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COAL AND TIMBER
March, 1905
about 8 feet long and 3 feet wide, which is
so inclined towards the face by means of
a trestle under the outer end that the recoil
of the machine is neutralized by gravity
and feeds down to the coal. The method of
and slack are desirable, and the mining may
be done without producing lump.
When
the first cut, from 4 to 5 feet wide, is finished,
the board is moved across the face
and another cut commenced, this shifting
SULLIVAN PICK MACIMiNE AT WORK IN EUREKA No. 35 MINE OF THE BE.1WIND
WHITE COAL MINING CO.. W1NDBER. PA.
mining is as follows: The runner sits on
the platform behind the machine which ne
holds by the handles; the pick is sh. t
against the coal by means o . impressed
air at a pre,sure from 40 to 75 pounds,
striking with a force and >eed .Inch can
readily be adjusted to range from 160 to 250
blows per minute, at a force per blow of
from 5 to 1,510 pounds.
The adjustment admits of long, slow.
hard blows, the reduction of speed not reducing
the force of the blow unless desired;
any kind of a blow can be secured
by the regulators.
The runner uses a block attached to his
shoe by a strap to chock the wheels oi
the machine against the recoil, and undermines
to the depth of abo: 12 niche, with
an average height of 4 i iches. With a
few blows placed higher up, the coal is
blocked down in chunks to a height ol 14
inches, sloping towards the back. Tins process
is repeated until there is no longer any
necessity of blocking, and the last JJ feet
are finished by underminii only an average
of. 4 inches in height, about 5 feet of
face being cut with one -King of the
board. By undercutting in this way a large
proportion of the minings are lump and
nut, with but a small amount of slack. In
most coal the blockings from tlie mining
are so large that the helper has to lay aside
his shovel constantly and lift them out by
hand. By ordinarily careful work more
than one-half of the undercuttings will go
over a VJi, inch screen, and of the remainder
most is nut and pea. On the
other hand, high wheels can be used if nut
of the board taking only a couple of minutes,
or the helper may have a second board
set ahead, in which case the cutter need
not even stop until the room is finished;
the same process is repeated until the underlie
easily handled by the runner and his
helper without a mule.
The manufacturers of a certain make of
drill claim to have solved the problem of
minimum cost by combining the drill with
the undercutting machine, both being run
by the same motor and the drill operated by
the man who runs the machine. They say:
e taken to drill a hole 7 feet deep
about 1 minute. It is, therefore, apt
the amount of time taken from
leration of the cutting machine is very
The time consumed in moving the
drill from place to place must of neces-
3jlj not be considered as the drill is a
part 0] cutting machine and must go
machine goes, so that the only
I for by the mine owner is
th, | occupied by the machine
runner i
die drill and boring the
| 101 i ' flexibility of the drill and the
small ,,u
orking parts enables the
runner to idjusl it quickly and very little
time is o
the entire operation of
ig the dn 1 for placing the hole where
required and I the hole. The necessity
or high rate of wages for this part
of work is ccordingly overcome and the
mine owner hi - a i opportunity to share
the gain with I liar machine runner.
This does not in any way change the relation
of the loader to the mine owner and
the reduction provided for by the scale
can be properly made the same as in tke
case of the portable drill.
"The drill, being attached to the machine
at all times, readily changed so the holes
POWER DRILL-MADE BY THE WAGNER PALMROS MFG. CO.. FAIRMONT. W. VA.
milling of the room is completed. The machine
is then loaded on a truck and run
into another room, where it can be at work
in from 5 to 10 minutes, the truck and machine
together weighing so little that it can
can be placed wherever desired and capable
of being placed flat on the top of the motor
when the cutting machine is being moved
from place to place in the mine, permits
the drilling to be done properly and the cut-