December 11, 1914. THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN 1231 MINE MANAGERS* EXAMINATIONS. We have received from the Secretary of the Board of Examinations under the Coal Mines Act, 1911, copies of the questions set at the examinations for certificates of competency as managers and under-managers of mines, and for certificates of qualification as surveyors of mines, which were held by the Board on November 24 and 25, 1914, at Edinburgh, Newcastle, Sheffield, Wigan, Cardiff, and Birmingham. The text of the papers is given below. The figures in parentheses against each question indicate the maximum number of marks obtainable. For First-Class (Managers') Certificate of Competency. Subject No. 1. Winning and Working. (Six questions only to be answered.) 1. Name the principal geological formations above the carboniferous formation, placing them in their correct order. (40) 2. State the various kinds of coal cutters you are acquainted with, and give your views on the advantages and disadvantages of each. (40) 3. In a longwall face, if you find the coal too much crushed, in what way could you reduce the superincumbent pressure on the coal? (40) 4. The brickwork in a shaft in which no winding is done has given way in several places; how would you temporarily protect the shaft, and what permanent means would you adopt in renewing the brickwork? What kind of scaffold would you use? The ventilation to be carried on as usual. (40) 5. What considerations would influence you in deciding the system of working coal, longwall or pillar and stall? Sketch the different methods of supporting the roof in a longwall face. (50) 6. A winding shaft has a sump which is 15 yds. deep below the landing plates. It is decided to put down a 10 in. borehole from the shaft bottom to a depth of 100 yds. How would you do this? The work to be done between shifts. State in detail the tools you would use and the method of handling them. (40) 7. Owing to the high cost of timber in consequence of the war, what orders would you give to recover all timber pos- sible ; how would you prevent its being broken; and what substitutes could you use? Have these substitutes any disadvantages ? (40) Subject No. 2. Theory and Practice of Ventilation. (Six questions only are to be answered : No. 1 is compulsory.) 1. Compulsory Question.—On the plan of a mine which accompanies this paper show how you would ventilate the working faces by means of six separate air currents (splits). Show the direction of each air current and the positions of air crossings, doors, stoppings, regulators, and sheets. (50) Fig. 1.—Plan Referred to in Question No. 1, Subject No. 2, First Class. (Scale reduced.) 2. What quantity of air in thousands of cubic feet per minute will pass through an opening in a regulator with an area of 4 sq. ft. under a pressure equal to | in. of a column of water? The weight of a cubic foot of air is to be taken as 0’0821b. (30) 3. Define the meaning of the expression “ orifice of passage ” of a ventilator. How is the internal resistance of a ventilator related to its orifice of passage, and to what various causes is the internal resistance in question due? (30) 4. Show in detail by means of sketches the construction of an air crossing, an air door, a regulator, a wooden brat- tice, and a practically airtight permanent stopping. (30) 5. Describe two means of ventilating a single exploring heading, say, 500 yds. long, without in any way reducing the quantity of air circulating in the rest of the work- ings. (30) 6. Make a freehand sketch showing the details of con- struction of a Clowes lamp, and state how and for what purpose it is used, and what advantages, if any, it possesses over any other lamps commonly used for the same pur- pose. (30) 7. Make sketches in plan, in side elevation, and in end elevation, of a Sirocco fan and the air passages connected with it, and show suitable arrangements whereby it can be made to reverse the direction of the air current in a pit. Show the fan shaft with a crank or pulley on it, and the bearings, but omit the engine or motor. (30) Subject No. 3. Explosions in Mines, Underground Fires, and Inundations. (Five questions only to be answered : No. 1 is compulsory.) 1. Compulsory Question.