January 18, 1918.

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

135

HOPPER TRUCK FOR CHARGING COKE
OVENS.

A small hopper truck, operated by compressed air, for
charging coke ovens, has been in use for some months
at the Mansfeld Pit, Langendreer, with satisfactory
results. As shown in the drawings, the truck is
equipped with two cylindrical air chambers a, each of a
capacity of 18 cu. ft., and two coal hoppers &, containing
together sufficient coal to fill one-third of a coke oven,
so that three trucks are required for a full charge.
Compressed air, at a pressure of about six atmospheres,
is drawn from a branch pipe laid above the ovens,
connection with the air cylinders being established by
means of a short length of flexible tube. A reducing
valve lowers the pressure to a uniform force of two
atmospheres before admission to the double cylinder
engine c, of -horse power, the drive being transmitted
by chain wheels d to the truck axle. The trucks can be
operated by one man; and as the work is very light it
can be done by a partially incapacitated workman.
Charging with these trucks is effected in the most
convenient manner when the coking coal tower lies in a
direct line with the charging tracks on the ovens, so that
there is a motor truck for each track. The wheel base
of the trucks, however, has been selected for negotiating
curves of 13-16 ft. radius. It is claimed as a special
advantage of this type of truck over electric drive that
it dispenses with the overhead wires of the latter, and
the risks attendant thereon ; and, owing to the scarcity

Fig. 1.—Side Elevation.

Fig. 2.—Front Elevation.

of electrical machinery at the present time, and the
difficulty of obtaining spare parts, the compressed air
truck, owing to its greater simplicity, is easier to obtain
and to keep in repair.

Since the air chambers are constructed to stand
pressures up to 30 atmospheres, the truck is particularly
suitable for pits equipped with powerful compressor
plants, from which it can be supplied at a pressure of
15 atmospheres. Moreover, air from the mains can be
raised to the desired pressure by installing a small com-
pressor for that purpose. When the higher pressure is
employed, the trucks will make six to eight trips for one
charge in the air cylinders.

SAFE COMPRESSIVE STRESSES OF COLLIERY

BRICKWORK.

In connection with the article on this subject, which
appeared in the Colliery Guardian, October 26, 1917,
p. 786, Messrs. J. Brooks Taylor and Company Limited,
Neath, have furnished us with the following particulars
of the results of tests of their wire-cut red bricks,
carried out by Messrs. David Kirkaldy and Son :—

Resistance to Gradually Increased Thrusting Stress.

Stress in lb., when

Dimensions.		Base area.  Sq. in.	r~ Cracked.	Crushed.
	In.			
2’81 x	8*83 x 4*30	37*97	..	.. 320,700 .	.. 364,600
2’90 x	8*84 x 4*27	.	..	37'75	.. 301,500 .	.. 340,500
2*88 x	8*92 x 4'36 .	..	38'89	.-	.. 269,700 .	.. 338,000
2*81 x	8'88 x 4'30	..	38*18	.	.. 249,9Q0 .	.. 329,100
2*90 x	8'94 x 4'32 .	..	38'62	.	.. 243,000 .	.. 318,900
2*80 x	8'90’x 4'30	..	38'27	.. 256,300 .	.. 308,800
	Mean		..	38'28	.	.. 273,517 .	.. 333,317
	Lb. per sq. in			7,145 .	8,707
	Tons per sq.	ft. 			459*5 .	559*9

Porosity.

Before immersion.  Lb.	After 24 hours*. immersion. Lb.	Difference.  Lb.	Absorption.  Per cent.
8'828	..	9*128	0'300	3'40 ■)
8'657	..	8'947	0*290	3'35 S 3’7f
9*073	..	9*491 . ..	0*418	4'613

At a congress of Wurtemberg Liberal members of the
Reichstag, Herr Liesching declared that the next displace-
ment of Hie German line on the Western front would
seriously impede the transportation of coal on the Rhine,
thereby rendering the existing coal crisis still more acute.

