February 7, 1913.

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

291

It is with regret that we announce the death
of Earl Crawford, who was largely interested in
the coal trade, for many years acting as chairman
of the Wigan Coal and Iron Company Limited.

A joint conference in regard to the recent
increase in the coal-mixing charges at the South
Wales docks was held at the Cardiff Exchange
on Monday afternoon. It was stated at the
close that no agreement had been arrived at.
No arrangements were made for a continuance
of negotiations.

The Home Office has issued a list of the
successful candidates at the examination held
by the Board for Mining Examinations on
November 26, 27 and 28, 1912. There were
37 successful candidates for first-class, 69 for
second, and 17 for surveyors’ certificates.

At Thurcroft, near Rotherham, where sinking
operations were begun over three years ago, the
Barnsley seam of coal has been found. At Wath
Main the Parkgate seam has been struck.

There was a large attendance of mining
officials at the University College, Nottingham,
on Saturday afternoon, to hear a lecture on
“ Coaldust Explosions and their Prevention,” by
Dr. W. E. Garforth. Dr. Garforth has been
elected an honorary member of the Midland
Counties Institution of Mining Engineers.

The International Miners’ Committee are to
consider the proposals from the various national
unions on the proposed regulation of the coal
output, and draft a scheme which is to be
discussed at the next International Congress.
On behalf of the British miners, it is suggested
that the International Committee should have
power at any time to recommend a reduction of
working days to four or three per week for a
period, that being put forward as better than a
strike or taking a week or a fortnight’s holiday.

Both the owners’ and the workmen’s repre-
sentatives in the South Wales coalfield on
Saturday gave notice to the Conciliation Board
of their desire to vary the wage rate. The
owners demand a reduction of 1J per cent., and
the workmen claim 2^ per cent advance. The
Conciliation Board will have the matter before
it on February 10.

Un Wednesday, the Trade Unions (No. 2)
Bill was read a second time in the House of
Lords.

The campaign in Northumberland in favour
of the abolition of the three-shift system will be
brought to a close on the 22nd inst. The lodges
will then be balloted on the question of tendering
14 days’ notice, and, if necessary, striking, to
secure the abolition of the system.

As was anticipated, the coalowners’ and men’s
representatives on the Scottish Conciliation
Board for the coal trade failed to agree at
Tuesday’s meeting at Glasgow on the question
of the wage-rate, and a neutral chairman will be
called in. The miners claimed an advance of
25 per cent, on the 1888 basis, whilst the owners
claimed a reduction of 12J per cent. It was
agreed to refer both the men’s application and
the question of the competency of the owners’
counter-claim to arbitration, both matters to be
dealt with during the next fortnight.

In North Wales the Mining officials’ Associa-
tion is threatening drastic action because of the
refusal of the coalowners to receive a deputation
from the association with regard to matters
connected with the wages and privileges of fire-
men and shot-firers in the mines. Notices
terminating all agreements affecting the grades
mentioned, to expire on February 12, were
issued on Tuesday.

The result of the miners’ ballot on the question
of demanding five days a week was declared at
a meeting of the executive committee of the I

Miners’ Federation of Great Britain in London
yesterday, the figures being : In favour, 231,741;
against, 171,270. The executive committee
passed a resolution stating, in their opinion, no
action could be taken on the adoption of a general
five days per week policy by the figures shown
in the ballot.

The Home Secretary has consented to receive
a deputation, consisting of the executive of the
Miners’ Federation of Great Britain, on Thurs-
day next, February 13, on the question of
evictions of workmen from their homes during
trade disputes. The question is one of great
interest to miners, as many colliery companies
provide the houses for their workmen.

In the previous articles upon
Safety Lamp this subject* we have endea-
Classes. voured to show our readers that
the danger arising out of the
failure of lamp glasses due to their intrinsic
imperfection or weakness was recognised by
the Belgian authorities in 1905, and an
exhaustive enquiry into the subject was com-
menced by Messrs. Watteyne and Stassart, at
the Frameries Testing Station in that year.

As the result of this enquiry, a Ministerial
Order was made on December 20,1906, allowing
only glasses bearing an approved mark to be
used with safety lamps, the registration of such
mark being contingent upon specimen glasses,
submitted in accordance with specified regula-
tions, satisfactorily passing certain prescribed
tests.

A similar investigation was commenced in
France in the following year, 1907. The result
of this enquiry was reported to the French
Commission on November 26, 1908, by M.
Chesneau, Chief Engineer of Mines, who, how-
ever, was not satisfied with the Belgian method
of marking the glasses, and recommended a
system by which samples taken from each
consignment of glasses received at the mines
were to be submitted to a prescribed test carried
out at the mine itself by the mine officials. This
recommendation was adopted by the French
Commission.

