Search Documents

By F. T. Baker

The Primero mine, operated by the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company, is located 17 miles west of Trinidad, Colorado, in Las Animas County. Unusually bad roof conditions, along with heavy side pressure and other conditions causing rapid decay of timbers, all combine to create a very serious timbering problem. The height of the coal averages six feet six inches. It is a heavy coking coal and has a tendency to become easily crushed and broken down in the seam. The seam lies about 35 feet below the sandstone and the intervening formation is composed of loose shaly rock, and as the coal is extracted, the air slackens this rock to such an extent that within 24 hours, roof falls varying from five to fifteen feet in height are likely to occur. Under these conditions it is necessary to use cross bar sets in both rooms and entries, and they must be spaced no further apart than three and one-half foot centers, and be maintained within a distance of three feet of the face. Rooms are spaced on fifty footcenters, and cannot with safety be driven to exceed 14 feet in width, and 200 feet in length. The large pillar must be maintained to protect from side pressure, and the rooms must be driven up and retreated with as quickly as possible to avoid the squeeze caused by the intense side and roof pressure. Best results in extraction have been obtained by driving rooms for only a distance of 150 feet. Under these circumstances, it is readily seen that timbers of small diameters cannot be utilized in timbering any development work of a permanent nature. Entries are driven nine feet wide, and special peeled piling with an average diameter of 12 inches are most commonly used. It, is necessary to use lagging between each set of crossbars . Conditions such as these necessitated an immense expenditure for mine timber. In addition to ordinary seven and eight foot props, we used a yearly average of 65,000 feet of heavy peeled piling, averaging in diameter from 10 inches to 12 inches. Annual expenditures for timber of all classes was in excess of $60,000.00. Timber costs per ton averaged around 29 cents. In view of these exceptionally severe timber conditions at Primero, the company, in 1920, had a survey made with a view of providing some remedy to this problem. A comparison of the life of main entry timber at other bituminous mines was made, and an average life of four years was established. The actual data collected at Primero indicated an average of less than two years in the manway or "return" airways, and up to five years on the haulageways or "intake" airways. While some of this timber will stand up for a much longer period than this, a close inspection will reveal in most cases that its period of usefulness is spent. It is very essential when discussing the life of timber, especially that used on, main haulageways and aircourses, that a distinction be made between the point of service, that is, the point where it is sound, serviceable and able to carry weight, and the point of breakdown or failure, where it is no longer sound and able to carry weight. In figuring the life of timber, the point of service only should be considered as timber will frequently stand for a considerable length of time when it is entirely decayed and unserviceable. The larger part of the timber used for our permanent work was Alpine Fir, or what is locally termed Red Spruce, and the supply of this I is gradually becoming depleted and has to be obtained at a point so distant

Jan 1, 1926

(The following discussion took place on this screen lecture in the dark.) MR. SHUBART: Would you give us a little .explanation as to the operation of this machine and what you are doing with it? MR. TESCHER: There is a 20- horsepower motor, rheostat, crusher, and a fan mounted on one base plate and operating on one shaft. The fan is overhung on the shaft. The only bearings you have are the bearings on each side of the crusher and the motor hearings. On one side of the ma- chine there is an opening for feeding shale. The machine is operated at 1,200 revolution per minute and as the shale is pulverized, the fan automatically exhausts fine dust from the crusher from an opening in the top of the crusher. The machine pulverizes 3,000 pounds in eight hours, reducing the materid to one hundred mesh. The last ma- chine we put in has been operating continuously fifteen hours a day for the past sixty days, without repairs of any kind. PRESIDENT LITTLEJOHN: Where is the machine in operation? MR. TESCHER. At the Royal mine. We have used ordinary mining ma- chine cable in local movements of the machines. This has enabled us to have twenty-two locations throughout the mines. The mine is highly gaesous, and the machines had to be placed on intake air. MR. SHUBSRT: What type of crusher do you use? MR. TESCHER. A No. 16 Universal, operating at 1,200 revolution per minute. M. SHURART: What material do you feed to it? MR. TESCHER: We have shale three-quarters of a mile from the mine. In the winter months we have been troubled with moisture. We build a kiln and get this shale and load it into the kiln for drying and then place it into a pit car and take it into the mine. The material must be dry. We have also used slate in the mine and have had good success. The slate at the mine is fairly hard. I presume, however, that the slate will probably carry a high silica content. MR. SHUBART: Mr. Harrington claims that silica does not do the harm, as was formerly supposed. MR. TESCHER: There is still a question as to whether it is harmful or not. PRESIDENT LITTLEJOHN: Are there any of these machines in operation closer than Aguilar? MR. TESCHER: There is one at the Alamo mine. Mr. Quealy also purchased a couple of them for use at his Wyoming mines. PRESIDENT LITTLEJOHN: Are there any other questions you would like to ask Mr. Tescher regarding his rock dusting machine while it is on the table for discussion? MR. DALRYMPLE, SR.: How many men does it take to operate it? MR. TESCHER: One man operates the machine. Sometimes we put the

