228

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

January 31, 1913.

nobody could foresee —as to how much water the pumps
might have to deal with at very short notice ? One of
the things that had always been said about the particular
measures through which this Dover shaft was sunk was
that they were exceedingly treacherous with regard to
water, and that water from the heavily-watered strata
met with about half-way down the shaft might have
percolated down to the lower beds. The earthing of the
cables of the pumps, as a consequence of the extremely
difficult conditions of fixing the cables in the shaft and
ensuring their perfect conductivity, was a very inte-
resting application, and one which was of great interest
to them all just now, when the question of earthing
cables in mines had been forced upon them in such a
very—should he say—arbitrary way as it had been
lately. He thought that all of them, including even the
authorities, had still much to learn with regard to
earthing problems, and that the matter could notremain
permanently in its present somewhat empirical state.
The case described by Dr. Herzfeld was only an extreme
instance of a not uncommon problem which many of
them—or, at any rate, those who had much water to
contend with in their shafts and workings—might here-
after have to think a good deal about.

Dr. Herzfeld, in reply to the discussion, said he was
very glad to have the opportunity of giving a few
explanations. He was in favour of surface condensers,
if he had the money to put them in, but not so much in
cases of exhaust steam installations as in those of live
steam installations, because the gain in the former was
not so considerable. The principal thing about a
surface condenser was that they needed the best possible
feed-water, and they could not get that from exhaust
steam in any case, because there was always some oil,
however good their oil-separator might be, so that in a
mine, which generally had exhaust-steam alternators
nowadays, the surface condenser had hardly the same
field as in a public electricity generating station. In
any case, the difference in capita! cost was considerable.
They could get an ejector condenser for about half the
amount. With regard to the two motors against one,
it was perfectly right that the only gain in actual coal
or power was the 4 per cent, efficiency, whereas the
difference in power factor only tended to load the cables
and alternators. But he had to deal with two old sets,
the history of which he could only gather. He knew
that they were promised to do more than they actually
did, and he had to take the greatest possible care not to
overload them. But it must not be imagined that the
mine manager depended on the electrical installation
only. There was a very ample margin of water-lifting
power from the winding engines. Moreover, the 1,800
gallons to which he had referred were really only
expected to be dealt with during the sinking of the
No. 3 pit—-i.e., for a few months. Afterwards, the
problem would be quite different, because they were
going to a lower depth, and would probably have to put
in electrical pumps at a much lower level later on. This
installation was only meant to assist in the sinking of
the second pit, and apart from its capacity there were
always the winding engines, which were capable,
in the No, 2 pit, of lifting 1,200 gallons
per minute, and there was also an attachment
in the sinking pit for lifting the water. As regarded the
two motors, however, the saving of 12,13, or 14 per cent,
in current was not the only point. Another was the
reserve created by two motors as compared with one;
and this proved a great boon. There had been some
slight trouble, on account of the very severe conditions in
the pit, to keep the installation up. One motor suffered
slightly, and pumping had been done with the other
motor for a considerable time, with the slightly reduced
speed. He did not think it would have been necessary
in this case to double the pumps too, because pumps, as
a rule, from his experience, were more reliable than the
motors coupled to them; and in this case they had
proved excellent, although the quality of the water was
very detrimental to all the working parts, for they had
behaved splendidly. All the inner parts were of bronze,
on account of the saline qualities of the water. To instal
one generator for each pump, and to do away with any
switch gear apart from the connecting link—which, of
course, had to be provided for the pump, not only to
meet Home Office regulations, but also for practical
purposes—would do away with one great boon which the
electricity gave—namely, the concentration of energy
for all purposes, which must not be interfered with.
Perhaps he had omitted from his paper a reference to
a few other purposes which the electricity served at the
colliery. There had been some underground fan-driving,
workshop, and lighting and various smaller drives, and,
of course, in future there would be much more, and the
switchgear would have to be added later if it had not
been put in right away. Replying to Mr. Chorlton, he
said the capital cost of the whole installation had been

very low indeed. It had to be, because the people who
were controlling the mine did not intend spending more
money on this thing than was absolutely necessary.
That was why, in the first instance, it was not decided
to make the generating station so ample that all these
considerations would have fallen to the ground. It was
under these special circumstances that the installation
had been designed as it had.

