1334

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

December 31, 1915.

falling on the miner. When the sprags are taken out
the coal can be knocked down without using powder. In
the entries the coal is mined by shearing in the middle
and shooting both sides; 18 in. of brushing is taken up in
the entries to make more head room. The roof con-
sists of tough grey clod. Three-piece timber-sets are
used in the entries, and short sets across the track in
the rooms; props are set in the gob. The rooms are
driven 200 ft., then the pillars are drawn back; so far,
but one pillar has been drawn at this mine, all the
available coal being got, and the majority of the props
secured before the roof caved. The tipple is placed on
the opposite side of the river, and is connected with the
Canadian Northern Railway by a short spur. The coal
is conveyed across the river by an aerial tramway,
consisting of a T} in. wire cable, supporting a two-wheel
carrier which is hooked over knobs fixed at each end of
the mine ear, and is served by a -J in. haulage rope,
which is wound around the drum of a small engine.
The car is dumped at the tipple in the same manner as
the ordinary tramway bucket, and is returned to the
mine by simply reversing the engine. The capacity of
the cars is 1,500 lb. About 200 tons can be handled per
day.

The Red Deer Valley mine, which is equipped with
modern machinery capable of handling 1,000 tons per
day, is located on Section 7, Township 29, Range 20,
West of the 4th Mer., and is connected with the
Canadian Northern Railway by a spur two miles long.
Work on this plant was commenced in February 1913.
A three compartment shaft, 180 ft. deep, has been sunk
to the No. 4 seam. The workings have been laid out on
the three entry system, with double entries running
parallel with the rooms. The whole seam is mined—its
average thickness is 9 ft. 6 in. At present the mining is
done by hand picks, but preparations are being made
to install mining machines. The general arrangement
of the tipple and screening plant is shown in fig. 2. The
coal is hoisted on self-dumping cages, working in
balance. Before entering the weigh basket, it runs over
a 1| in. bar screen. When ready to deliver the coal on
to the “ Marcus ” screen, the bottom of the weigh
basket is allowed to drop, by releasing a brake. After
the basket has emptied itself the bottom is brought back
into place by means of counter weights. A double deck
Marcus screen, 77 ft. long, having a capacity of 100 tons
per hour, receives the small coal from the fixed bar
screen and conveys it over the screen in advance of the
lump coal from the weigh basket. This permits the
small coal to be sifted through the perforated plates
without being interfered with by the larger size. The
perforated plates in the upper deck of the Marcus screen
are bolted to “ T ” irons, and are easily removed, thus
enabling a change of classification to be rapidly made.
Sliding doors are fitted in the lower deck, and any
mixture of the sizes produced may be loaded into the
same car by simply replacing a door where desired.

The Marcus screen makes a good picking table as
well as an ideal arrangement for screening coal. It is
driven by a 23 horse-power three-phase, 60 cycle, squirrel
cage, alternating-current motor, with a full load capacity
of 62 amperes at 220 volts, but when the screen is
running the motor takes only 35 amperes. The speed
of the propulsion gear is 64 revolutions per minute, and
the stroke is 12 in.

The tipple building is heated by steam. Four lines
of 14 in. steam pipe are placed under the lower deck of
the screen to prevent moist coal from freezing and
sticking to the plates. A reducing valve in the steam
line reduces the steam from boiler pressure to 25 lbs.
In designing this screen provision was made for loading
lump coal into open cars as well as box cars, but the
chutes for this purpose have not been installed, as the
railway is now handling all the coal in box ears.

The self-dumping cage, shown in fig. 3, was built by
Herzler and Henninger Machine Works, Belleville,
Illinois. The car is held on the platform by cast steel
horns, which clamp over the thread of the wheels. To
release the empty car at the bottom of the shaft, knob
A in the centre of the toggle joint comes in contact with
a cast iron pedestal placed on timbers below the track
and thus raises the counter weights to the position shown
by the dotted lines. The empty is then bumped off
by the loaded car going on the cage. When the cage
is lifted the counter weights fall back into place, bring-
ing the horns over the wheels. When the cage
approaches the dumping position, the lever B engages
an angle iron fixed to the buntons, thus opening the
catch just as the dumping wheels are entering the
dumping brackets; 1 in. hoisting ropes are used. Load
on rope, cage 6,0001b., car 1,5001b., coal 3,0001b.,
total, 10,500 lb.

The power house is a wooden building containing the
following equipment : One pair of 12 in. by 16 in. self-
contained reversing engines, with two 5 ft. diameter
3 ft. 6 in. face friction drums, built by the Vulcan Iron
Works, of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. One 14 in. by
14 in. Robb-Armstrong engine, direct connected to a
125 k.v.a. three-phase, 60 cycle, 240 volt ac.
Westinghouse generator, 277 revolutions per minute;
one 6 in. by 6 in. Robb vertical enclosed type engine,
direct connected to a 10 kw. 125 volt, compound wound
d.c. exciter, 400 revolutions per minute; one three-panel
switch board; one 10 kw. 220 volt primary, 110 volt
secondary, single-phase transformer; two 18 ft. by 72 in.
Jenckes return tubular boilers.