Jan 1, 1925

PRESIDENT LITTLEJOHN: I have every reason to know Mr. Pryde was carrying out some experiment a while ago in some of his mines. He and I had a little correspondence on the question, and I think he may have a word or two to say about it. He has not been on his feet today at all. I will ask Mr. Pryde to tell us what he has to say. MR. PRYDE: I have not very much to say about shooting coal with permissible powder as far as slack is concerned because we are not in the commercial business. All of our coal goes to the railroad and a very large part of it is crushed for use in the stokers of the locomotives. We are on a 100 per cent permissible powder basis and as far as I am able to see, I do not believe that the percentage of slack is increasing with its use. We find it hard to convince our commercial neighbors of this fact because they are naturally very much against increasing their percentage of slack on ac- count of the low price received for this grade of coal. I, personally, believe that where a change is made from black powder to permissible powder the percentage of slack will be increased for a time because the miners have been accustomed to using black powder and they are rather suspicious about going to the permissible powder and I do not believe that we can blame them very much. So the tendency with them is to use too much powder. We have gradually overcome this, although, as I said before, we have not kept close track of the production of slack. However, we try to get as large an amount of lump coal as possible. Broadly speaking, I can say from observation that in my opinion there is very little difference in the percentage of slack with the use of the permissible powder that we have today than there was with the use of black powder. I also get this information from our mine superintendents. Mr. Peterson and the other explosive men have been very helpful to us in the use of permissible powder and I confess I have to take everything back that I said several years ago. At that time I was against permissible powder, particularly on account of the cost, but, with the newer permissible powder, we have gotten the cost down very well. I know today that the cost of permissible powder in the coal mines of the Union Pacific Coal Company is less than when we were using black powder. I know this because of the fact that we kept a record of the number of tons we got with black powder, and the number of tons we get with permissible powder compares very favorably in cost. I know this, too, because of the fact that our employes, except in the first few weeks of using permissible powder, have made no demand upon us for any in- crease ill pay to offset any added cost that might accrue in the use of permissible powder and the fact that they have asked for no increase is very conclusive proof to me that it is not

Jan 1, 1925

The session opened at 9:00 a.m. Presiding- Herman E. Knight, Vice President, The Pittsburg & Midway Coal Mining Co. and Gulf Mineral Resources Co., Denver, Colorado. The first speaker was Dale A. Eastman, President, Eastman, Griggs & Associates, Salt Lake City, Utah. Subject-"Professional Staffing for Mining Operations." Mr. Eastman received his Business Degree from Shadran State College in 1971. He was Head Coach in basketball and football in Lyman, Wyoming, prior to joining Bectel. With Bectel five years in training, development and staffing. Was Director of Construction Administration for Southwest, United States, Bectel Power Division prior to entering the Executive Search Division. Currently President, Eastman, Griggs & Associates and also Vice President of E&B Investments and Managing General Partner Duffers Ltd. (See Index for printed text of Mr. Eastman's paper.) Mr. George J. Miller, Attorney, Dechert Price & Rhoads, Denver, Colorado, was the second speaker. Subject-"Rail Transportation After Staggers Act."

