April 18, 1913.

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

819

One of the largest of the great scientific and industrial
congresses is to be held in London in the early part of June
1915. This is the Sixth International Congress of Mining,
Metallurgy, Applied Mechanics and Practical Geology.
These congresses take place at intervals of five years, and
the last, which was brilliantly successful, was held at
Dusseldorf in 1910, previous congresses having been held in
Paris and Liege. The attendance at the Dusseldorf
congress was over 2,000, and it is anticipated that the
attendance in London in 1915 will be equally large. An
influential committee has been formed to make the necessary
arrangements, and the movement is being actively supported
by the University of London, Imperial College of Science
and Technology, Geological Society of London, Institution
of Mechanical Engineers, Iron and Steel Institute, Society
of Chemical Industry, Institution of Mining Engineers,
Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, Institute of Metals,
South Wales Institute of Engineers, Cleveland Institution
of Mining Engineers, West of Scotland Iron and Steel
Institute, Staffordshire Iron and Steel Institute, Sheffield
Society of Engineers and Metallurgists, and by numerous
firms interested in the various industries represented.

Messrs. Edward Bennis and Co. Limited, Little Hulton,
Bolton, have received a repeat order from the Metropolitan
Railway Company, for their power station, Neasden, to re-link
36 grates with their Bennis-Miller-Bennett link, including
change-speed continuous driving gear. This contract
follows on initial order for four sets, bringing the number
supplied to this station to 40. The Bennis link, which is
being substituted for those of another make hitherto in use,
is specially adapted for slack coals and can now be applied
to any existing chain grate frames. The link is particularly
valuable where it is essential to burn slack or rough small
as well as better-class coals, inasmuch as it is so constructed
that it is not liable to burn off.

Prof. Daniel Burns, of the Royal Technical College*
Glasgow, has been invited by the University of Cardiff to
deliver in the month of August of this year a series
of 30 lectures under the auspices of the University at
Cardiff and Penarth. The proposal is that 15 of the
lectures should be delivered at Cardiff and the remainder
at Penarth. In the lectures, Prof. Burns has been asked to
deal with ventilation, the method of working and sinking,
the support of roof and sides and electricity as applied to
mining. Prof. Burns, who has been for 13 years principal
of mining in the Royal Technical College, Glasgow, is a
prominent member of the Mining Institute of Scotland. He
is the author of many handbooks and treatises, and is
popularly regarded as one of the foremost teachers of, and
lecturers on, mining in the country.

Mr. John Blake, who for many years has been a
successful manager in the Hamilton district with Messrs.
Watson and Co. has been appointed to the managerial
oversight of a colliery in Girvan, Ayrshire. Mr. Blake did
much satisfactory work as manager of Neilsland Colliery,
Hamilton.

The trustees of the late Capt. Stewart of William wood
have entered into an arrangement with a syndicate for
boring operations to be commenced on the estate with a
view to finding out what coalseams are workable. It is
expected that a pit will be sunk in this neighbourhood.

Mr. A. Bell, of W orkington, under-manager of St. Helen’s
Colliery, Siddick, has been appointed manager at Camerton
Colliery.

A conference was held last week at South Shields—
attended by members of the South Shields Parliamentary
Committee, the Washington District Council, the South
Shields Rural District Council, the Chester-le-Street Rural
District Council, and the local authority of Us worth and
Boldon—to consider the question of providing these
growing colliery districts with a direct railway service with
South Shields. It was decided to wait upon the North-
Eastern Railway Company, in the form of a deputation, to
urge upon them to convert the mineral line into a passenger
line as well.

At the Woodlands model mining village last Sunday, in
the new church, the Archbishop of York pointed out that
the new church was given for the people, and that the
stipends of the clergy were provided by the agency of the
old mother church of which William Henry Pickering, the
tried and proved friend of miners, was the first secretary.
Preaching the same evening to a crowded congregation at
the Doncaster parish church the Archbishop again made
reference to Mr. Pickering, and to the South Yorks coalfield,
and the housing conditions around Doncaster. He said he
had often reminded the citizens of Doncaster that in this
matter they were standing between a noble opportunity
and a possible judgment and shame, because it rested with
them of the present generation, whether or not these
thousands, or hundreds of thousands of the working folk,
would be housed in a manner adequate to the dignity of
their human life. He rejoiced to hear beginnings were
being made to catch some vision of this great opportunity,
to have some sense of this inspiring responsibility. He
could not but remember as he stood there that the last
occasion he was in that church was to pay his tribute of
respect to one whom he trusted they would shortly
memorialise upon the walls of that church which he loved,
Mr. William Henry Pickering, who believed in the inherent
nobility of the miner.

fall. The presumption was that the whole of the ponies
might have been in contact with the one affected, and the
Board of Agriculture and Fisheries thought that the
remainder of the ponies in the pit, about 30, should also be
tested. The local authority decided not to deal meantime
with the seven animals that had re-acted, and that the
veterinary inspector should test the remainder of the
animals in the other portions of the workings, the colliery
company to be asked to bring them to a suitable place for
the purpose.