A Portable Belt Conveyor.—A portable belt conveyor has
recently been developed by the Barber-Greene Company,
Aurora, Illinois, for handling coal, especially in unloading
cars to bins or open piles. It is also being used, however,
for handling other materials, such as clay, brick, crushed
stone, salt, etc. In the case of salt and cheipicals injurious
to steel, a.wood frame is supplied. All the conveyors are
self-contained, with the electric motor mounted within the
conveyor frame. In this way, the one machine can be
applied to a variety of conditions with very little difficulty
in moving from one operating position to another. A
special type of frame construction is employed which has
been found to be more than ample for all requirements to
which it has been applied, and at the same time is suffi-
ciently light to make the conveyor really portable. In
some cases, material is shovelled into the conveyor hopper
and discharged over the other end on to the pile or into
another conveyor. In other cases it is possible to let the
material flow by gravity into the conveyor hopper, and the
material is thus transferred with little or no manual labour.
The discharge end may be fixed to any desired height, and
frequently is arranged with height sufficient to discharge
in a hopper of a similar conveyor. The hopper may be set
at any point on the conveyor convenient for the workmen;
or the conveyor may be provided with a continuous hopper.

Notes from the Coal Fields.

[Local Correspondence.]

South Wales and Monmouthshire.

The Five-Day Working Week—Swansea Flarbour Trustees
—Miners and Food Supplies—Wages of Colliery Clerks
—£1,000 for Scholarships—Explosion Funds.

In the Chancery Division, on Friday of last week,
mention was made of the Rhondda case/ relating to the
land-slide at Ystrad, and the day of hearing was fixed
for March 18.

The Miners’ Federation executive having declared in
favour of a five-day working week Mr. Finlay Gibson
(secretary of the Coalowners’ Association) as a member
of the Commission appointed by the Controller to investi-
gate the causes of short-time working in the coal field, has
published a protest, because the reports of the Commis-
sion are being considered by the Controller, and in the
midst of these proceedings the Federation executive has
intervened with its proposal of a five-day week, which
has been made without enquiry.

Swansea Harbour Trustees, on Monday, accepted the
resignation of the chairman (Sir Griffith Thomas), who
also retires from membership of the Trust, on which he
has served for the past 27 years. Mr. Roger Beck was
cliosen chairman for the remainder of the official year,
which ends in March. The financial statement for the
month showed that during November the income was
£32,368, and expenditure £30,887. For the eleven .months
of last year, the excess expenditure was <£45,343. For the
same period of 1916 the excess was £31,896, and

is now not far short of £90,000. The new chairman
has been one of the trustees for nearly 20 years, giving-
special attention to the work of the Finance Committee,
of which he is now chairman.

Swansea trade last week showed an improvement, coal
shipments totalling over 40,000 tons, with 14,750 tons of
patent fuel.

Tredegar Valley miners discussed on Monday a resolu-
tion that a stop-day should be taken in protest against
the unequal distribution of food, but the proposal was
rejected by a 2 to 1 vote. Resolutions were, however,
passed in favour of Government acquisition of all food-
stuffs in order that there should be rationing of the whole
people. The meeting decided also to request the execu-
tive council of the Federation to discuss and prepare a
scheme so that work could be found as soon as possible
for men returned from the Army. A report was sub-
mitted on the proposal of a five-day week.

The manager of the Rhos and Wernos Collieries, Amman-
ford, was sued by a collier at the Llandilo County Court
for £35 damages on account of personal injury from an
alleged assault, but judgment was given for the defendant,
with costs.

The miners of Merthyr held a mass meeting on Tuesday
evening on the food shortage question. Their agent (Mr.
Noah Ablett) proposed that the Government should com-
mandeer all food, and distribute it equally amongst all the
districts. It was decided to call on the South Wales execu-
tive to aid and influence the Triple Alliance, and a
deputation was appointed to wait on the local Food Control
Committee to discuss a rationing scheme.

In other parts of the coal field also the food difficulty
has occasioned trouble—at Tonypandy, in the Rhondda, on.
Tuesday, 3,000 persons assembled outside one shop; whilst
in the Rhymney Valley many people flocked into Bargoed
seeking supplies; and both at Merthyr and Dowlais, as well
as in the places already named, the food queues were longer
on each successive day.