Jan 1, 1981

The Thirty-sixth, Regular Meeting of the Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute was called to order at the Shirley-Savoy Hotel, Denver, Colorado, Thursday, June 23, 1938, at 11:15 o'clock a.m., by Thomas Allen, Vice-President for Colorado, who announced that owing to the serious illness of Fritz Nyman's father, Mr. Nyman would be unable to attend the convention. Vice-President Allen welcomed the convention as a representative of Governor Ammons. Owing to the overlapping of a previous engagement, Mayor Benjamin F. Stapleton regretfully arrived too late to welcome the gathering in behalf of the City of Denver. Vice-President Allen selected Mr. F. W. Whiteside to preside at the morning session. On motion made, seconded and carried, the reading of the minutes of the Thirty-fifth Regular Meeting was dispensed with, inasmuch as they are printed in the proceedings. Chairman Whiteside suggested that the appointment of the personnel for the Committee on Resolutions, Nominating, Membership and Auditing be deferred until later in the meeting, and on motion made by Mr. Oliver, duly seconded and carried, this suggestion was adopted.

Jan 1, 1938

MR. HARRINGTON: I would like to ask Mr. Bottomley if they fire their shots while the men are in the mine? MR. BOTTOMLEY: No sir; the shot-firing law in our State requires the shots to be fired after the men are out of the mine. We fire more shots than we did under the hand method of loading. Where formerly four holes were drilled, now we drill eight, using the same amount of powder as we did formerly, perhaps a little more, but we use a slower grade of powder. CHAIRMAN LITTLEJOHN: Any further discussion, gentlemen? MR. GIBSON: Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask Mr. Bottomley, if, in his shot-firing system, as I understand it, he has a very high coal and is working something like eleven feet? MR. BOTTOMLEY: Something like that. MR. GIBSON: I read the article that you referred to. Did you use both the first and the second delay explo¬ders in shooting the coal? MR. BOTTOMLEY: We use the ordinary fuse. MR. GIBSON: That is what I wanted to find out; whether you use the delay exploders and the detonators. In Utah, we are getting away from the fuse altogether, because we do not think it is accomplishing anything to use the electric light on the cap, and' at the same time shooting with fuse. We are defeating the object we might gain in using the electric safety lamp. That is a point that might be discussed a little further. MR. E. H. JOHNSON, The Coloder Company: I would like-since it is a general opinion that mechanical loading breaks up the coal, to ask Mr. Bottomley, if he finds a larger percentage of small coal, or how much, through the use of the mechanical loaders? MR. BOTTOMLEY: We do not find any great difference. In fact, we have succeeded in improving our lump coal percentage, and that is important, because it is largely domestic. At first, when the machines were installed, the boys shot the coal too hard, and we fell down a little, about two or three per cent, the first month, in our lump percentage, and we tightened up a little and changed our methods in shooting and got on to the stunt of drilling more holes and getting a slower grade of powder. We could not load as much coal in one day as we could before, but we did succeed in in. creasing our lump coal percentage four and a half per cent over the hand method, and that is quite a factor-quite an important factor and since our domestic trade is over with, we loosened up on the shooting and we are running about the same as we did with the hand loading, maybe a half per cent more, or one per cent, but pretty much the same. MR. SHUBART: Your coal is very high? MR. BOTTOMLEY: Yes. MR. SHUBART: Have you tried sunbbing the coal before shooting? MR. BOTTOMLEY: No, we have not tried that. It is very hard coal to shoot; we have no defined cleavage in our coal. It is the worst coal I ever saw to shoot. We do not try to snub it. Formerly, as I said, the miners drilled four holes, pretty well up near the top, and then four holes down, within about three feet of the bottom. It is the same thing as a snub shot, and that we find is the best method for shooting the coal. We have not tried any mechanical device for snubbing as yet. SECRETARY SHUBART: At one mine I saw snubbing tried with a Jeffrey undercutter with a seven-foot Jeffrey bar. This mine, by the way, is very similar to Mr. Bottomley's condition. They have very high coal, so the snub cut is a small percentage. They cut a seven foot undercut and raise the machine on an eight inch tie and undercut five feet to give the effect of a snub cut, 14 inches at the front of the cut, and then six inches at the back of the cut. They made a very marked increase in lump. (The bug dust would be a small percentage of the total coal), and they increased the percentage of the slack at the same time. They found a decrease by reason of the easier shooting of about 15 per cent in their slack. In other words their nut and lump coal ran considerably higher and their slack decreased 5 per cent with the snubbing cut. Mr. Bottomley, I believe, understands those conditions.