The vote of thanks was carried with heartiness, and
was briefly acknowledged by Dr. Herzfeld.

Compressed Air in Mines.

A paper was then presented by Mr. G-. Blake
Walker, which will be found on page 225.

Before the meeting closed the President made
reference to the proposal of the council that Mr. J. R.
Robinson Wilson, H.M. inspector of mines for the
Liverpool and North Wales division, should be presented
with his portrait, and expressed a hope that subscrip-
tions would be promptly forthcoming. Mr. Wilson was
for a number of years an inspector in the York and
North Midland district, and was highly esteemed. He
became a member of the Midland Institute in April,
1894, he was elected a member of the council in July
1896, and president in 1906-7. He has always taken a
very keen interest in the work and progress of the
institute, and has done much for it in many ways. The
appreciation which is felt for him is shown in the
following paragraphs, from the circular issued by the
council with reference to the presentation: “As
inspector of mines he has shown great ability and
devotion to his duties, which he has performed with due
consideration of the difficulties with which the members
who have the responsibility of managing collieries have
to contend ; and it is a matter of regret that his official
connection with the Yorkshire district has ceased.
Removal, however, to a neighbouring county will not,
it is believed, lessen Mr. Wilson’s interest in the future
prosperity of the Midland Institute, and we shall hope
to see him amongst us from time to time as far as the
duties of his new office will allow.” In presenting
Mr. Wilson with his portrait, the institute will be
following the precedent which it set in 1892, when
Mr. John Gerrard was presented with his portrait on
being transferred from Yorkshire to Lancashire.

British Electrical and Allied Manufacturers’ Associa-
tion.—The annual meeting of this association was held on
the 24th inst. The report for 1912 stated that the text of
the general conditions of contract most commonly in use by
engineering purchasers had been very thoroughly amended,
and copies of the complete text would be available shortly.
A scheme by which sub-contractors would tender direct to
the purchaser had been devised, and was embodied in the
cross-tendering agreement. The committee dealing with
the revision of standards for electrical machinery had com-
pleted its investigations on standard pressures and
frequencies, high potential tests, classification of machines,
rating, overloads, and heating, and the findings would
shortly be presented to the Engineering Standards Com-
mittee. The committee on electrical accessories would
also present recommendations to the electrical accessories
section of the same committee. Arrangements were on foot
for the formation of a joint exhibition committee. A joint
committee of the association and the Contractors’ Associa-
tion was now discussing rules to govern the relations
between members of the respective associations.— The
annual dinner was held the same evening in the Savoy
Hotel, Lord Ampthill, the president of the association,
presiding over a company of about 300 members and guests.
The toast of the association was proposed by Mr. Samuel
Insull (president of the Commonwealth Edison Company, of
Chicago), who commented upon the lack of co-operation,
not only between those engaged in the manufacturing
business, but also between the manufacturers of electrical
apparatus and the manufacturers of energy. Progress across
the Atlantic, he said, had been largely promoted by such
co-operation. In responding to the toast, Mr. A. Bruce
Anderson (chairman of the council) said the association
had now achieved a position in which they expected
to be heard, and where they had found it necessary to
speak they had been heard. He referred to the hard work
and tact of Mr. Dunlop, the secretary. In proposing the
toast of “ British Industry,” Mr. L. Worthington Evans,
M.P., spoke of the close association of capital and brains,
and, alluding to the export of capital, pleaded for a closer
community between those who supplied the capital for
foreign undertakings, the contractors, and those who sup-
plied the material. To-day there was an increasing tendency
towards combinations in all departments, and they
were necessary to counter the interference of the State
with business. Lord Ampthill, who replied, remarked that
great prosperity had a deteriorating effect upon political
life, and they could no longer trust Parliament to interest
itself in the maintenance of industry. What they wanted
was a far-sighted promotion of British industry. Other
speakers included Dr. S. Z. de Ferranti, Mr. W. Duddell,
F.R.S. (president of the Institution of Electrical Engineers),
Col. Sir N. J. Moore (Agent-General of Western Australia)
and Mr. Hugo Hirst,

SOUTH WALES INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERS.

The quarterly general meeting of the South Wales
Institute of Engineers was held at the institute, Cardiff,
on Friday, January 24.