The Avon Valley Miners’ Association has also dealt with
the q< ?stion of alleged unfair distribution of food supplies,
and a strong protest has been made against inequality.

Owing to heavy snowfall during Tuesday night, a large
number of workmen absented themselves from the Rhondda
and neighbouring collieries, and several pits—United
National, Cambrian, etc.—were idle.

Mr. R. R. Davies, mining engineer, has been appointed
agent for the Cwmaman Collieries under the new proprie-
tary. He was for 17 years manager of the pits, but retired
about five years ago.

The new manager and secretary of Nixon’s Navigation
Company, in succession to the late Mr. J. Lane Herbert, is
Mr. Morgan Lewis, who has been in the office for about
40 years, and is held in high esteem on Cardiff Coal
Exchange.

Park Slip Explosion Fund accounts show that during
1917 the receipts totalled £382, and that £248 was paid
out in relief, there being 24 beneficiaries. Since the estab-
lishment of the fund, over £17,000 has been distributed.

As a result of correspondence between the Coal Controller
and the employers in South Wales, the wages of colliery
clerks in this district are to be adjusted. Already
increases have been made to this class of employees, and
some of them have shared in the Is. 6d. a day which was
given to the miners.

The miners in the new constituency of East Rhondda have
decided to nominate their old leader, Maj. D. Watts
Morgan, as Parliamentary candidate.

The colliery lodges in the new Parliamentary division of
Aberavon have nominated County Coun. William Jenkins,
the miners’ agent for the district, to contest the repre-
sentation at a future date.

The lodges of the new Ebbw Vale constituency nomi-
nated the Right Hon. T. Richards, M.P. (sitting member
for West Monmouthshire), Coun. Evan Davies (Ebbw
Vale), and Coun. S. Davies (Blackwood) as candidates, and
a ballot of the miners will be taken.

Principal Knox, of the Treforest School of Mines, has
received a gift of £1,000 to provide scholarships for
students, the donor desiring to remain anonymous.

The Great Western Colliery Explosion Fund Committee
held its annual meeting in Cardiff on Saturday last, and it
was shown that during the year £170 had been granted in
relief, and that the accounts showed a balance of over
£2,000 on the credit side.

The Albion Colliery Explosion Fund Committee held its
annual meeting in Cardiff on Saturday last, and it was
stated that a sum of £512 had been paid during the year
in relief to beneficiaries, and that there were still 27 widows
on the fund.

Northumberland and Durham.

Manager's New Appointment—Selecting Farliamentry
Candidates—An	Association of	Chemists—Tyne

Shipments.

Mr. T. A. Golden, president of the Hetton lodge of the
Durham Miners’ Association, has been co-opted as a
member of the Hetton Urban District Council.

Mr. Samuel Hare, agent for most of the collieries of
Messrs. Bolckow, Vaughan and Company Limited, has been
appointed as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire
for services rendered during the war, principally as an
expert adviser on the manuiacture of high explosives.

Mr. G. Hare, manager of the Westerton Colliery of
Messrs. Bolckow, Vaughan and Company Limited, is
stated to have been appointed manager of Leasingthorne
Colliery, in the same proprietorship, in succession to Mr.
R. W. Hall, who has been appointed manager and agent
of the South Rhondda Colliery, South Wales.

Fredk. Thompson (37), rolleywayman, lost his life
through an extraordinary accident in the Busty seam of
the Beamish Mary pit last week. Whilst tightening a bolt
on a friction wheel, a tub passing round the turn caught,
him and knocked him between the rope and the friction
wheel, whereby he was completely decapitated.

The Northumberland Miners’ Association is inviting
nominations of possible Parliamentary candidates, to
reach the Burt Hall by January 26, after which they will
be submitted to the lodges to be voted on in the usual way.
This is consequent upon the Miners’ Federation conference
having allotted three Parliamentary candidates to the
county. It is intended that if miners’ lodges in any con-
stituency desire to nominate a miner, for adoption by the
local Labour Party, they may select their nominee from a
list previously approved by the association as a whole. Mr.
Wm. Straker has already been selected as miners’ candi-
ate for the Wansbeck Division, for the seat now held by
Mr. Chas. Fenwick, M.P.; and Mr. John Cairns stands in
a similar relation to the Morpeth Division, from the repre-
sentation of which the Right Hon. Thos. Burt is retiring at
the close of the present Parliament. The branches are now
being asked to select other four candidates to be placed
on the list, with a view, of course, to a total of three being
run at the next General Election.