Jan 1, 1926

The 69th Regular Meeting of the Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute convened in Manor Vail Lodge, Vail, Colorado, and was in session at 10:00 a.m. The meeting was called to order by Past President Joseph E. Ward, former District Manager, Denver Office, Coal Division, Joy Manufacturing Co. and now retired. Mr. Ward, after reading a brief biography of President O. F. "Os" Lewis, introduced him to the assembly. Biographical sketch read as follows: Mr. Lewis is President, General Manager, and a Director of Colowyo Coal Company. "Os" was born in Reno, Nevada. He attended the University of Utah at Salt Lake City, Utah, and later the Denver University in Denver, Colorado. His career in the Western Coal Industry started back in 1923 when he was employed by the Central Coal and Coke Company of Salt Lake City, Utah, as a clerk, then chief clerk and as a traveling sales representative for a period of 13 years. Later, in 1936, when that company was acquired by an affiliated company of Harris Coal Company, he was transferred to Denver as Assistant Sales Manager, Purchasing Agent and later as Executive Assistant to the President.

Jan 1, 1973

A great many questions were asked Mr. Bright, and Mr. Bright's opinion was given on a number of subjects. He spoke at length on spring suspension of locomotives, bringing out the necessity for better spring suspension due to heavier weights and higher speeds now developed. The subject of dynamic braking was brought up, and the opinion of the engineers present was that dynamic braking was not a desirable feature except where heavy, long, adverse grade is encountered. Mr. Goddard and Mr. Bright had a spirited discussion regarding ball bearings, bringing out the opinion of the meeting that ball bearings in motors are preferable to sleeve bearings, and the few failures so far encountered are due to improper application or insufficient size of bearing. Mr. Shubart brought up the question of locomotive speed, mentioning some high speed work on main haulage, also an interesting experiment in a large Eastern mine where very slow speed, 3 1/2 miles per hour, gathering locomotives were substituted for the high speed gathering locomotives with an increase in cars gathered and a material decrease in derailment and accident. Mr. Bright mentioned the improvement in gathering reels, and Mr. Shubart mentioned the safety in the use of the concentric cable in direct current, using the outer wire as the ground wire, so that in case of accident to the cable, the ground wire acted as a protector to the live wire, materially decreasing the danger of sparking. Mr. H. I. Smith of the Bureau of Mines brought up the question of explosion proof construction, and Mr.. Bright and. Mr. Shubart explained the construction adopted by two of the larger manufacturers. Experiment has shown that the force of explosion in motors due to gas does not exceed 150 pounds per square inch. All forms of screen or baffles have proven an actual source of danger, due to the collection of dust, usually soaked in oil, forming an active means of propagating flame, together with the fact that all these appendages are frequently left off when the motors are repaired. Modern construction eliminates all openings, screens, devices for stopping or extinguishing flame. The motor is made entirely enclosed, practically air tight, all joints are ground and all openings necessary for access and attention are closed by bolted plates. The case is made stout enough to withstand any interior explosions, and ample ribbing is provided for heat dissipation. Mr. Bright was asked regarding the use of contactor control. He replied that his company is now recommending contactor controls for series and parallel starting on all locomotives of 13 tons and over, and particularly on the tandem units that are now becoming popular in coal mining work. The question of dynamic braking and reversing was brought up and Mr. Bright explained that this made a very complicated contactor installation but they had

Jan 1, 1922

Presiding-Thomas R. Young, President, Wyoming Fuel Company, Lakewood, Colorado. Mark Gillaspie, Vice President, San Marco Pipeline Company, Houston Natural Gas Company, Houston, Texas, presented a very interesting film-"Invocation in Coal Transportation-Black Mesa Coal Slurry Pipeline." (See index for printed text of Mark Gillaspie's remarks) * * * Kaye Kuhlmann, President of Citizens for Total Energy, San Jose, California, presented a paper-"Grass Roots Support for Energy Policy." (See index for printed text of Mrs. Kuhlmann's paper.) Mrs. Kuhlmann is President of Citizens for Total Energy, an International volunteer grassroots organization with the purpose of educating the public on energy alternatives. CITE strongly advocates responsible citizen participation in the establishment of energy policy.

