loading booms,
and two by chutes. The sizes into which the coal is to
be separated are lump, egg, nut, pea, and slack, and
the picking is to be done on horizontal sections of the
loading boom conveyors.

The refuse is to be taken care of by means of a
double strand flight conveyor, the upper run of which
will connect with a cross conveyor, and also act as a
mixing conveyor for mixing the smaller sizes with the
larger. The cross conveyor also transfers the pea and
slack to a short inclined conveyor, which in turn
delivers to a gravity discharge elevator conveyor, with
V-shaped buckets between two strands of roller chain,
which takes these sizes up to the rotary screen. The
rotary screen delivers the pea coal to a 150-ton pea bin,
and the slack to a 300-ton slack bin underneath the
shaking screens at the rear end of the loading boom
conveyors. There is also a conveyor for pea and
re-screened coal running at right angles to the loading
boom conveyors, and serving to carry the pea coal from
the bin over to the outside track or to a hopper for
house coal. The lower run of this conveyor takes the
slack from the re-screen hoppers over and delivers it
to the cross slack conveyor.

The re-screened coal comes from screens in the
hoppers or chutes underneath the shaking screens, so
that the larger sizes are re-screened in this manner, and
all slack is taken out, thereby making a more perfectly
screened coal on the loading boom conveyors. The
gravity discharge machine encircles the pea and slack
bins, the upper run taking the slack out and delivering it
to the bin, and the lower run bringing the pea back and
delivering it to the pea and re-screenings conveyor.

This tipple is built entirely of steel, covered with
corrugated iron. Ample provision is made for light at