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Report of the Bureau of Mines of the Department of Internal Affairs of ...

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xl INTRODUCTORY TO Off. Doc.<br />

<strong>the</strong> dirt rises towards <strong>the</strong> ro<strong>of</strong>. When <strong>the</strong> ro<strong>of</strong> is reached and <strong>the</strong><br />

pillar is buried, its prayer for help ceases and <strong>the</strong> pressure whicii<br />

was upon it goes for weaker pillars, but when so many o<strong>the</strong>rs are<br />

braced up in <strong>the</strong> same way, <strong>the</strong>y will slop <strong>the</strong> squeeze even if <strong>the</strong> ro<strong>of</strong><br />

must be broken to <strong>the</strong> surface. This <strong>the</strong>y did at Dodson, and <strong>the</strong><br />

shaft (400 feet) was saved.<br />

It is quite interesting to know how mucJi<br />

this culm filling will ''give" under a great pressure. Some say<br />

that such pressure will reduce it to half its thickness. In this case<br />

<strong>the</strong> ro<strong>of</strong> will press <strong>the</strong> culm down to<br />

a smaller space than <strong>the</strong> coal<br />

occupied before it was mined. O<strong>the</strong>rs say that a great pressure will<br />

reduce <strong>the</strong> culm to one-third. In this case it will reduce it to <strong>the</strong><br />

e^'LM PLANT<br />

roR<br />

FLUSHING MINZS<br />

No. 4.<br />

Suggestion for a Culm-Flushing Plant.<br />

same space as <strong>the</strong> coal occupied before. This cannot be correct.<br />

There is no formula by which we can calculate <strong>the</strong> help that flushing<br />

furnishes <strong>the</strong> pillar in <strong>the</strong> time <strong>of</strong> a general squeeze. We have asked<br />

this (pieslion <strong>of</strong> mining engineers, but <strong>the</strong>y seem to be at sea like<br />

ourselves—in <strong>the</strong> same waves and quite as far from shore, in regard<br />

to <strong>the</strong> answer. It seems that ex])erience only can throw light ou<br />

<strong>the</strong> (jiiestion. In any event it has proved beyond any doubt that it<br />

is I he best help for pillars that was ever invented. In a test we made<br />

at lilack Diamond, by sawing out a cubic foot <strong>of</strong> anthracite coal<br />

grinding <strong>the</strong> same into rice and dust and flushing it into a box<br />

12 inches by 12 inches by 17| inches, that it filled il completely.<br />

Thus <strong>the</strong> ex])aiisiou is H^ inches. If so many chambers 17^ feet<br />

high were flushed with <strong>the</strong> same sized material and density, <strong>the</strong> ro<strong>of</strong><br />

could not press <strong>the</strong> culm lower than 5| feet, for it would be as<br />

hard as <strong>the</strong> coal at this point. But <strong>the</strong> ro<strong>of</strong> cannot drop this 5^<br />

feet, for <strong>the</strong> coal in <strong>the</strong> pillars must be considered. In a general<br />

squeeze, 5^ feet <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> top <strong>of</strong> eacth pillar will claim <strong>the</strong> same space.

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