THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN >■ AND JOURNAL OF THE COAL AND IRON TRADES. Vol. CXIII. FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 1917. No. 2944. AMERICAN COAL TIPPLES.—III. The Eureka tipple of the Berwind-White Coal Mining Company, near Houtzdale, Penn., was designed with the object of reducing the number of operators to a minimum. Automatic eagers and spotters, double- deck cages and power dumps are used throughout, so that two men can operate the tipple with a capacity of 2,000 to 2,500 tons per day, while it takes f6ur to six men on an average tipple in the same district with a capacity of only 1,000 tons per day. A trip of loaded cars brought to the shaft is delivered one car at a time by the automatic car spotter to the lower deck of the double-deck cage. When, the cage is hoisted to the tipple level, the horns on the lower deck automatically open and allow the car to run by gravity to the transfer dump. The cars are fed to the transfer dump one at a time by an automatic car* spotter controlled by the dump. After the car has been dis- charged, it is automatically deposited by the transfer dump on to the upper deck of the tipple and runs by gravity from this point to the car spotter next to the. cage. This car spotter is controlled by the cage and Empty Hinged Track for Passing Slate Car Dump Guides-- A \iUpper Floor 1 of Tipple ■ Floating Deck Floating Deck Dump-control Valve A Fig. 1.—Houtzdale Tipple. ''■■Automatic'' Spotters ■ Auxiliary Cylinders (On) Secfidn A-A Boiler House -r Da Track ruel A E \gGates Lower Floor if'OfFpple,, ’Bypass for Regulating Cylinder (Steam) ■■ C Power Dump, Spotters and Coal Chutes. allows the empty cars to run one at a time by gravity on to the upper deck of the cage at the same instant that the loaded car runs off the lower deck: Thus the operations of discharging the loaded car from the cage and receiving the empty car are performed simul- taneously. When the cage reaches the bottom of the shaft, the upper deck, which carries the empty car, is automatically tilted so as to discharge the empty car by gravity. To dispose of a load of slate as it is received on the tipple, a hinged portion of track, immediately in front of the transfer dump, can be closed and the car run through the dump and thence out to the slate trestle. As the cage comes to rest on the keps at the top of the shaft the horns that hold the loaded car on the lower deck are automatically thrown out and the car runs down its 4 per cent, grade on to the tipple floor. This grade changes immediately to 1*66 per cent, for a distance of 28 ft. * For a short distance from this point, the car receives another start on a 3 per cent, grade and is then slowed up by a 1J per cent, grade as it crosses the scales and enters the spotters in front of the dump. The weighing is done “ on the run ” by “ Standard ” 5-ton track scales, and the cars are then run into a set of automatic spotters, the same as those at the bottom of the shaft, except that these are operated entirely by the power dump itself through a crank and lever shown at F (fig. 1). The cars, which are fed automatically, wait their turn on a grade, and are released when the cage, or dump, comes into position by the automatic/ swinging horns, known as “spotters.” The “Greene” patented power dump, which permits of the double- deck tipple being used, has three essential parts:— namely, a floating track section A (fig. 1), a set of guides B and a steam cylinder C, which is supplied with a governing device in the shape of two auxiliary oil cylinders placed either side of the regulating cylinder. There are no counterweights. A shock absorber is provided, forming part of the floating track section. This engages the front wheels of the loaded car D. Starting with the floating track section in its normal position in register with the lower runway tracks, a loaded car runs on to the dump. (With floating track section in its normal position, the actuating piston is at the bottom of its cylinder.) The loaded car having engaged the horns, the operator lets steam into the bottom part of the cylinder, causing the piston to travel upward. This movement is transferred to the floating deck section through the rack and gear segment shown at E, and the lever B, causing the rear end of the floating track section to rise. As this rises, the loaded car is tilted to an inclination of 60 degs., providing the dumping action. • '' . \ ’ The regulating cylinder, with its auxiliary oil cylinder governors, controls the dumping, of the car absolutely, providing a smooth, steady movement, fast or slow at the will of the operator ; or the Lear can be"... joggled if need be. The car being discharged, the floating track section with the car travels upward, under the influence of the steam cylinder, until it registers with the upper track. The shock absorber springs, having been under com- pression all this time, extend themselves. The resultant push applied to the car, together with the favourable grade on the floating section, causes a rapid emergence of the empty car on to the upper runway. The floating track section being empty, the dumper allows the steam to /exhaust from the regulating cylinder, permitting this section to drop into register with the lower runway, just reversing the cycle of upward movements in dumping and transferring. The drop of the floating track section is cushioned by the regulating cylinder and takes place fast or slow at the will of the dumper. As the empty car leaves the dump it runs by gravity to take its place in front of the shaft. It is fed on to the cage by another set of spotters that feed the cars one at a time to the upper Cage deck. The equipment of the tipple consists of two complete duplicate units: two cages, two dumps, and two sets of upper and lower tracks. The dump is placed about 50 ft. from the shaft, and the track lay-out on the two floors of the tipple is such that all the cars can be run to either dump or cage. In connection with the transfer dumps there is one chute constructed of |-inch steel plates of sufficient width at the top to receive the coal from both dumps. vi To Gob Pile Double Crossovers on each Deck 7 Diam. Sheaves Plan -Greene Power Dump idds CLDumpi Hoisting I383JI. Unloading* ■empty cars from Cage (Drivers car to cage) Sump WEIGH OFFICE: Double-deck Cage 'Trolley for Hoisting Sheaves Greene Power Dump.