The thickness of coal seams varies in Great Britain from a mere film to 35 or 40 ft.; but in the south of France and in India masses of coal are known up to 200 ft. in thickness. These very thick seams are, however, rarely constant in character for any great distance, being found commonly to degenerate into carbonaceous shales, or to split up into thinner beds by the intercalation of shale bands or partings. One of the most striking examples of this is afforded by the thick or ten-yard seam of South Staffordshire, which is from 30 to 45 ft. thick in one connected mass in the neighbourhood of Dudley, but splits up into eight seams, which, with the intermediate shales and sandstones, are of a total thickness of 400 ft. in the northern part of the coalfield in Cannock Chase. Seams of a medium thickness of 3 to 7 ft. are usually the most regular and continuous in character. Cannel coals are generally variable in quality, being liable to change into shales or black-band ironstones within very short horizontal limits. In some instances the coal seams may be changed as a whole, as for instance in South Wales, where the coking coals of the eastern side of the basin pass through the state of dry steam coal in the centre, and become anthracite in the western side.
(H. B.)
The most important European coalfields are in Great Britain, Belgium and Germany. In Great Britain there is the South Welsh field, extending westward from the march of Monmouthshire to Kidwelly, and northward to Merthyr Tydfil. A midland group of coalfields extends from south Lancashire to the WestGeographical distribution of coalfields.Riding of Yorkshire, the two greatest industrial districts in the country, southward to Warwickshire and Staffordshire, and from Nottinghamshire on the east to Flintshire on the west. In the north of England are the rich field of Northumberland and Durham, and a lesser field on the coast of Cumberland (Whitehaven, &c.). Smaller isolated fields are those of the Forest of Dean (Gloucestershire) and the field on either side of the Avon above Bristol. Coal has also been found in Kent, in the neighbourhood of Dover. In Scotland coal is worked at various points (principally in the west) in the Clyde-Forth lowlands. In Belgium the chief coal-basins are those of Hainaut and Liége. Coal has also been found in an extension northward from this field towards Antwerp, while westward the same field extends into north-eastern France. Coal is widely distributed in Germany. The principal field is that of the lower Rhine and Westphalia, which centres in the industrial region of the basin of the Ruhr, a right-bank tributary of the Rhine. In the other chief industrial region of Germany, in Saxony, Zwickau and Lugau, are important mining centres. In German Silesia there is a third rich field, which extends into Austria (Austrian Silesia and Galicia), for which country it forms the chief home source of supply (apart from lignite). Part of the same field also lies within Russian territory (Poland) near the point where the frontiers of the three powers meet. Both in Germany and in Austria-Hungary the production of lignite is large—in the first-named especially in the districts about Halle and Cologne; in the second in north-western Bohemia, Styria and Carniola. In France the principal coalfield is that in the north-east, already mentioned; another of importance is the central (Le Creusot, &c.) and a third, the southern, about the lower course of the Rhone. Coal is pretty widely distributed in Spain, and occurs in several districts in the Balkan peninsula. In Russia, besides the Polish field, there is an important one south of Moscow, and another in the lower valley of the Donetz, north of the Sea of Azov. The European region poorest in coal (proportionately to area) is Scandinavia, where there is only one field of economic value—a small one in the extreme south of Sweden.
In Asia the Chinese coalfields are of peculiar interest. They are widely distributed throughout China Proper, but those of the province of Shansi appear to be the richest. Proportionately to their vast extent they have been little worked. In a modified degree the same is true of the Indian fields; large supplies are unworked, but in several districts, especially about Raniganj and elsewhere in Bengal, workings are fully developed. Similarly in Siberia and Japan there are extensive supplies unworked or only partially exploited. Those in the neighbourhood of Semipalatinsk may be instanced in the first case and those in the island of Yezo in the second. In Japan, however, several smaller fields (e.g.in the island of Kiushiu) are more fully developed. Coal is worked to some extent in Sumatra, British North Borneo, and the Philippine Islands.
In the United States of America the Appalachian mountain system, from Pennsylvania southward, roughly marks the line of the chief coal-producing region. This group of fields is followed in importance by the “Eastern Interior” group in Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky, and the “Western Interior” group in Iowa, Missouri and Kansas. In Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas, and along the line of the Rocky Mountains, extensive fields occur, producing lignite and bituminous coal. The last-named fields are continued northward in Canada (Crow’s Nest Pass field, Vancouver Island, &c.). There is also a group of coalfields on the Atlantic seaboard of the Dominion, principally in Nova Scotia. Coal is known at several points in Alaska, and there are rich but little worked deposits in Mexico.
In the southern countries coal-production is insignificant compared with that in the northern hemisphere. In South America coal is known in Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, northern Chile, Brazil (chiefly in the south), and Argentina (Parana, the extreme south of Patagonia, and Tierra del Fuego), but in nocountry are the workings extensive. Africa is apparently the continent poorest in coal, though valuable workings have been developed at various points in British South Africa,e.g.at Kronstad, &c., in Cape Colony, at Vereeniging, Boksburg and elsewhere in the Transvaal, in Natal and in Swaziland. Australia possesses fields of great value, principally in the south-east (New South Wales and Victoria), and in New Zealand considerable quantities of coal and lignite are raised, chiefly in South Island.
The following table, based on figures given in theJournal of the Iron and Steel Institute, vol. 72, will give an idea of the coal production of the world:—
Table IV.