Jan 1, 1980

By C. E. Drennan

Your Chairman and the Program Committee have limited the time allotted to me, and so, with your permission, I will omit the preliminaries, and wade right into my subject. I believe I am safe in taking for granted that you are all agreed that electricity is the most feasible means of transmitting the power used in coal mining. If you are not, then the papers read before the Association in previous years have failed of their object. If you are so convinced, the only question is as to the choice between alternating and direct current, and the voltage. Fundamentally, this is primarily a matter of dollars and cents. With the sole exception of your trolley locomotives, there is no part of your equipment that cannot be operated as well on alternating as on direct current. With your pay rolls at their present high level and the efficiency of the labor you employ at the stage it now occupies, I believe you will agree, first, that everything possible must be done to increase the tons of coal produced per man employed; and, second, that ample power at all times must be available at every machine so that every one of your men can really get out a day's work without any avoidable delay. Speaking Electrically, all this means is a machine instead of a man wherever it is possible for a machine to do a man's work, and full voltage at the machine always, so that there can be no excuse for the work not being done promptly and efficiently-and dependably. The real reason for the selection of one kind of current or the other can best be understood by considering the formula which determines the size of wire required for transmitting electrical energy. The size of the copper required, and, consequently; its weight and cost, depends upon four factors: 1. The amount of energy or power to be transmitted. 2. The distance to be covered. 3. The percentage of loss allowed. 4. The voltage at the receiving end of the line. These factors enter into the problem to different extents, and, briefly, the size of wire depends directly upon the amount of power and the distance transmitted, and inversely upon the percentage of loss allowed and the square of the voltage. From this it will be seen that, with the amount of power and the distance fixed, if the loss is to be cut in two, the wire must be doubled with a given voltage, while if the loss remains constant and the voltage is doubled, the wire may be cut in four; that is, reduced 75 per cent in weight and cost. Now, standard motors are designed and recommended by their builders to run within a range of 10 per cent under voltage to 10 per cent above voltage - 440-volt motor, then, should preferably not be operated on less than 400 volts

Jan 1, 1923

The morning session opened at 9:00 a.m. and was presided over by George A! Nugent, President, Sheridan Wyoming Coal Company, Sheridan, Wyoming. The first speaker was Joseph E. Zatek, Product Specialist, Portable Instruments; Mine Safety Appliances Company, Pitts¬burgh, Pennsylvania. His presentation was illustrated by slides and subject, "Problems of Noise as Applied to Coal Mining." (See Index for printed text of Mr. Zatek's paper.) Mr. Zatek has been with Mine Safety Appliances Company for the, past 14 years) Prior to going with M.S.A. he was Indus!, trial Hygienist for Pennsylvania Department of Health, a position he held for 10 years He attended the University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and graduated with a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering. He is a member of Air Pollution Control Association, American Society of Safety Engineers, Instrument Society of America and the American Industrial Hygiene Association. He is certified by the American,' Board of Industrial Hygiene in Compre¬hensive Practice of Industrial Hygiene and also by the Bureau of Mines to be an Instructor in Noise Measurement and Control.

Jan 1, 1971

The 1936 meeting will be held in Salt Lake City, the exact date to be announced later. If you have any suggestions for the place or program send them to the Secretary at once.

Jan 1, 1935

MR. MARGOLF: Thank you very, very much Harris. There's sure a lot there to think about in terms, of our image, particularly. I think we should keep' in mind what Harris said about our history not being monolithic. Therefore our image can only be that, which is reflecting the weakest link in our industry and I think that's a burden on all of us. Perhaps to do some policing amongst ourselves to try to improve whatever might be our weakest link and thereby elevate our entire industry. Our third speaker this afternoon is another good friend of mine of long standing and I am very pleased to be able to introduce to the Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute Bob Golten. Bob is a graduate of the University of Michigan with a degree in Economics and Harvard Law School. His professional experience encompasses private practice in Chicago where he was born and in the federal government as a public defender in Washington, D.C. and in the Department of Justice as a tax , attorney. Some of us have come to know Bob more in his present role as the senior counsel for the I National Wildlife Federation. He's also Adjoint Professor of Law and Director of the National Wildlife Federation Resource Clinic, University of Colorado. Boulder campus. In addition, Bob has served with the Rocky Mountain Center on Environment as one of its directors for a number of years. He's very active in a number of areas that are not only civic but he does reflect what I would present by way of introduction as a perspective