At Stoke County Court last week a fireman was
fined £5 and costs for failing to inspect a portion of the
Florence colliery before the day shift, a similar penalty
being inflicted upon a hooker-on for failing to see that a
fence to an inset at the same pit was securely set up, and
for leaving tubs unlocked on the wagonway. A pit
wagoner was fined £2 and costs for starting tubs
unattended and uncontrolled down an incline, as was a
miner for going into workings other than those to which he
was directed.

The workmen employed at the Burradon and Weetslade
“ Lizzie Pits,” owned by the Burradon and Coxlodge Coal
Company, have presented Mr. George Bell, the under-
manager at the colliery with a handsome marble timepiece
as a token of appreciation of services rendered in coaching
the men for examination to obtain efficiency under the
New Mines Act. Mrs. Bell was presented with a gold
broach.

Mr. Frederick Nettlefold, formerly chairman of Messrs.
' Nettlefold and Co., screw manufacturers, of Birmingham
and London, left estate valued at .£343,009 gross, with net
personalty of .£299,188.

At a meeting of the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce,
Mr. Thomas Henderson, the president, intimated that the
British Chamber in Egypt had received a letter from the
general manager of the Egyptian State Railways, in
response to the suggestion conveyed to him to encourage
the use of Scottish coal instead of American coal on the
railways, agreeing to give Scottish coal a trial when next
he receives tenders. It was agreed to convey to the British
Chamber the thanks of the Glasgow Chamber for their good
offices.

The Jubilee pit of the Sand well Park Colliery Company
at West Bromwich, has been brought to a standstill by an
inrush of water.

The consideration of a Bill brought forward by the
Corporation of Chesterfield, which has for its object the
promotion and maintenance of a system of railless tram
and motor omnibuses between the borough of Chesterfield
and outlying villages, occupied the attention of a Select
Committee of the House of Commons this week. It was
explained that Chesterfield had a population of about
38,000, and was surrounded by an important colliery district.
Within a radius of from two to four miles of the town there
were large villages, numbering from 3,000 to 8,000
inhabitants, and even larger, for which Chesterfield was
the educational and business centre. The Corporation
desired to run first a motor bus service to work up and
develop the route before incurring capital expenditure
in putting up the posts, &c., for the trackless trolleys.
When the time was ripe, the motor buses would be withdrawn
and the trackless trolleys substituted.

At a meeting of the local section of the Society of
. Chemical Industry on the 14th inst., at Leeds, a paper was
read by Mr. W. McD. Mackey on the “ Rapid Method of
Testing Suction Gas Fuels for Liability to Clog Gas Engine
Valves.”

Mr. Charles B. Balfour of Balgonie, Markinch, and
Newton Don, Kelso, a prominent Fife coalmaster, and Lady
Nina Balfour, his wife, celebrated their silver wedding on
Saturday, when the employees of Balgonie Colliery were
entertained in the village of Coaltown of Balgonie in
honour of the occasion. Among the gifts received by Mr.
Balfour is a beautiful silver table centre from the
managing officials of the colliery. A presentation is also to
be made shortly by the workers in the pits.

Mr. Sydney F. Walker addressed a meeting of the western
section of the Institution of Electrical Engineers at Cardiff
on Monday, his remarks being supplementary to a paper
which he had prepared on the subject of “ The use of
High Tension Continuous Current on the Thury System in
Mines.” Mr. Walker, in his paper, stated that the system
which he had taken as the subject of his lecture practically
threatened a revolution in the method of using electricity
in mines. As an instance of the importance of the new
departure, Mr. Walker said that a suggestion which
occurred in the paper would render the working of
electrically driven coal-cutting machines absolutely safe so
far as shock was concerned. By the method he was pro-
posing, the current working the coal-cutting machines need
not exceed 100 volts continuous (instead of 500 volts as
now), or it might be even 50 volts continuous, which, as
they were aware, was perfectly safe.

A correspondent understands that amongst other impor-
tant developments to be carried out in connection with Lord
Ellesmere’s extensive Mosley Common Collieries, Tyldesley,
is the proposed sinking to the Arley measures at the No. 2
Pit. The railway connecting his lordship’s Linnyshaw
Collieries, Walkden, with Clifton, where new wharves are to
be established, has now been practically completed.