The following were elected to the institute:—As
members: J. W. Davison, Pontypridd; David Jones,
Taff’s Well, Glamorgan; Herbert D. Rees, Llanelly;
B. J. Scott, Cardiff; H. S. S. Scott, Pontypridd; D. S.
Thomas, Loughor, Glamorgan; and J. J. Torrance,
Ystalyfera, Glamorgan. As associate member : W. H.
Weatherley, Cardiff.

Prof. W. Galloway, F.G.S., the retiring president,
stated that the council had elected Prof. A. C. Elliott,
D.Sc., to succeed him in the presidential chair.

In taking the chair, Prof. Elliott, who was received
with enthusiasm, thanked his audience for the high
honour conferred upon him. He moved a vote of
thanks to his predecessor, Prof. Galloway, for the
consummate ability and devotion with which he had
carried out bis duties. Prof. Galloway had represented
them well and worthily in times of stress—viz., when
the King visited Cardiff—and had worthily sustained
the traditions of the society.

Principal Griffiths seconded the resolution, and
said he doubted whether they could find a better union
of science and industry than they had found in the late
president. This, he added, was one of the greatest needs
of the country.

Prof. Galloway, in responding, said that they were
fortunate in having as his successor a man of such
great eminence as Dr. Elliott, who, perhaps, better than
any other man in the Principality, represented the high-
water mark of mechanical engineering science. In
mining operations, he continued, mechanical appliances
were becoming more and more important every day, and
consequently mining engineers, members of that insti-
tute, and managers ought to take every opportunity
to become acquainted with the latest appliances that
had been brought into use here and elsewhere. In
pursuance of this object, he considered they, as well as
the young members of their profession, ought to use the
opportunities presented to them in this respect. It gave
him the greatest pleasure to see the University College
and other educational institutions in this country coming
into a more and more intimate relation with the institute
and similar mining institutes.

Presidential Address.

The President (Dr. Elliott) delivered his inaugural
address. He said:—

All sorts of material human effort is, as time flows on,
becoming more and more dependent on mechanical power.
Everything and everybody depend upon power, and power
practically depends on coal, and we must now add oil. The
mining records of the country began in 1854, and the figures
from that date to 1863, inclusive—a period of 10 years—
was, so to speak, the inadequate base from which the late
Prof. Jevons, of Manchester, projected into the future, as
far as 1961, his curve of probable output, for which year he
obtained the enormous figure of 2,607’5 million tons.

Dr. Elliott said that in 1902 he himself wrote:—

Jevons, to do him the merest justice, did not pretend to
forecast the output anything like so far toward as 1961;
but, on the contrary, his chief point, in his own words, was
that the arguments he had advanced, backed by these
somewhat speculative calculations, tended to show that
“We cannot long maintain our present rate of increase of
consumption, that we can never advance to the higher rates
of consumption supposed. But this only means that the
check to our progress must become perceptible considerably
within a century from the present time (1865).”

Still, 1871 saw the estimate as close as possible on the
mark, and to all appearances 1881 might have signalised
the beginning of the decline prognosticated. In 1902 there
was no indication from bis own calculations that the curve
was beginning to foreshadow a maximum output even at a
still distant future. Dr. Elliott said he had recently
re-examined the figures of the mining records over the
whole period now available, namely, from 1854 to 1911 inclu-
sive—58 years. The results were somewhat startling. The
curve was distinctly bent in the sense of showing an
increasing rate of increase of output. There was, there-
fore, still no foreshadowing of the time when the output
would reach a maximum. This in a sense was satisfactory,
for none of them would, in all probability, live to see a
diminution of industrial activity as the result of diminished
output of coal from whatever cause arising. On the other
hand, the answer to that insistent and disturbful question f
“ How long will the store last according to the estimate of
the law now governing the output ? ” had become propor-
tionately dwarfed, and as compared with the former answer
of 150 years, it had been shortened to something like 100
years. No dramatic failure of their coal supply on account
of sudden exhaustion could ever occur. Due to the gradual
operation of physical and economic causes, and the possible
appearance of some great rival, the output would probably
gently attain a maximum, and then diminish, and the rate
of diminution would doubtless be so proportioned that
actual exhaustion would never be attained in all time.