One Hundred Years of Federal Mining Safety and Health Research

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Figure 23. Ford Model T in the Bruceton Experimental Mine, 1921. 3. Hard Times and Maturation: 1925-1969 3.1 USBM Transferred to the Department of Commerce An executive order by President Coolidge transferred the USBM from the Department of the Interior to the Department of Commerce effective July 1, 1925. By that time, the Bureau had 830 employees, of which 789 held Secretary’s appointments. Of these 789 employees, 211 were located in Washington, DC, 265 were based in Pittsburgh, PA, and the other 313 were at other field locations. Three hundred seven were classified as engineers, chemists, or similar technical occupations. By 1925 the Bureau had 12 experiment stations [USBM 1925]. 3.1.1 Explosives Research Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, the Bureau continued to study explosives at the Bruceton Experimental Mine (see Figure 24), including tests on the amounts of explosives and stemming needed to protect against ignitions of mine gas or coal dust and the effects of blasting on mine roof. One of the Bureau’s technologic branches was the Explosives Division. Under the USGS, the government had begun explosives testing in 1908. In 1907, the fatality rate in coal mining was 1.687 per thousand miners employed; by 1929, the fatality rate had been reduced to 0.432 per thousand miners. A large factor in this improvement was the transition to using permissible explosives. In 1907, only about 1 percent of explosives used were of the short flame 21
(permissible) type, whereas by 1929 about 50 percent of explosives used were permissible [USBM 1932]. Figure 24. Explosion test at the Bruceton Experimental Mine, 1927. Beginning in 1922, the Bureau studied the breaking of ore and coal by explosives to determine optimum blasting patterns and timing for efficient and safe blasting in underground mines. Much of this work was completed at the Bruceton Experimental Mine as well as at two new experimental mines established by the Bureau at Mount Weather, VA, in 1936 and at Rifle, CO, in 1945. Research at Mount Weather included studies on drilling and blasting and on methods for setting industrial diamonds in drills to increase drilling speed and efficiency. The experimental mine at Rifle studied efficient methods for mining of very thick deposits of oil shale in western Colorado. 3.1.2 Rock Dusting Research The possibility of using rock dust to prevent coal dust explosions was recognized as early as 1911 [Rice 1911]. Building on this work, the Bureau began an extensive series of tests, and by 1922 these tests in the Bruceton Experimental Mine verified that rock dust could help prevent dust explosions [Rice et al. 1922]. Some commercial coal mines were already using rock dust as a preventive measure as early as 1912 and the practice spread, with manufacturers producing commercial rock dusting machines by 1930. The practice of rock dusting spread slowly. By 1930, 8.4 percent of underground bituminous coal mines were using rock dust, and these mines accounted for 33.2 percent of underground coal production. By 1940, the underground coal mines being rock dusted increased to only 9.1 percent; however, these mines were responsible for 55.7 percent of underground production. Thus, the large high production mines were much more likely to be using rock dust. 22
Page 1 and 2: Department of Health and Human Serv
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Page 77 and 78: other applications. The Libby mine
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To facilitate the application of th
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on refuge alternatives [NIOSH, 2007
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6. Reduce ground failure fatalities
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7. Conclusion: Lessons Learned The
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8. References Amandus HE, Piacitell
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National Research Council and Insti
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Appendix A: Joseph A. Holmes Biogra
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Table 1. U.S. Bureau of Mines appro
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Table 3. Metal/Nonmetal Fatalities,
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