At a largely-attended meeting of north-east coast
chemists—mostly those employed in industrial processes in
works, etc., jn the district—held in .Newcastle last Saturday
for the purpose of considering the proposal to form a British
Association of Chemists, Mr. Henry Peile, of the Priestman
Collieries Limited, presided. It was decided to endorse
broadly the objects of the proposed association, but to
express the view that these objects could be best attained
through the instrumentality of the Institute of Chemistry. •
A committee was appointed to press that view on the insti-
tute, and to take any other action deemed necessary.

At the January meeting of the Tyne Improvement Com-
missioners, it was reported that the total quantity of coal
an.d coke despatched from the Tyne last year was 11,807,197
tons, as compared with 15,187,851 tons in 1916, and
20,299,955 tons in 1913 (the last full pre-war year). Coal
shipped as cargo amounted to 10,031,700 tons, as compared
with 12,787,368 tons in 1916, and 17,783,860 tons in 1913;
coal as bunkers to 1,086,322 tons, as compared with
1,518,846 tons and 2,208,410 tons respectively; and coke,
689,175 tons, as compared with 881,637 tons and 307,685
tons respectively. As compared with 1916, the total ship-
ments had declined by 22-26 per cent., and, as compared
with 1913, by 41-84 per cent. Thus it is abundantly
evident that the sea-going traffic in coal and coke has been
wonderfully well maintained, despite the U-boat menace.

Cumberland.

It is stated that Mr. Muir Ritchie, chairman of the Millom
and Askam Iron and Steel Company and the Barrow Iron
and Steel Company, has purchased the brickworks and
colliery at Camerton, at present carried on by Dr. Mutch.
Both the brickworks and colliery are said to be capable of
considerable development.

Yorkshire.

At Dewsbury last week, Arthur Fox, under-manager of
Ings pit, Thornhill, was summoned for having contravened
the Coal Mines Act, 1911, by not fencing off a drift in
which gas had been discovered, and not erecting a signal.
The solicitor prosecuting for the colliery company said Fox
had been discharged, and probably the colliery company
would have thought that sufficient punishment, but the
inspector of mines insisted upon a prosecution. The prose-
cution arose out of the death of two men in the pit. For
the defendant, it was said that he imperilled his own life
in attempting to rescue the men. He would not wait until
smoke helmets arrived, and was roped, so that he might
be pulled out if overcome by the gas. The Bench imposed
a fine of 19s. 6d.

The council of the Yorkshire Miners’ Association declined
to send delegates to visit the war front. The council, who
were practically unanimous, adopted the view that there
was more important work to be done by our shipping than
the conveying of people for “ sight-seeing in France.”

Lancashire and Cheshire.

On Monday the Bolton and District Coal Owners’ Asso-
ciation issued a notice to the effect that owing to the
advance in wages now granted to the carters, which dates
from December 31, 1917, and the increased cost of horse
keep, repairs, and renewal, carting rates and all materials
will be advanced 6d. per ton on the minimum. For long
distances the advance will be pro rata.

The work of opening out working places in the new
mines at the Wigan Coal and Iron Company’s Parsonage
pits, West Leigh, is to be pushed forward as expeditiously
as circumstances will permit.

• The boards of management of co-operative societies in
certain parts of South-East Lancashire are now largely
composed of working miners. For instance, seven-eighths
of the members of the Walkden Society are colliers
employed at Lord Ellesmere’s pits.

Notts and Derbyshire.

The council of the Derbyshire Miners’ Association,
which represents 50,000 members, will meet to-morrow
(Saturday), to consider the man-power scheme. The miners
hold that the Government gave an undertaking that the
young men engaged in mines who attained military age
while so employed should be exempt. There is a strong