September 24, 1915.

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

627

For Sale, 40-n.h.p. Undertype Robey

WINDING ENGINE, pair Kfcin. cylinders. 18 in. stroke, Boiler
1001b. steam, cquoled to two drums, 7fc. diameter. 18 in. wide; each drum
loose on shaft with clutch gear, equal new.—A. UNDERWOOD, 3, Queen-
street, E.C.

For Sale, Mining Stamps, 3 sets Holman

Patent Pneumatic or Air Cushion, No. 1 size mounted on steel
frames, belt driven; new, erected but never used.—A. UNDERWOOD, 3,
Queen-street, E.C.

For Sale, Compressor, by Holman, jet
condensing, steam cylinder 19 in., air cylinder 18 in. by 30 in. stroke,
hand variable expansion.—A. UNDERWOOD, 3, Queen.street, E.C.

For Sale, two 30 by 8 Lancashire Boilers,
re insure 1001b., by Adamson.—A. UNDERWOOD, 3, Queen-
street, E.C.

For Sale, pair Winding Engines, 22 in.
cylinders by 48 in stroke, drop valves, two drums, 8 ft diameter, 24 in.
wide, by Holman; equal new, immediate delivery.—A. UNDERWOOD, 3,
Queen street, E.C.

For Sale, 65-n.h.p. Loco. Type Boiler,
by Robey. 145 steam; two50 n.h.p., by Paxman, 150 steam; one 40,
for 120.-A. UNDERWOOD, 3, Queen-street, E.C.

YVTanted, Works for Dismantling, Plant

▼ ▼ no longer required, boilers, tanks, machinery, &c.. for prompt
cash.—Write to E. J. WEBSTER, 119, Bow-road, London, E.

J. W. BAIRD AND COMPANY,

PITWOOD IMPORTERS,

WEST HARTLEPOOL,

YEARLY CONTRACTS ENTERED INTO WITH COLLIERIES.

OSBECK & COMPANY LIMITED,
PIT-TIMBER MERCHANTS,
NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE.

SUPPLY ALL KINDS OF COLLIERY TIMBER.

Telegrams—“ Osbecks, Newcastle-on-Tyne.”

*** For other Miscellaneous Advertisements see Last
White Page,

AND

Journal of the Coal and Iron Trades.

Joint Editors—

J. V. ELSDEN, D.Sc. (Lond.), F.G.S.
HUBERT GREENWELL, F.S.S., Assoc.M.I.M.E.

LONDON, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1915.

The London coal trade during the week has been
fairly quiet in the ordinary delivery trade, but the
volume of trade, especially for household qualities,
steadily increased as the week advanced, and it was
clearly apparent that merchants and factors were
anxious to increase their stocks before October
begins. All contract prices advance on October 1.
Steam coals are selling freely. Coke is difficult to
obtain. Freights to London have increased.

Chartering has been far from brisk during the
past week; the tonnage supply on the north-east
coast has improved, but rates are higher. The
prompt markets of the Tyne and Wear remain
stagnant, and forward business also shows little sign
of animation; quotations are on the weak side.
Trade in Lancashire and Derbyshire has been on a
moderate scale, the household demand exhibiting a
tendency to increase. The volume of business in
the Yorkshire area has been fair, the markets
presenting a steady appearance ; the London enquiry
for house coal has become heavier. Little alteration
is noticeable in the tone of the Cardiff market,
inadequacy of vessels and the export prohibitions
continue to hold back business. The Scottish coal
trade has been very dull, and the future outlook is
not particularly favourable.

An ordinary general meeting of the South Wales
Institute of Engineers will be held at Swansea on
Tuesday next.

Movements are now being taken by the miners’
associations throughout Scotland, Lancashire, and
Derbyshire, with the object of inducing the men to
increase the output of coal as far as possible.

Exhall Colliery, near Nuneaton, was the scene on
Tuesday of a fire which unfortunately resulted in the
loss of 14 lives and injuries to several others. The
fire was caused by an overturned paraffin lamp. The
inquest opened yesterday and was adjourned until
October 4.

A bust of Mr. Thomas Burt, M.P., the veteran
miners’ leader, was unveiled in the Newcastle Public
Library on Tuesday last.

At a meeting of the council of the Yorkshire
Miners’ Association on Monday, the question of the
revision of existing price lists was considered, and it
was decided that failing a meeting with the owners
being arranged, a special council meeting should be
held to consider what steps should be taken.

The executive of the Miners’ Federation has been
requested to convene a joint conference of miners,
railwaymen and transport workers in the event of the
Government proposing to introduce conscription.

Labour troubles in South Wales are apparently
endless. Nearly 1,000 men employed at the Naviga-
tion Colliery, Bedwas, ceased work on Wednesday
on the non-union question.

In view of their failure to participate in the recent
rise in coal-selling prices—the Premier’s interpreta-
tion of his war bonus having gone against them—
Northumberland miners’ representatives on Saturday
last met the owners to ask for a special advance in
wages. No agreement was reached, and the meeting
adjourned until to-morrow (Saturday).

The exportation of iron ore and Cumberland
hmmatite has been prohibited to all destinations.