The questions, what is the total amount of available coal in the coalfields of Great Britain and Ireland, and how long it may be expected to last, have frequently been discussed since the early part of the 19th century, and particularCoal resources of Great Britain.attention was directed to them after the publication of Stanley Jevons’s book onThe Coal Questionin 1865. In 1866 a royal commission was appointed to inquire into the subject, and in its report, issued in 1871, estimated that the coal resources of the country, in seams of 1 ft. thick and upwards situated within 4000 ft. of the surface, amounted to 90,207,285,398 tons. A second commission, which was appointed in 1901 and issued its final report in 1905, taking 4000 ft. as the limit of practicable depth in working and 1 ft. as the minimum workable thickness, and after making all necessary deductions, estimated the available quantity of coal in the proved coalfields of the United Kingdom as 100,914,668,167 tons. Although in the years 1870-1903 the amount raised was 5,694,928,507 tons, this later estimate was higher by 10,707,382,769 tons than that of the previous commission, the excess being accounted for partly by the difference in the areas regarded as productive by the two commissions, and partly by new discoveries and more accurate knowledge of the coal seams. In addition it was estimated that in the proved coalfields at depths greater than 4000 ft. there were 5,239,433,980 tons, and that in concealed and unproved fields, at depths less than 4000 ft. there were 39,483,844,000 tons, together with 854,608,307 tons in that part of the Cumberland coalfield beyond 5 m. and within 12 m. of high-water mark, and 383,024,000 tons in the South Wales coalfield under the sea in St Bride’s Bay and part of Carmarthen Bay.
In Table V. below column I. shows the quantity of coal still remaining unworked in the different coalfields at depths not exceeding 4000 ft. and in seams not less than 1 ft. thick, as estimated by seven district commissioners; column II. the total estimated reductions on account of loss in working due to faults and other natural causes in seams and of coal required to be left for barriers, support of surface buildings, &c.; and column III. the estimated net available amount remaining unworked.
Table V.
As regards the duration of British coal resources, the commissioners reported (1905):—
“This question turns chiefly upon the maintenance or the variation of the annual output. The calculations of the last Coal Commission as to the future exports and of Mr Jevons as to the future annual consumption make us hesitate to prophesy how long our coal resources are likely to last. The present annual output is in round numbers 230 million tons, and the calculated available resources in the proved coalfields are in round numbers 100,000 million tons, exclusive of the 40,000 million tons in the unproved coalfields, which we have thought best to regard only as probable or speculative. For the last thirty years the average increase in the output has been 2½% per annum, and that in the exports (including bunkers) 4½% per annum. It is the general opinion of the District Commissioners that owing to physical considerations it is highly probable that the present rate of increase of theoutputof coal can long continue—indeed, they think that some districts have already attained their maximum output, but that on the other hand the developments in the newer coalfields will possibly increase the total output for some years.In view of this opinion and of the exhaustion of the shallower collieries we look forward to a time, not far distant, when the rate of increase of output will be slower, to be followed by a period of stationary output, and then a gradual decline.”
“This question turns chiefly upon the maintenance or the variation of the annual output. The calculations of the last Coal Commission as to the future exports and of Mr Jevons as to the future annual consumption make us hesitate to prophesy how long our coal resources are likely to last. The present annual output is in round numbers 230 million tons, and the calculated available resources in the proved coalfields are in round numbers 100,000 million tons, exclusive of the 40,000 million tons in the unproved coalfields, which we have thought best to regard only as probable or speculative. For the last thirty years the average increase in the output has been 2½% per annum, and that in the exports (including bunkers) 4½% per annum. It is the general opinion of the District Commissioners that owing to physical considerations it is highly probable that the present rate of increase of theoutputof coal can long continue—indeed, they think that some districts have already attained their maximum output, but that on the other hand the developments in the newer coalfields will possibly increase the total output for some years.
In view of this opinion and of the exhaustion of the shallower collieries we look forward to a time, not far distant, when the rate of increase of output will be slower, to be followed by a period of stationary output, and then a gradual decline.”
According to a calculation made by P. Frech in 1900, on the basis of the then rate of production, the coalfields of central France, central Bohemia, the kingdom of Saxony, the Prussian province of Saxony and the north of England, would be exhausted in 100 to 200 years, the other British coalfields, the Waldenburg-Schatzlar and that of the north of France in 250 years, those of Saarbrücken, Belgium, Aachen and Westphalia in 600 to 800 years, and those of Upper Silesia in more than 1000 years.
(O. J. R. H.; H. M. R.)
Coal-Mining.
The opening and laying out, or, as it is generally called, “winning,” of new collieries is rarely undertaken without a preliminary examinationPreliminary trial of coalworkings.of the character of the strata by means of borings, either for the purpose of determining thenumber and nature of the coal seams in new ground, or the position of the particular seam or seams which it is proposed to work in extensions of known coalfields.
The principle of proving a mineral field by boring is illustrated by fig. 1, which represents a line direct from the dip to the rise of the field, the inclination of the strata being one in eight. No. 1 bore is commenced at the dip, and reaches a seam of coal A, at 40 fathoms; at this depth it is considered proper to remove nearer to the outcrop so that lower strata may be bored into at a less depth, and a second bore is commenced. To find the position of No. 2, so as to form a continuous section, it is necessary to reckon the inclination of the strata, which is 1 in 8; and as bore No. 1 was 40 fathoms in depth, we multiply the depth by the rate of inclination, 40 × 8 = 320 fathoms, which gives the point at which the coal seam A should reach the surface. But there is generally a certain depth of alluvial cover which requires to be deducted, and which we call 3 fathoms, then (40 - 3 = 37) × 8 = 296 fathoms; or say 286 fathoms is the distance that the second bore should be placed to the rise of the first, so as to have, for certain, the seam of coal A in clear connexion with the seam of coal B. In bore No. 3, where the seam B, according to the same system of arrangement, should have been found at or near the surface, another seam C is proved at a considerable depth, differing in character and thickness from either of the preceding. This derangement being carefully noted, another bore to the outcrop on the same principle is put down for the purpose of proving the seam C; the nature of the strata at first is found to agree with the latter part of that bored through in No. 3, but immediately on crossing the dislocation seen in the figure it is changed and the deeper seam D is found.