The chief reason for installing a hoisting engine with
two friction drums was that in case of an accident to
one of the cages, the other could still be operated.
When the large generator is in operation the current
supplying the lights passes through the transformer, and
is reduced to 110 volts; when idle, the lighting current
is produced by the exciter. The mine is ventilated by
a 6 ft. 6 in. by 6 ft. 6 in. double inlet Sirocco fan,
capable of producing 100,000 eu. ft. per minute, against
a resistance equal to 1| in. water gauge when operating
at a speed of 190 revolutions per minute. The fan is
belt driven from a 75 horse-power Westinghouse motor.

Locomotive CoaLhandling Plant at Edge Hill, Liverpool.

Few railway companies have given such consideration
to the question of the handling of locomotive coal as
has the London and North-Western Railway Company.
At their large locomotive running sheds at Crewe, there
is an important mechanical coal-handling plant, which
was described and illustrated in the October 24, 1913,
issue of the Colliery Guardian', and at Camden Town
sheds is another type of coal-handling installation, which
was described and illustrated in the May 14, 1915, issue
of the Colliery Guardian. By the courtesy of Mr. C. J.

IT

-I	■-D''<’"•

-

v-'— *•#»>. '.VA .'■

kkAA ,w

At ' •

./ kA

’ k ...ZXA.A

Fig. 1.—Spur Line and Hoppers (Under Constriction).



Fig. 2.—Longitudinal Section through Coal Hoppers.

Bowen Cooke, the chief mechanical engineer of the
London and North-Western Railway Company, we are
now enabled to publish some particulars and illustrations
of a further installation which has been provided from
his designs at the F.dge Hill, Liverpool, locomotive
depot.

The loaded wagons are brought by an overhead circular
line, and are subsequently transferred to a spur, which
has two lines, one for the full wagons and another for
the empties, and terminates over a set of hoppers, as
shown (in course of construction) in fig. 1. The wagons
are hauled over the hoppers by means of capstans; and
as there is a gradient of 1 in 50 to reach the hoppers,
the removal of the empty wagons is effected by gravity.
Three hoppers are provided (figs. 2 and 3) for different
grades of coal, each hopper being capable of holding 40
tons, or 45 tons with careful trimming. Nine wagons
are required to supply the full loading of 120 tons. Each
hopper serves two shoots, one on each side, enabling
two locomotives to be provided simultaneously with coal
from the same bunker. The coal is taken first into the
measuring shoot, and as this is moved into the coaling
position, by means of a lever, communication with the
bunker is closed, and access to the directing shoot
opened. Each measuring shoot holds half a ton of coal.
On one side of the stage these shoots are of the design
shown in the cross section drawing. Each shoot has
two levers, one to open the valve to release the coal,
and the other to lower the shoot. Experience proved
that some types of tank locomotives could not very
conveniently be dealt with in this manner, this being
especially so in the case of those engines having the
bunker inside the cab sheets. Accordingly, the direct-
ing shoots on one side were constructed, as shown in
figs. 4 and 5, and they are adapted to pass into the cab
sufficiently to direct the coal well into the bunker. The
additional directing shoot on the shunting engine side is
kept loose, and no separate operating lever is required.

The Edge Hill depot serves the whole of the Mersey
side, and is one of the most important locomotive centres
on the London and North-Western Railway. About 150
locomotives are regularly stationed here, this total includ-
ing practically all types of passenger, goods, and mineral
locomotives, both tender and tank. Previous to the

construction of this plant, the coal-loading operations
were carried out by the old hand-labour methods, and
for an average day’s loading of about 300 tons a staff
of about 16 men, working in three shifts, was required.
As each engine had to remain at the coal stage for a time
varying from 25 to 40 minutes, the working conditions
did not make for expedition, and a blockage of the engine
roads was no unusual occurrence. With the new coal-
handling plant, one of the largest types of express loco-
motives is supplied with about seven tons of coal on its

Fig. 3.—Cross-section through Coal Hoppers.

tender in about 3J to 4 minutes, and, in the case of
engines requiring smaller quantities, there is a corre-
sponding reduction in time occupied. The best class of
coal is provided for the express passenger locomotives, a
medium quality for the other passenger and mineral
locomotives, whilst there is a special quality for the tank
engines working over the riverside lines at Liverpool,
and through the streets alongside the quay. The staff
now consists of six men working on two 12-hour shifts,
and three youths as checkers, working one at a time