^ —I------- WEIGH I OFFICE Hinge Track for Passing Slate Cars. [ Slate CarsK D " Automatic ■■■•;'' Car Spotters ’V "Pack far Surface £ -- - -,62.5 ■ TRACK T/LTTR Fig. 2.—Houtzdale Tipple. General Arrangement. This terminates at the lower end in a pair of curved chutes with a fly gate leading to the two loading tracks. At the end of each of these curved chutes is a hinged loading chute in two sections, each section being pro- vided with loading fingers of forged steel. There is also provided a by-pass chute for diverting coal to a crusher. CoaLthus diverted'is used undei’ the mine’s own boilers. One man below on the railroad cars operates the chutes. When working at top speed the tipple can handle four cars per minute over each dump. The headframe and tipple are entirely of steel con- struction, excepting the floors, and the sides and roof of the tipple are covered with asbestos-protected metal. Fig. 3 illustrates 'a standard shaker screen and picking table equipment for a large shaft mine located in central Illinois. - t , , Referring; to;fig.,3, the coal is hoisted from the pit bottom to the point of dump with standard self-dumping cages, by which it is automatically dumped from the pit car into the weigh basket, where it is weighed on a run-of-mine basis. After being weighed, the entire charge of coal is dumped immediately into the receiving hopper, from which it is fed regularly by a reciprocating feeder on to the shaker screens. The feeder has an adjustable stroke which enables the rate of feed to be regulated to meet the; maximum speed of hoisting required at this mine, to the end that each pit-car of coal shall be fed out of the receiving hopper by the time the next load is discharged from the weigh basket, thus obtaining a regular distribution of the coal to the shaker screens. This being a four-track installation, the slack is taken out as indicated by the upper screen and delivered by a chute directly into the car on the slack track. A part of this product may also be diverted by an auxiliary valve in the lower deck of the slack screen and sent to the boiler coal bin in the location indicated on the plan. From this bin the coal is taken to the boiler room by a conveyor. The nut coal is removed on the upper end of the lower screen and delivered by a curved end loading chute directly into the car on the nut track. The egg coal is next removed on the lower section of the lower screen and delivered carefully on to the egg picking table and loading boom. The lump passing over this egg screen is delivered off the end of the lower screen directly on to the lump picking table and loading boom. In addition to the four divisions of coal which may be loaded separately into the slack, nut, egg and dump cars, any combination of these sizes,, may be made by simply.closing valves in the lower deck of the screen, the slack coal being, for instance, loaded with the nut, thereby making a combined nut and slack for stoker use or any similar purpose. By closing a valve in the nut screen, the nut coal may be carried over and delivered on to the egg picking table and loading boom and loaded out with this coal, thereby making the- combination of egg and nut. This product is first picked and then carefully lowered into the railroad car. If a further combination of sizes is required, the slack may also be brought forward and loaded out over the egg loading boom with the nut and egg, thereby making a run-of-mine coal up to and including egg size. Lastly, by closing the valves in the lower deck of both screens, run-of-mine will be delivered to the lump picking table and loading boom and loaded out over this boom as run- of-mine coal, including such picking as it is possible to make on a run-of-mine product, which is meagre. In order to reduce the number of units of machinery entering into its construction and simplify each unit as far as possible consistent with the best results, Prof. Marcus has invented the combination screen and picking table, illustrated in fig. 4. The coal is brought to the plant by a convey or and delivered directly into the receiving hopper from which it is delivered on to the screen. If the coal was brought in the pit car to a point directly above the receiving hopper and deposited therein by means of a crossover dump, the only difference in the design would be the insertion of a feeder at the lower end of the receiving hopper for regulating the flow of coal on to the screen. On this plan the same result is accomplished by the conveyor. After delivering the coal on to the upper deck of this horizontal screen, the nut and slack are first removed in combination on the upper deck and then the slack is removed from the nut on the middle deck; carried forward on the lower deck and delivered through the