The evidence therefore of these bores (3 and 4) indicates some material derangement, which is then proved by other bores, either towards the dip or the outcrop, according to the judgment of the borer, so as to ascertain the best position for sinking pits. (For the methods of boring seeBoring.)
The working of coal may be conducted either by means of levels or galleries driven from the outcrop in a valley, or by shafts or pits sunk from the surface. In the early days of coal-mining, open working, or quarrying fromMethods of working.the outcrop of the seams, was practised to a considerable extent; but there are now few if any places in England where this can be done. In 1873 there could be seen, in the thick coal seams of Bengal, near Raniganj, a seam about 50 ft. thick laid bare, over an area of several acres, by stripping off a superficial covering varying from 10 to 30 ft., in order to remove the whole of the coal without loss by pillars. Such a case, however, is quite exceptional. The operations by which the coal is reached and laid out for removal are known as “winning,” the actual working or extraction of the coal being termed “getting.” In fig. 2 A B is a cross cut level, by which the seams of coal 1 and 2 are won, and C D a vertical shaft by which the seams 1, 2 and 3 are won. When the field is won by the former method, the coal lying above the level is said to be “level-free.” The mode of winning by level is of less general application than that by shafts, as the capacity for production is less, owing to the smaller size of roadways by which the coal must be brought to the surface, levels of large section being expensive and difficult to keep open when the mine has been for some time at work. Shafts, on the other hand, may be made of almost any capacity, owing to the high speed in drawing which is attainable with proper mechanism, and allow of the use of more perfect arrangements at the surface than can usually be adopted at the mouth of a level on a hill-side. A more cogent reason, however, is to be found in the fact that the principal coalfields are in flat countries, where the coal can only be reached by vertical sinking.
The methods adopted in driving levels for collieries are generally similar to those adopted in other mines. The ground is secured by timbering, or more usually by arching in masonry or brick-work. Levels like that in fig. 2, which are driven across the stratification, or generally anywhere not in coal, are known as “stone drifts.” The sinking of colliery shafts, however,Sinking of shafts.differs considerably from that of other mines, owing to their generally large size, and the difficulties that are often encountered from water during the sinking. The actual coal measure strata, consisting mainly of shales and clays, are generally impervious to water, but when strata of a permeable character are sunk through, such as the magnesian limestone of the north of England, the Permian sandstones of the central counties, or the chalk and greensand in the north of France and Westphalia, special methods are required in order to pass the water-bearing beds, and to protect the shaft and workings from the influx of water subsequently. Of theseTubbing.methods one of the chief is the plan of tubbing, or lining the excavation with an impermeable casing of wood or iron, generally the latter, built up in segments forming rings, which are piled upon each other throughout the whole depth of the water-bearing strata. This method necessitates the use of very considerable pumping power during the sinking, as the water has to be kept down in order to allow the sinkers to reach a water-tight stratum upon which the foundation of the tubbing can be placed. This consists of a heavy cast iron ring, known as a wedging crib, or curb, also fitted together in segments, which is lodged in a square-edged groove cut for its reception, tightly caulked with moss, and wedged into position. Upon this the tubbing is built up in segments, of which usually from 10 to 12 are required for the entire circumference, the edges being made perfectly true. The thickness varies according to the pressure expected, but may be taken at from ¾ to 1½ in. The inner face is smooth, but the back is strengthened with angle brackets at the corners. A small hole is left in the centre of each segment, which is kept open during the fitting to prevent undue pressure upon any one, but is stopped as soon as the circle is completed. In the north of France and Belgium wooden tubbings, built of polygonal rings, were at one time in general use. The polygons adopted were of 20 or more sides approximating to a circular form.
The second principal method of sinking through water-bearing ground is by compressed air. The shaft is lined with a cylinder of wrought iron, within which a tubular chamber, provided with doors above and below, known as anPneumatic sinking.air-lock, is fitted by a telescopic joint, which is tightly packed so as to close the top of the shaft air-tight. Air is then forced into the inclosed space by means of a compressing engine, until the pressure is sufficient to oppose the flow of water into the excavation, and to drive out any that may collect in the bottom of the shaft through a pipe which is carried through the air-sluice to the surface. The miners work in the bottom in the same manner as divers in an ordinary diving-bell. Access to the surface is obtained through the double doors of the air-sluice,the pressure being reduced to that of the external atmosphere when it is desired to open the upper door, and increased to that of the working space below when it is intended to communicate with the sinkers, or to raise the stuff broken in the bottom. This method has been adopted in various sinkings on the continent of Europe.
