1898 - Coalmininghistorypa.org

cxxx MINING LAWS OF PENNSYLVANIA. Off. Doc.Section 6. After January first, one thousand eight hundred andninety-four, the use of the common Davy safety lamp for generalwork on any bituminous coal mine is hereby prohibited, neither shallthe Clauny lamp be so used unless its gauze is thoroughly protectedby a metallic shield, but this act does not prohibit the use of theDavy and Clanny lamps by the mine officials for the purpose of examiningthe workings for gas.Section 7.All safety lamps used for examining mines or for workingtherein shall be the property of the operator, and shall be in thecare of the mine foreman, his assistant or fire boss, or other competentperson, who shall clean, fill, trim, examine and deliver thesame, locked, in a safe condition to the men when entering the minebefore each shift, and shall receive the same from the men at the endof each shift, for which service a charge not exceeding cost of laborand material may be made by the operator. A sufficient number ofsafety lamps, but not less than twenty-five per centum of those inuse, shall be kept at each mine where gas has at any time been generatedin sufficient quantities to be detected by an ordinary safetylamp, for use in case of emergency. It shall be the duty of everyperson who knows his safety lamp to be injured or defective, topromptly report such fact to the party authorized herein to receiveand care for said lamps, and it shall be the duty of that party topromptly report such fact to the mine foreman.ARTICLE VI.Mine Foreman and His Duties.Section 1. In order to better secure the proper ventilation of thebituminous coal mines and promote the health and safety of thepersons employed therein,the operator or superintendent shall eraploya competent and practical inside overseer for each and everymine, to be called mine foreman; said mine foreman shall havepassed an examination and obtained a certificate of competency orof service as required by this act and shall be a citizen of the UnitedStates and an experienced coal miner, and said mine foreman shalldevote the whole of his time to his duties at the mine when in operation,or in case of his necessary absence, an assistant, chosen by himand shall keep a careful watch over the ventilating apparatus, andthe air ways, traveling ways, pump and pump timbers and drainage,and shall often instruct, and as far as possible, see that as theminers advance their excavations all dangerous coal, slate and rockoverhead are taken down or carefully secured against falling therein,or on the traveling and hauling ways, and that sufficient props, capsand timbers of suitable size are sent into the mine when required,and all props shall be cut square at both ends, and as near as prac-