In England, however, apparently nothing was
done in this matter until last year, when the
Home Office issued a Memorandum, dated
September 1912, under the Coal Mines Act,
1911, which states that—

“ A safety lamp will be required to pass the
official test described in the Appendix to this
Memorandum before it is approved by the
Secretary of State for the purposes of the
Coal Mines Act, 1911.”

This test includes special tests of glass
independent of the lamp.

This Government delay in dealing with the
subject of the safety of lamp glasses is almost
inconceivable in view of the significant paragraph
which appeared in the First Report, dated
March 15, 1886, of the Royal Commission on
Accidents in Mines, quoted in our first article,f
and which we do not hesitate to repeat:

“ From our experiments it appears that the
ultimate source of danger with all these lamps
is the breaking of the glass.”

Whether the official test prescribed by the
Home Office, as far as it specially relates to
lamp glass, was ba&ed upon actual experiment,
is not apparent. The conditions of the test
somewhat resemble those adopted in Belgium,
at the Frameries Testing Station, but there is
sufficient difference to make it impossible to
correlate the two methods. This is unfortunate,

* Colliery Guardian, December 27, 1912, and
January 24 and 31, 1913.

f Colliery Guardian, December 27, 1912.

as it would have been interesting to judge of the
relative severity and efficiency of the two
methods by an examination, from that point of
view, of the recorded details of the vast number
of experiments carried out at Frameries.

The official tests of lamp glasses used with
flame safety lamps come under two heads : the
indirect, and the direct.

The indirect tests are contained under—

(a) Mechanical tests : I. General.

The direct tests are under—

(a) Mechanical tests : II. Tests of glass.

Flame safety lamps will be tested in the
following manner :—	e

(a.) Mechanical Tests.—I. General.

Test 1.—The lamp is dropped from a height of 6 ft.
on to a wooden floor.

The height of 6 ft. is measured from the bottom of
the lamp which has been fitted together complete with
glass, and the lamp is dropped by means of a mecha-
nical arrangement.

This test is repeated five times in succession, the
lamp being fitted with a different glass each time.
The lamp passes the test if the glass is broken in not
more than one of the five tests. Should the glass be
broken in two, but not in more, of the tests, the lamp
is submitted to five more tests with fresh glasses,
when, should the glass break in two of them, the lamp
will fail to pass the test.

Test 2.—A weight of 5 lb. is dropped from a height
of 6 ft. on to the lamp standing vertically on a wooden
platform beneath the weight.

The height of 6 ft. is measured between the bottom
of the weight and the top of the lamp. The weight
is a lead disc, 3 in. in diameter and 1J in. thick, and is
dropped mechanically.

Should the glass of the lamp be broken, the test is
repeated twice with a different glass each time, when
one failure of the glass causes the lamp to fail.

Test 3.—A weight of 10 lb., attached to a cord, the
other end of which is secured to the bottom of the
lamp, is dropped from a height of 6 ft., the lamp being
suspended at a height of 7 ft. from the ground.

The lamp is gripped by means of brass claws, or
slung by means of wire rope straps round its upper
part, above the standards protecting the glass. A
brass platform is fastened to the bottom of the lamp,
and to the centre of this platform the cord is attached.
The weight is a lead disc, 4J in. in diameter and 1| in.
thick; it is dropped mechanically.

This test is repeated three times. If, as the result
of any of these three trials, the security of attachment
is found to be defective in. any way the lamp will fail
to pass the test.

Tests 1, 2 and 3 are to be made in succession on one
lamp. Cracking of the glass will be regarded as a
breakage.

The foregoing is presumably intended as a
test of the structure of the lamp. As the
breaking of the glass is the principal indicator
of the test, an exceptionally strong glass may
have the effect of passing a comparatively
badly fitted lamp.

II. Tests of Glass.

1.	A weight of 1 lb. is dropped by means of a
mechanical arrangement from a height of 4 ft. on to
the lamp glass placed on a wooden floor, the glass
being in a vertical position.

The weight is a lead disc, 2 J in. in diameter and
4 in. thick.

Twenty glasses of any one kind to be tested ; two
failures in the 20 will cause the lamp to fail.

2.	The glasses are heated in an air bath in batches
of 10, to a temperature of 212 degs. Fahr., and when
at that temperature ’ removed from the bath and
plunged into water at a temperature of 60 to 65
degrees Fahr.

The air bath consists of a double-walled copper box
heated electrically. The external dimensions are
1 ft. 5 in. by 9 in. by 8J in. high. The internal
dimensions are 1 ft. 3 in. by 6J in. by 6 in. high, the
space between the walls being packed with asbestos
fibre. The tray upon which the lamp glasses are
supported is 1 ft. 2J in. long and 5| in. wide, and it is
pierced with holes J in. in diameter.

Of the 10 glasses heated in each batch, five are
placed horizontally on the tray and five vertically.
After heating, the tray and glasses together are
plunged into water contained in a copper bath,
1 ft. 3 in. long, 7 in. wide and 3 in. in depth, the water
standing at a level of 2| in.