The third method of sinking through water-bearing strata is that of boring, adopted by Messrs Kind & Chaudron in Belgium and Germany. For this purpose a horizontal bar armed with vertical cutting chisels is used, which cutsShaft boring.out the whole section of the shaft simultaneously. In the first instance, a smaller cutting frame is used, boring a hole from 3 to 5 ft. in diameter, which is kept some 50 or 60 ft. in advance, so as to receive the detritus, which is removed by a shell pump of large size. The large trepan or cutter weighs about 16 tons, and cuts a hole of from 9 to 15 ft. in diameter. The water-tight lining may be either a wrought iron tube, which is pressed down by jack screws as the borehole advances, or cast iron tubbing put together in short complete rings, in contradistinction to the old plan of building them up of segments. The tubbing, which is considerably less in diameter than the borehole, is suspended by rods from the surface until a bed suitable for a foundation is reached, upon which a sliding length of tube, known as the moss box, bearing a shoulder, which is filled with dried moss, is placed. The whole weight of the tubbing is made to bear on the moss, which squeezes outwards, forming a completely water-tight joint. The interval between the back of the tubbing and the sides of the borehole is then filled up with concrete, which on setting fixes the tubbing firmly in position. With increase in depth, however, the thickness and weight of the cast iron tubbing in a large shaft become almost unmanageable; in one instance, at a depth of 1215 ft., the bottom rings in a shaft 14½ ft. in diameter are about 4 in. thick, which is about the limit for sound castings. It has therefore been proposed, for greater depths, to put four columns of tubbings of smaller diameters, 8½ and 5½ ft., in the shaft, and fill up the remainder of the boring with concrete, so that with thinner and lighter castings a greater depth may be reached. This, however, has not as yet been tried. Another extremely useful method of sinking through water-bearing ground, introduced by Messrs A. & H. T. Poetsch in 1883, and originally applied to shafts passing through quicksands above brown coal seams, has been applied with advantage in opening new pits through the secondary and tertiary strata above the coal measures in the north of France and Belgium, some of the most successful examples being those at Lens, Anzin and Vicq, in the north of France basin. In this system the soft ground or fissured water-bearing rock is rendered temporarily solid by freezing the contained water within a surface a few feet larger in diameter than the size of the finished shaft, so that the ground may be broken either by hand tools or blasting in the same manner as hard rock. The miners are protected by the frozen wall, which may be 4 or 5 ft. thick. The freezing is effected by circulating brine (calcium chloride solution) cooled to 5° F. through a series of vertical pipes closed at the bottom, contained in boreholes arranged at equal distances apart around the space to be frozen, and carried down to a short distance below the bottom of the ground to be secured. The chilled brine enters through a central tube of small diameter, passes to the bottom of the outer one and rises through the latter to the surface, each system of tubes being connected above by a ring main with the circulating pumps. The brine is cooled in a tank filled with spiral pipes, in which anhydrous ammonia, previously liquefied by compression, is vaporizedin vacuoat the atmospheric temperature by the sensible heat of the return-current of brine, whose temperature has been slightly raised in its passage through the circulating tubes. When hard ground is reached, a seat is formed for the cast iron tubbing, which is built up in the usual way and concreted at the back, a small quantity of caustic soda being sometimes used in mixing the concrete to prevent freezing. In an application of this method at Vicq, two shafts of 12 and 16.4 ft. diameter, in a covering of cretaceous strata, were frozen to a depth of 300 ft. in fifty days, the actual sinking and lining operations requiring ninety days more. The freezing machines were kept at work for 200 days, and 2191 tons of coal were consumed in supplying steam for the compressors and circulating pumps.
The introduction of these special methods has considerably simplified the problem of sinking through water-bearing strata. Some of the earlier sinkings of this kind, when pumps had to be depended on for keeping down the water, were conducted at great cost, as, for instance, at South Hetton, and more recently Ryhope, near Sunderland, through the magnesian limestone of Durham.
The size and form of colliery shafts vary in different districts. In the United States and Scotland rectangular pits secured by timber framings are still common, but the tendency is now generally to make them round, 20 ft. being aboutSize of shafts.the largest diameter employed. In the Midland counties, from 7 to 9 ft. is a very common size, but larger dimensions are adopted where a large production is required. Since the accident at Hartley colliery in 1862, caused by the breaking of the pumping-engine beam, which fell into the shaft and blocked it up, whereby the whole of the men then at work in the mine were starved to death, it has been made compulsory upon mine-owners in the United Kingdom to have two pits for each working, in place of the single one divided by walls or brattices which was formerly thought sufficient. The use of two independent connexions—whether separate pits or sections of the same pit, between the surface and the workings—is necessary for the service of the ventilation, fresh air from the surface being carried down one, known as the “downcast,” while the foul or return air of the mine rises through the other or “upcast” pit back to the surface. In a heavily-watered mine it is often necessary to establish a special engine-pit, with pumps permanently fixed, or a division of one of the pits may be devoted to this purpose. The pumps, placed close to the point where the water accumulates, may be worked by an engine on the surface by means of heavy reciprocating rods which pass down the shaft, or by underground motors driven by steam, compressed air or electricity.
Where the water does not accumulate very rapidly it is a common practice to allow it to collect in a pit or sump below the working bottom of the shaft, and to draw it off in a water tub or “hoppet” by the main engine, when the latter is not employed in raising coal.
The laying out of a colliery, after the coal has been won, by sinkings or levels, may be accomplished in various ways, according to the nature of the coal, its thickness and dip, and the extent of ground to be worked. In the SouthLaying out workings.Staffordshire and other Midland coalfields, where only shallow pits are required, and the coals are thick, a pair of pits may be sunk for a very few acres, while in the North of England, on the other hand, where sinking is expensive, an area of some thousands of acres may be commanded from the same number of pits. In the latter case, which represents the most approved practice, the sinking is usually placed about the centre of the ground, so that the workings may radiate in every direction from the pit bottom, with the view of employing the greatest number of hands to advantage. Where a large area cannot be commanded, it is best to sink to the lowest point of the field for the convenience of drawing the coal and water which become level-free in regard to the pit. Where properties are much divided, it is always necessary to maintain a thick barrier of unwrought coal between the boundary of the mine and the neighbouring workings, especially if the latter are to the dip. If a prominent line of fault crosses the area it may usually be a convenient division of the fields into sections or districts. The first process in laying out the workings consists in driving a gallery on the level along the course of the coal seam, which is known as a “dip head level,” and a lower parallel one, in which the water collects, known as a “lodgment level.” Galleries driven at right angles to these are known as a “dip” or “rise headings,” according to their position above or below the pit bottom. In Staffordshire the main levels are also known as“gate roads.” To secure the perpendicularity of the shaft, it is necessary to leave a large mass or pillar of the seam untouched around the pit bottom. This pillar is known in Scotland as the “pit bottom stoop.” The junction of the levels with the pit is known as the “pit eye”; it is usually of an enlarged section, and lined with masonry or brick-work, so as to afford room for handling the wagons or trams of coal brought from the working faces. In this portion of the pit are generally placed the furnaces for ventilation, and the boilers required for working steam engines underground, as well as the stables and lamp cabin.