—You wish to make an exami- nation of the dust deposit in an underground roadway for the purpose of determining whether it is dangerous or not. How should the dust samples be taken, and to what tests should they be submitted? (30) 2. Describe approximately the characteristics of—(a) dust • that would intensify an explosion in air free from firedamp; (5) dust that would prevent the extension of an explosion in air free from firedamp. (25) 3. When investigating a mine after an explosion, what sort of evidence would you collect for the purpose of ascer- taining the cause of the explosion? (25) 4. After an explosion, when sending a rescue party into the mine from the surface, state how the party should be constituted and equipped, and what instructions you would give them. (25) 5. In the event of a serious outbreak of fire at the screens near the top of the downcast pit during working hours, what steps would you take to secure the safety and rescue of the men underground. (25) 6. Show by a sketch plan a method of working a seam of coal yielding firedamp and liable to spontaneous combustion, and describe the precautionary measures you would institute for the purpose of anticipating and quickly dealing with an outbreak of fire. (25) Subject No. 4. Machinery. (Five questions only to be answered.) • 1. Name and describe in outline three types of permanent plant that could be installed at a shaft to raise 300 galls, per minute of water 1,000 ft. high. The shaft is not wanted for any other purpose, and all kinds of power are available. (28) 2. What is meant by the terms :—Impulse steam turbine; reaction steam turbine; mixed pressure steam turbine; exhaust steam turbine. For what purposes are steam tur- bines used in connection with mines? (28) 3. In connection with electricity, what is meant by the terms :—(a) Ammeter; (b) voltmeter; (c) transformer? Show by sketches how ammeters and voltmeters are connected up in an electric circuit. (28) Use the following symbols :— Ammeter Voltmeter Electric circuit. 4. The drawing reproduced herewith shows by plan the junction valves of two boilers with pipes attached to each. Make a drawing (by hand or to scale) of a suitable pipe to connect up flanges A and B, showing enough dimen- Fig. 2.—Sketch Referred to in Question No. 4, Subject No. 4, First Class. (Scale reduced.) sions and particulars to enable a manufacturer to make the pipe complete and ready to go into place. The steam pressure is 1201b. per sq. in. The junction • valve branch centres are level with each other. (38) 5. Describe the fitting shop and smiths’ shop suitable for a colliery producing, say, 1,000 tons of coal per day, noting the necessary equipment in machine tools and fixed plant. (28) 6. Describe a coal screening and picking plant to deal with 500 tons of coal in 10 hours, making four sizes of coal. Illustrate your answer by one or more sketches, and show how high the pit top landing should be above the rail- way. (28) Subject No. 5. Surveying, Levelling, and Drawing. (Five questions only to be answered.) 1. Plan No. 1 is a sketch plan of a rectangular shaft, 18 ft. by 10 ft. in the clear. Draw a plan of the shaft to a scale of | in. to 1 ft. showing the timbering, and an enlarged plan of one corner to a scale of 3 in. to 1ft., showing the junction of the side and end bars. Calculate the quantity of timber required per yard of shaft, and make out .a state- ment of the total cost showing the cost for each of the following items :—(a) Barring at 2s. 3d. per cu. ft. (b) buntons at 2s. 8d. per cu. ft. ; (c) wall plates, liners, and distance pieces at 2s. 3d. per cu. ft.; (d) corner rackings at 2s. 3d. per cu. ft., and guides, or slides, at 3s. 6d. per cu. ft. (28) 2. Plan No. 2 shows the notes of a survey of a road in a mine. Plot this survey to show a complete plan of the road, and find the bearing and distance from B to the shaft A. Scale for plotting 1 in. to 100 ft. Candidates for surveyors’ certificate are required to traverse this survey, and calcu- late the approximate bearing and distance from B to A without the help of tables. (28) 3. What is the volume in cubic feet of a heap or stock of coal with a circular base 120 ft. in diameter and a height of 30ft., the sides having a slope of 45 degrees? Estimate the weight of the heap if composed of (a) screened coal, (b) small coal, dross, or slack. Take the data as to weight which you use in your own district. (28) 4. A main haulage roadway in a mine is to be continued from its termination on a curve of a radius of 100 ft., to which the existing straight road would be a tangent. A new drift is to be driven for this continuation. How would you proceed to lay off this drift and maintain a true curve through an angle of 90 degs. State clearly all the steps you would take in seeing the work carried out. (28) 5. State briefly the advantages and disadvantages, from a practical standpoint, of using (a) the true north, or other fixed base line, (b) the magnetic meridian, in surveying mines and keeping forward plans thereof. (28) ro. o'.................. SpcLce. <3 Ccntimiowi lining or Barring 6. Liners 3*3 2£ _ _ Bunton 6*9’ and 3 Ft apart vertically centre to centre Guides. cr slides 6*6 Two on each side of cage, 5 feet apart centre to centre Cage, Svouc& Bunton Pump Spacer Fig. 3.—Plan No. 1 Referred to in Question 1, Subject No. 5, First Class. (Scale reduced.) A Centre