CATALOGUES AND PRICE LISTS RECEIVED,

A leaflet received from H. Miller Limited (Hazebrouck,
France), illustrates various types of portable voltmeters
and ammeters.

The Chicago Pneumatic Tool Co. issue catalogue
information in regard to the Duntley electric portable
railway and tramway tools, electric signal bonding outfits,
and the triple ignition Rockford motor car for track
service.

Messrs. Siemens Bros. Dynamo Works Limited (38 & 39,
Upper Thames-street, E.C.), send us new price lists of house
service fuses and “ Melda ” house water pumps. The latter
are designed for use with small or large elevated cistern or
switch air vessel. The pump will suck although the suction
pipe is empty, and the volume delivered is independent of
the head, depending upon the speed only.

We have received from the Wilfley Mining Machinery
Company Limited (Salisbury House, E.C.) a catalogue
descriptive of an improved grinding device, the Hardinge
conical ball and pebble mills. There are three types of
these mills, for grinding to different sizes, and in each
machine the crushing bodies arrange themselves with the
largest and heaviest at the greatest diameter, with corre-
sponding graduations to the least diameter, the mill being
conical or shaped somewhat like a peg-top laid on its side.
The material undergoing division automatically travels
forward at each reduction as though actuated by an archi-
median screw, up and out of the cone. One of the Hardinge
mills has been installed at the company’s testing plant, 94,
Belvedere-road, S.E., where those interested may have
trial runs made on their own ore.

A handsome catalogue of tool steel has just been issued by
Messrs. Cammell, Laird and Co. (Cyclops Steel and Iron
Works, Sheffield), in which particulars are given of a large
variety of high-class crucible and cast steels for different
purposes. Mining tool steels are represented by the
following labels:—The best refined cast steel for boring
hard rock, refined cast steel and warranted cast steel for
miners’ drills, manufactured from the finest brands of
Swedish bar steel; the “Fortuna” brand of special mining
steel, made in various tempers to suit different classes of
rock; hollow drill steel, made in round, octagon, and
hexagon sizes; the “ Espero ” brand of special mining
steel; the “ Camel ” brand, a cheap reliable drill steel; and
Cammell’s special steel for coal - cutting machines
(“Colpik” brand). In the case of the “Fortuna” and
“Colpik” brands, no tempering is required. A useful
feature of the catalogue is the printing of definite instruc-
tions in the case of each brand, as to forging, hardening
and annealing; makers have frequently been unfairly
blamed for the shortcomings of their customers, and it is a
wise precaution to discount this possibility in the manner
stated. The catalogue also contains a useful list of weights,
equations, gauges, &c., in addition to many applications of
high-grade steel to which we are debarred by lack of space
from referring.

Pamphlet No. 16 B, issued by Messrs. Bruce Peebles and
Co. Limited (Edinburgh), deals with self-contained poly-
phase induction motors, a type of machine that is obtaining
an increasing vogue in collieries. Specifications are given
of no less than eight different types of standard machine,
which probably cover all ordinary requirements. Amongst
these we notice motors of the protected, semi-enclosed,
totally-enclosed and pipe-ventilated types, whilst in Type F
we have a mine motor, both flame-proof and watertight, the
end covers and inspection doors having specially wide
mechanical faces. The automatic centrifugal starter motors
(type G) have a special rotor winding and an automatic
centrifugal short-circuiting arrangement. This arrange-
ment is “ open ” when the rotor commences to revolve, but
automatically closes when a predetermined speed is reached.
Attention may also be directed to type H (two-speed
motors). Full lists of approximate weights and dimensions
of every size manufactured are given, while full lists of
technical data for 50- and 25-cycle motors are also included,
machines being dealt with for three separate ranges of
voltages from 110 up to 3,500 volts, at speeds of from 1,500
down to 150 revolutions per minute.

Wireless Telephony in Mines.—Great interest is being
aroused in colliery circles in South Yorkshire at a series of
experiments in wireless telephony which are being carried
out at the Dinnington Main Colliery, and which it is hoped
will lead to easier and safer communication in various
parts of the mine. The inventor is a German scientist, and
a German syndicate is installing the necessary apparatus at
the mine. If the system is capable of all that the inventor
claims for it, the results will be far-reaching, as it is
stated a conversation can be carried on through 1,500 yards
of solid rock. Reticence is being observed concerning the
matter. A Press representative who saw the chief engineer
(Mr. W. D. Wallis) was informed it was quite true that
tests are being made, but whether the system would enable
one to communicate through 1,500 yards of solid rock or
not he was unable to say. When the experiments had
reached a more advanced stage, details would, he said, be
available.