The removal of the coal after the roads have been driven may be effected in many different ways, according to the custom of the district. These may, however, all be considered as modifications of two systems, viz. pillar workMethod of working coal.and long-wall work. In the former which is also known as “post and stall” or “bord and pillar” in the north of England, “pillar and stall” in South Wales, and “stoop and room” in Scotland, the field is divided into strips by numerous openings driven parallel to the main rise headings, called “bords” or “bord gates,” which are again divided by cutting through them at intervals, so as to leave a series ofPillar working.pillars arranged chequer-wise over the entire area. These pillars are left for the support of the roof as the workings advance, so as to keep the mine open and free from waste. In the oldest form of this class of working, where the size of the pillar is equal to the width of the stall or excavation, about ¾ of the whole seam will be removed, the remainder being left in the pillars. A portion of this may be got by the process known as robbing the pillars, but the coal so obtained is liable to be very much crushed from the pressure of the superincumbent strata. This crushing may take place either from above or below, producing what are known as “creeps” or “sits.”
A coal seam with a soft pavement and a hard roof is the most subject to a “creep.” The first indication is a dull hollow sound heard when treading on the pavement or floor, probably occasioned by some of the individual layers parting from each other as shown at a fig. 3; the succeeding stages of creep are shown at b, c, d, f, and g, in the same figure; the last being the final stage, when the coal begins to sustain the pressure from the overlying strata, in common with the disturbed pavement.
“Sits” are the reverse of creeps; in the one case the pavement is forced up, and in the other the roof is forced or falls down, for want of proper support or tenacity in itself. This accident generally arises from an improper size of pillars; some roofs, however, are so difficult to support that sits take place where the half of the coal is left in pillars. Fig. 4 will convey a general idea of the appearance of sits,—k, m, n showing different stages.
The modern method of pillar working is shown in fig. 5. In the Northumberland steam coal district, where it is carried out in the most perfect manner, the bords are 5 to 6 yds. in width, while the pillars are 22 yds. broad and 30 yds. long, which are subsequently got out on coming back. In the same figure is also shown the method of working whole coal and pillars at the same time, a barrier of two or three ranges of pillars or a rib of solid coal being left between the working in the solid and those in the pillars. The space from which the entire quantity of coal has been removed is known in different districts as the “goaf,” “gob,” or “waste.”
Fig. 6 represents the Lancashire system of pillar working. The area is laid out by two pairs of level drifts, parallel to each other, about 150 yds. apart, which are carried to the boundary. About 100 yds. back from the boundary a communication is made between these levels, from which other levels are driven forward, dividing the coal into ribs of about 25 or 30 yds. wide, which are then cut back by taking off the coal in slices from the level towards the rise in breadths of about 6 yds. By this method the whole of the coal is got backwards, the main roads being kept in solid coal; the intermediate levels not being driven till they are wanted, a greater amount of support is given, and the pillars are less crushed than is usual in pillar working.
In the South Wales system of working, cross headings are driven from the main roads obliquely across the rise to get a sufficiently easy gradient for horse roads, and from these the stalls are opened out with a narrow entrance, in order toleave support on either side of the road, but afterwards widening to as great a breadth as the seam will allow, leaving pillars of a minimum thickness. The character of such workings is very irregular in plan, and as the ventilation is attended with considerable difficulty, it is now becoming generally superseded by more improved methods.
The second great principle of working is that known as long-wall or long-work, in which the coal is taken away either in broad faces from roads about 40 or 50 yds. apart and parallel to each other, or along curved faces between roadsLong-wall working.radiating from the pit bottom—the essential feature in both cases being the removal of the whole of the coal at once, without first sub-dividing it into pillars, to be taken away at a second working. The roof is temporarily supported by wooden props or pack walling of stone, for a sufficient breadth along the face to protect the workmen, and allow them to work together behind. The general character of a long-wall working is shown in fig. 7, which represents an area of about 500 acres of the bottom hard steam coal at Shipley in Derbyshire. The principal road extends from the shafts southward; and on both sides of it the coal has been removed from the light-shaded area by cutting it back perpendicularly towards the boundaries, along faces about 50 yds. in length, those nearest to the shaft being kept in advance of those farther away, producing a step-shaped outline to the face of the whole coal. It will be seen that by this method the whole of the seam, with the exception of the pillars left to protect the main roadways, is removed. The roads for drawing the coal from the working faces to the shaft are kept open by walling through the waste or goaf produced by the fall of the unsupported roof. The straight roads are the air-ways for carrying pure air from the down-cast shaft to the working faces, while the return air passes along the faces and back to the up-cast by the curved road. The above is the method of working long-wall forward,i.e.taking the coal in advance from the pit towards the boundary, with roads kept open through the gob. Another method consists in driving towards the boundary, and taking the coal backward towards the shafts, or working homeward, allowing the waste to close up without roads having to be kept open through it. This is of course preferable, but is only applicable where the owner of the mine can afford to expend the capital required to reach the limit of the field in excess of that necessary when the raising of coal proceedspari passuwith the extension of the main roads. Fig. 6 is substantially a modification of this kind of long-wall work.South Yorkshire method.Fig. 8 represents a method of working practised in the South Yorkshire district, known as bords and banks. The field is divided by levels and headings into rectangular banks, while from the main levels bords or wickets about 30 yds. wide, separated from each other by banks of about the same width, are carried forward in long-wall work, as shown on the left side of the figure, the waste being carefully packed behind so as to secure the ventilation. When these have been worked up to the extremity, as shown on the right side, the intermediate bank is removed by working backward towards the level. This system, therefore, combines both methods of long-wall working, but it is not generally applicable, owing to the difficulty of ventilation, due to the great length of air-way that has to be kept open around the waste on each bank.