Prof. Bone, in his presidential
Caseous address to Section B (Chemistry) of
Combustion the British Association, took as his
and Fuel subject a branch of chemistry which
Economy, he has made his own, and one which
is peculiarly appropriate for marking
the centenary of Davy’s invention of the miners’
safety lamp. Many interesting problems were fore-
shadowed in that discovery, and Manchester can
justly claim to have been the seat of much of the
research work which, largely owing to the initiation
of Prof. H. B. Dixon, has been carried out upon
these lines. It is in connection with the phenomena
of ignition and the initial phases of gaseous explo-
sions that the most marked progress has been
achieved. Amongst the results thus far obtained,
one of the most interesting is the fact that, in the
ignition by adiabatic compression of electrolytic gas—
viz., a mixture of oxygen and hydrogen in the
proportions requisite to form water, the ignition
temperature is lowered by successive additions of
oxygen. The reason for this is not yet apparent, but
Messrs. Dixon and Crofts suggest that it may be
due either to the formation of an active polymeride
of oxygen, or to increased ionisation of the com-
bustible gas. The question arises whether ignition
really is a purely thermal problem. Prof. Thornton,
working in another way, concludes that it is not so,
because the circuit energy requisite for spark ignition
of methane and air appears to be more than 50 times
greater with alternating than with continuous
current. There is still much to be done before these
curious results can be reconciled or understood from
a chemical standpoint, and Prof. Bone suggests that
there is need for further work upon these lines.

Passing to the reason for the high constant velocity
of the explosion wave, Prof. Bone examined the
work done at Sir J. J. Thomson’s suggestion to test
the theory that the rapidity of combustion in the
explosion wave may possibly be due to the ionising
action of electrons, and he concludes that not only
is there no proof of the electron theory, but that
the facts are adequately explained on the supposition
of a compression wave liberating the chemical
energy as it passes through the gases.

More than 30 years ago, Mallard and Le
Chatelier, as is known, established three distinct
phases in the propagation of an explosion wave.
These consist of an initial period of uniform slow
movement, an oscillatory stage, and, finally, detona-
tion if the process is complete. How shall we
interpret these phenomena ? The question still
awaits an answer, but Prof. Bone hopes shortly to
organise the necessary investigations. The initial
uniform movement was believed by Le Chatelier to
be due to the propagation of the flame from layer to
layer by conduction only, but Dr. R. V. Wheeler’s
researches at Eskmeals point to the conclusion that
this is a limited phenomenon, depending upon the
size and shape of the tube employed, and also upon
the composition of the explosive gases. The
Eskmeals experiments have thrown much light upon
the phenomena of the inflammability of methane and
air, and Dr. Coward has since shown that the
inflammability of any gaseous mixture is a function
of its temperature, pressure and composition.

We are thus led to consider the influence of high
pressures upon hydrocarbon combustions. Prof.
Bone has studied this question under pressures of

15 atmospheres and upwards, and has advanced his
“hydroxylation” theory, involving the intermediate
formation of certain hydroxyl compounds, which
appear to modify the relative affinities of methane
and hydrogen for oxygen to such an extent that the
hydrocarbon has a greater affinity for oxygen than
has pure hydrogen — a result hitherto quite
unexpected.

In the last portion of his address, Prof. Bone deals
with the practical question of fuel economy and the
proper utilisation of coal. In this connection he
proposes the somewhat drastic step of State inter-
ference to hasten the disappearance of the beehive
coking oven. He pleads, in addition, for a better
chemical control of by-product coking plants. There
is no disputing his argument that plants managed by
competent chemists yield better results than those in
which the management is entrusted to engineers with
the assistance of mere routine analysts. The chemist
is equally essential in the coal-gas industry, and one
of the results to be expected from the special chair
founded at Leeds University in memory of the late
Sir George Livesey is a marked improvement in
gas works practice, a foretaste of which is furnished
by the satisfactory results obtained by the new
nickel-catalytic process for the removal of carbon
bisulphide from coal gas. A wide held is also open
to chemical research in connection with gas-fire
problems, and in the case of metallurgical fuel
Prof. Bone predicts the ultimate possibility of making
finished steel rails from Cleveland ironstone with no
further consumption of coal than is charged into the
by-product ovens for the production of the coke used
in the blastfurnace. There is, in fact, no end to the
possibilities of fuel economy, and the subject is of
such national importance that we are inclined to
agree with Prof. Bone that it would even be worth
while to place it under the control of a specially-
organised department of the State.

For some years past there has been
Mechanical a growing tendency to rely more and
Progress more upon mechanical appliances in
in 1914. the working of coal mines. It was
inevitable that this tendency should
be affected by the abnormal conditions that have
arisen as the result of the present war, but the
influence of the war is complex. Scarcity of labour
and high wages generally predicate an increased
application of machinery, and to this extent the war
may be said to have encouraged the adoption of
mechanical methods, where these are calculated to
reduce the cost of working.

At the same time, various circumstances have
conspired to delay the introduction of machinery
during a period of war. In the first place, owing to
the high cost of materials and the paramount need
for curtailing capital expenditure, many collieries
have been impelled to restrict their orders to such
accessories as may seem to promise an early return
in the shape of increased output or diminished cost
of working; secondly, the concentration of the
engineering industry upon military work, transport
difficulties, and the shrinkage of the import trade
have rendered it impossible to secure the prompt
delivery of plant; thirdly, the concentration that has
taken place in the working of mines themselves has
also militated against the use of machines such as
coal-cutters, which have been largely employed
in thin and inferior seams for the express purpose of
mitigating a high cost of hand holing.

The figures which are given below have been
collected from the divisional inspectors’ reports
and are such as will eventually be contained in
Part II. of the Chief Inspector’s report. They
do not by any means cover the whole subject of
machinery in mines, concerning which there are no
complete statistics similar to those available in
Pennsylvania, South Africa or France. Furthermore,
they relate to the year 1914 and do not cover the
subsequent period during which the strain upon
industry has been greatly intensified. The figures
do show, however, that the application of electricity
in the mine, whether induced by the intrinsic merits
of ductility and commodiousness, or the lower cost of
power, or by the statutory requirements under the
Coal Mines Act, has made considerable progress