The relative advantages of the different methods may be generally stated as follows. Long-wall work is best suited for thin coals, and those having a good roof,i.e.one that gives way gradually and fills up the excavation made by removing the coal without scaling off suddenly and falling into the working faces, when practically the whole of the coal may be removed. Against these advantages must be placed the difficulties attending the maintenance of roads through the goaves, and in some cases the large proportion of slack to round or large coal obtained. Pillar working, in the whole coal, is generally reputed to give a more advantageous proportion of round coal to slack, the latter being more abundantly produced on the removal of the pillars, but as these form only a small portion of the whole seam, the general yield is more advantageous than in the former method. The ventilation of pillar working is often attended with difficulty, and the coal is longer exposed to the influence of the air, a point of importance in some coals, which deteriorate in quality when exposed to a hot damp atmosphere. The great increase in the size of the pillars in the best modern collieries worked upon this principle has, however, done much to approximate the two systems to an equality in other respects.
Where the whole of the coal is removed at once there is less chance of surface damage, when the mines are deep, than with pillar workings. A notable instance of this was afforded at Newstead, Notts, where the ruined front of Newstead Abbey was lowered several feet without any injury to the structure.
The working of very thick seams presents certain special peculiarities, owing to the difficulties of supporting the roof in the excavated portions, and supplying fresh air to the workings. The most typical example of this kind ofWorking thick seams.working in England is afforded by the thick coal of South Staffordshire, which consists of a series of closely associated coal seams, varying from 8 to 12 or 13, divided from each other by their partings, but making together one great bed of from 25 to 40 ft. or more in thickness. The partings together do not amount to more than 2 or 3 ft. The method of working which has been long in use is represented in fig. 9. The main level or gate road is driven in the benches coal, or lower part of the seam, while a smaller drift for ventilation, called an air heading, is carried above it in one of the upper beds called the slipper coal. From the gate road a heading called a bolt-hole is opened, and extended into a large rectangular chamber, known as a “side of work,” large pillars being left at regular intervals, besides smaller ones or cogs. The order in which the coal is cut is shown in the dotted and numbered squares in the figure. The coal is first cut to the top of the slipper coal from below, after which the upper portion is either broken down by wedging or falls of itself. The working of these upper portions is exceedinglydangerous, owing to the great height of the excavations, and fatal accidents from falls of roof are in consequence more common in South Staffordshire than in any other coalfield in this country. The air from the down-cast shaft enters from the gate road, and passes to the up-cast through the air heading above. About one-half of the total coal (or less) is obtained in the first working; the roof is then allowed to fall, and when the gob is sufficiently consolidated, fresh roads are driven through it to obtain the ribs and pillars left behind by a second or even, in some cases, a third working. The loss of coal by this method is very considerable, besides great risk to life and danger from fire. It has, therefore, been to some extent superseded by the long-wall method, the upper half being taken at the first working, and removed as completely as possible, working backwards from the boundaries to the shaft. The lower half is then taken in the same manner, after the fallen roof has become sufficiently consolidated to allow the mine to be re-opened.
In the working of thick seams inclined at a high angle, such as those in the south of France, and in the lignite mines of Styria and Bohemia, the method of working in horizontal slices, about 12 or 15 ft. thick, and filling up the excavation with broken rock and earth from the surface, is now generally adopted in preference to the systems formerly used. At Monceaux les Mines, in France, a seam 40 ft. thick, and dipping at an angle of 20°, is worked in the following manner. A level is driven in a sandstone forming the floor, along the course of the coal, into which communications are made by cross cuts at intervals of 16 yds., which are driven across to the roof, dividing up the area to be worked into panels. These are worked backwards, the coal being taken to a height of 20 ft., the opening being packed up with stone sent down from the surface. As each stage is worked out, the floor level is connected with that next below it by means of an incline, which facilitates the introduction of the packing material. Stuff containing a considerable amount of clay is found to be the best suited for the purpose of filling, as it consolidates readily under pressure.
In France and Germany the method of filling the space left by the removal of the coal with waste rock, quarried underground or sent down from the surface, which was originally used in connexion with the working of thick inclined seams by the method of horizontal slices, is now largely extended to long-wall workings on thin seams, and in Westphalia is made compulsory where workings extend below surface buildings, and safety pillars of unwrought coal are found to be insufficient. With careful packing it is estimated that the surface subsidence will not exceed 40% of the thickness of the seam removed, and will usually be considerably less. The material for filling may be the waste from earlier workings stored in the spoil banks at the surface; where there are blast furnaces in the neighbourhood, granulated slag mixed with earth affords excellent packing. In thick seams packing adds about 5d. per ton to the cost of the coal, but in thinner seams the advantage is on the other side.
In some anthracite collieries in America the small coal or culm and other waste are washed into the exhausted workings by water which gives a compact mass filling the excavation when the water has drained away. A modification of this method, which originated in Silesia, is now becoming of importance in many European coalfields. In this the filling material, preferably sand, is sent down from the surface through a vertical steel pipe mixed with sufficient water to allow it to flow freely through distributing pipes in the levels commanding the excavations to be filled; these are closed at the bottom by screens of boards sufficiently close to retain the packing material while allowing the water to pass by the lower level to the pumping-engine which returns it to the surface.
The actual cutting of the coal is chiefly performed by manual labour, the tool employed being a sharp-pointed double-armed pick, which is nearly straight, except when required for use in hard rock, when the arms are made with anMethods of cutting coal.inclination or “anchored.” The terms pike, pick, mandril and slitter are applied to the collier’s pick in different districts, the men being known as pikemen or hewers. In driving levels it is necessary to cut grooves vertically parallel to the walls, a process known as shearing; but the most important operation is that known as holing or kirving, which consists in cutting a notch or groove in the floor of the seam to a depth of about 3 ft., measured back from the face, so as to leave the overhanging part unsupported, which then either falls of its own accord within a few hours, or is brought down either by driving wedges along the top, or by blasting. The process of holing in coal is one of the severest kinds of human labour. It has to be performed in a constrained position, and the miner lying on his side has to cut to a much greater height, in order to get room to carry the groove in to a sufficient depth, than is required to bring the coal down, giving rise to a great waste in slack as compared with machine work. This is sometimes obviated by holing in the beds below the coal, or in any portion of a seam of inferior quality that may not be worth working. This loss is proportionately greater in thin than in thick seams, the same quantity being cut to waste in either case. The method of cutting coal on the long-wall system is seen in fig. 10, representing the working at the Shipley colliery. The coal is 40 in. thick, with a seam of fire-clay and a roof of black shale; about 6 in. of the upper part, known as the roof coal, not being worth working, is left behind. A groove of triangular section of 30 in. base and 9 in. high is cut along the face, inclined timber props being placed at intervals to support the overhanging portion until the required length is cut. These are then removed, and the coal is allowed to fall, wedges or blasting being employed when necessary. The roof of the excavation is supported as the coal is removed, by packing up the waste material, and by a double row of props, 2 ft. from each other, placed temporarily along the face. These are placed 5 ft. apart, the props of the back row alternating with those in front.The props used are preferably of small oak or English larch, but large quantities of fir props, cut to the right length, are also imported from the north of Europe. As the work proceeds onwards, the props are withdrawn and replaced in advance, except those that may be crushed by the pressure or buried by sudden falls of the roof.
In Yorkshire hollow square pillars, formed by piling up short blocks of wood or chocks, are often used instead of props formed of a single stem.
In securing the roof and sides of coal workings, malleable iron and steel are now used to some extent instead of timber, although the consumption of the latter material is extremely large. As a substitute for timber props at the face, pieces of steel joists, with the web cut out for a short distance on either end, with the flanges turned back to give a square bearing surface, have been introduced. In large levels only the cap pieces for the roof are made of steel joists, but in smaller ones complete arches made of pieces of rails fish-jointed at the crown are used. In another system introduced by the Mannesmann Tube Company the prop is made up of weldless steel tubes sliding telescopically one within the other, which are fixed at the right height by a screw clamp capable of carrying a load of 15 to 16 tons. These can be most advantageously used on thick seams 6 to 10 ft. or upwards. For shaft linings steel rings ofHor channel section supported by intermediate struts are also used, and cross-bearers or buntons of steel joists and rail guides are now generally substituted for wood.
When the coal has been under-cut for a sufficient length, the struts are withdrawn, and the overhanging mass is allowed to fall during the time that the workmen are out of the pit, or it may be brought down by driving wedges, or if it be of a compact character a blast in a borehole near the roof may be required. Sometimes, but rarely, it happens that it is necessary to cut vertical grooves in the face to determine the limit of the fall, such limits being usually dependent upon the cleet or divisional planes in the coal, especially when the work is carried perpendicular to them or on the end.
The substitution of machinery for hand labour in cutting coal has long been a favourite problem with inventors, the earliest plan being that of Michael Meinzies, in 1761, who proposed to work a heavy pick underground by powerCoal-cutting machines.transmitted from an engine at the surface, through the agencies of spear-rods and chains passing over pulleys; but none of the methods suggested proved to be practically successful until the general introduction of compressed air into mines furnished a convenient motive power, susceptible of being carried to considerable distances without any great loss of pressure. This agent has been applied in various ways, in machines which either imitate the action of the collier by cutting with a pick or make a groove by rotating cutters attached to an endless chain or a revolving disk or wheel. The most successful of the first class, or pick machines, that of William Firth of Sheffield, consists essentially of a horizontal pick with two cutting arms placed one slightly in advance of the other, which is swung backwards and forwards by a pair of bell crank levers actuated by a horizontal cylinder engine mounted on a railway truck. The weight is about 15 cwt. At a working speed of 60 yds. per shift of 6 hours, the work done corresponds to that of twelve average men. The width of the groove cut is from 2 to 3 in. at the face, diminishing to 1½ in. at the back, the proportion of waste being very considerably diminished as compared with the system of holing by hand. The use of this machine has allowed a thin seam of cannel, from 10 to 14 in. in thickness, to be worked at a profit, which had formerly been abandoned as too hard to be worked by hand-labour. Pick machines have also been introduced by Jones and Levick, Bidder, and other inventors, but their use is now mostly abandoned in favour of those working continuously.
In the Gartsherrie machine of Messrs Baird, the earliest of the flexible chain cutter type, the chain of cutters works round a fixed frame or jib projecting at right angles from the engine carriage, an arrangement which makes it necessary to cut from the end of the block of coal to the full depth, instead of holing into it from the face. The forward feed is given by a chain winding upon a drum, which hauls upon a pulley fixed to a prop about 30 yds. in advance. This is one of the most compact forms of machine, the smaller size being only 20 in. high. With an air pressure of from 35 to 40 ℔. per sq. in., a length of from 300 to 350 ft. of coal is holed, 2 ft. 9 in. deep, in the shift of from 8 to 10 hours. The chain machine has been largely developed in America in the Jeffrey, Link Bell, and Morgan Gardner coal cutters. These are similar in principle to the Baird machine, the cutting agent being a flat link chain carrying a double set of chisel points, which are drawn across the coal face at the rate of about 5 ft. per second; but, unlike the older machines, in which the cutting is done in a fixed plane, the chain with its motor is made movable, and is fed forward by a rack-and-pinion motion as the cutting advances, so that the cut is limited in breadth (3½ to 4 ft.), while its depth may be varied up to the maximum travel (8 ft.) of the cutting frame. The carrying frame, while the work is going on, is fixed in position by jack-screws bearing against the roof of the seam, which, when the cut is completed, are withdrawn, and the machine shifted laterally through a distance equal to the breadth of the cut and fixed in position again. The whole operation requires from 8 to 10 minutes, giving a cutting speed of 120 to 150 sq. ft. per hour. These machines weigh from 20 to 22 cwt., and are mostly driven by electric motors of 25 up to 35 h.p. as a maximum. By reason of their intermittent action they are only suited for use in driving galleries or in pillar-and-stall workings.
A simple form of the saw or spur wheel coal-cutting machine is that of Messrs Winstanly & Barker (fig. 11), which is driven by a pair of oscillating engines placed on a frame running on rails in the usual way. The crank shaft carries a pinion which gears into a toothed wheel of a coarse pitch, carrying cutters at the ends of the teeth. This wheel is mounted on a carrier which, being movable about its centre by a screw gearing worked by hand, gives a radial sweep to the cutting edges. When at work it is slowly turned until the carrier is at right angles to the frame, when the cut has attained the full depth. The forward motion is given by a chain winding upon a crab placed in front, by which it is hauled slowly forward. With 25 ℔ pressure it will hole 3 ft. deep, at the rate of 30 yds. per hour, the cut being only 2¾ in. high, but it will only work on one side of the carriage. This type has been greatly improved and now is the most popular machine in Great Britain, especially in long-wall workings. W. E. Garforth’s Diamond coal cutter, one of the best known, undercuts from 5½ to 6 ft. In some instances electric motors have been substituted for compressed-air engines in such machines.
Another class of percussive coal-cutters of American origin is represented by the Harrison, Sullivan and Ingersoll-Sergeant machines, which are essentially large rock-drills without turning gear for the cutting tool, and mounted upon a pair of wheels placed so as to allow the tool to work on a forward slope. When in use the machine is placed upon a wooden platform incliningtowards the face, upon which the miner lies and controls the direction of the blow by a pair of handles at the back of the machine, which is kept stationary by wedging the wheels against a stop on the platform. These machines, which are driven by compressed air, are very handy in use, as the height and direction of the cut may be readily varied; but the work is rather severe to the driver on account of the recoil shock of the piston, and an assistant is necessary to clear out the small coal from the cut, which limits the rate of cutting to about 125 sq. ft. per hour.
Another kind of application of machinery to coal mining is that of Messrs Bidder & Jones, which is intended to replace the use of blasting for bringing down the coal. It consists of a small hydraulic press, which forces a set of expandingCoal-wedging machines.bits or wedges into a bore-hole previously bored by a long screw augur or drill, worked by hand, the action of the press being continued until a sufficient strain is obtained to bring down the coal. The arrangement is, in fact, a modification of the plug and feather system used in stone quarrying for obtaining large blocks, but with the substitution of the powerful rending force of the hydraulic press for hand-power in driving up the wedges. This apparatus has been used at Harecastle in North Staffordshire, and found to work well, but with the disadvantage of bringing down the coal in unmanageably large masses. A method of wedging down coal sufficiently perfected to be of general application would add greatly to the security of colliers.
The removal of the coal broken at the working face to the pit bottom may in small mines be effected by hand labour, but more generally it is done by horse or mechanical traction, upon railways, the “trams” or “tubs,” as the pitUnderground conveyance.wagons are called, being where possible brought up to the face. In steeply inclined seams passes or shoots leading to the main level below are sometimes used, and in Belgium iron plates are sometimes laid in the excavated ground to form a slide for the coal down to the loading place. In some instances travelling belts or creepers have been adopted, which deliver the coal with a reduced amount of breakage, but this application is not common. The capacity of the trams varies with the size of the workings and the shaft. From 5 to 7 cwt. are common sizes, but in South Wales they are larger, carrying up to one ton or more. The rails used are of flat bottomed or bridge section varying in weight from 15 to 25 ℔ to the yd.; they are laid upon cross sleepers in a temporary manner, so that they can be easily shifted along the working faces, but are carefully secured along main roads intended to carry traffic continuously for some time. The arrangement of the roads at the face is shown in the plan, fig. 10. In the main roads to the pit when the distance is not considerable horse traction may be used, a train of 6 to 15 vehicles being drawn by one horse, but more generally the hauling or, as it is called in the north of England, the leading of the trains of tubs is effected by mechanical traction.
In a large colliery where the shafts are situated near the centre of the field, and the workings extend on all sides, both to the dip and rise, the drawing roads for the coal may be of three different kinds—(1) levels driven at right angles to the dip, suitable for horse roads, (2) rise ways, known as jinny roads, jig-brows, or up-brows, which, when of sufficient slope, may be used as self-acting planes,i.e.the loaded waggons may be made to pull back the empty ones to the working faces, and (3) dip or down-brows, requiring engine power. A road may be used as a self-acting or gravitating incline when the gradient is 1 in 30 or steeper, in which case the train is lowered by a rope passing over a pulley or brake drum at the upper end, the return empty train being attached to the opposite end of the rope and hauled up by the descending load. The arrangements for this purpose vary, of course, with the amount of work to be done with one fixing of the machinery; where it is likely to be used for a considerable time, the drum and brake are solidly constructed, and the ropes of steel or iron wire carefully guided over friction rollers, placed at intervals between the rails to prevent them from chafing and wearing out on the ground. Where the load has to be hauled up a rising gradient, underground engines, driven by steam or compressed air or electric motors, are used. In some cases steam generated in boilers at the surface is carried in pipes to the engines below, but there is less loss of power when compressed air is sent down in the same way. Underground boilers placed near the up-cast pit so that the smoke and gases help the ventilating furnace have been largely used but are now less favourably regarded than formerly. Water-pressure engines, driven by a column of water equal to the depth of the pit, have also been employed for hauling. These can, however, only be used advantageously where there are fixed pumps, the fall of water generating the power resulting in a load to be removed by the expenditure of an equivalent amount of power in the pumping engine above that necessary for keeping down the mine water.
The principal methods in which power can be applied to underground traction are as follows:—