Jan 1, 1982

By T. H. Butler

The two most talked of questions in the mining industry today are rock dusting and mechanical loading. The one as a matter of safety, and the other as a matter of economy, and both are of vital interest to the mining fraternity. Rock dusting and other safety methods will be dealt with by others at this meeting, so I will confine my few remarks to the matter of mechanical loading. I will not attempt to tell you what mechanical loaders are doing in the different mining fields throughout the country, or what they should do, but will endeavor to give you an outline of the work being done with mechanical loaders in No. 4 Mine of the Union Pacific Coal Company, at Hanna, Wye. In order that you may better understand and be in a position to follow me it will be necessary to cite the conditions under which we are working. and the type of loaders in use. The seam pitches from 14 to 17 degrees, and is normally 32 feet in thickness, and is overlaid with a soft sandstone roof. The panel system of working is used, planes being driven on the pitch, and rooms driven on the strike. Owing to faults being encountered planes are driven between the faults, and the. rooms on either side are in some instances 800 to 1,000 feet in depth. Rooms are advanced eight feet in height, and 32 feet in width, by hand loaders and .Toy mechanical loaders, and when driven to the boundary,, 18 feet of the remaining 24 is loaded out with Thew electric shovels, and six feet left to protect the roof. In January, 1916 the company installed a Type 1 Thew shovel, equipped with a 1 1/4-yard dipper, and in July, 1917, they installed a Type 0 Thew electric shovel, equipped with a 1-yard dipper, and in the year 1918 two additional Type 0 Thew shovels, equipped with a 1-yard dipper, were installed, making a total of four Thew shovels for this mine. The introduction of these shovels caused the employees much concern, and like all departures from the old methods of mining, met with indifference by some and open antagonism by others, so that for some time they results obtained were not satisfactory. However, by constant supervision and changes in the method of haulage the results obtained at present, while not entirely satisfactory, are much better and the production and costs are reasonably good. The Thew shovels in use are mounted on traction wheels with swivel axle and move. in all directions by their own power, and while the weight of each is approxi¬mately 20 tons, they are not as cumbersome as. one would think and are easily operated. The system used in working these shovels is to shoot the coal clown ahead of the shovels and maintain two tracks, two cars being used on each track so that shovel is loading on one track while driver is, changing cars on the other. When place is finished the shovel is run back to the first cross-cut by its own power and lowered to the next room with block and tackle, the roof coal in cross-cut being shot down to a height of 16 feet to allow passage of the boom. With better results from the Thew shovels we soon realized that it was necessary to find some method of developing rooms faster than was being done with hand loaders in order to keep the Thew shovels in working places, and in November, 1923, the company purchased from the Joy Machine Company two Type 4 B U Joy loaders, and the installation of same met with the same indifference and antagonism from the employees as did the Thew

Jan 1, 1924

C. A. KASEMAN, Past president DAVID C. BROWN, President FRANK MANLEY P. M. PELTIER DAVID ALLEN JAMES L. LIBBY E. H. SIMPSON L. BRANDENBURGER Over the hills of time to the valley of endless years; Over the roads of woe to the land that is free from tears; Up from the haunts of men to the place where the angels are, This is the march of mortality to a wonderful goal afar. Troopers are we in life, warring at times with wrong, But promised ever unbroken rest at last in a land of song; And whether we serve or rule, and whether we fall or rise, We shall come, in time, to that golden vale where never the spirit dies. Back of the strife for gain, and under the toil for fame, The dreams of men in this mortal march have ever remained the same. They have lived through their days and years for the great rewards to be, When earth's dusty garb shall be laid aside for the robes of eternity. Edgar A. Guest

Jan 1, 1938

The twenty-fifth regular meeting of the Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute was called to order at 11 a. m. Monday, August 29, 1927, in the County Court House at Trinidad, Colorado, the Vice-President, F. L. Peart, presiding. After a few words from John F. Carmody, Editor of Goal Age, J. Q. McNatt, Division Engineer of the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company, read a paper on "Coal Geology." In the afternoon, Prof. C. B. Carpenter, of the Colorado School of Mines talked on the work in Fuel Engineering being developed at the Colorado School of Mines. W. C. Holman, of the Phelps Dodge Corporation, then read his paper on "Developing a Pit Car Design." L. M. Kuhns, Safety Engineer of the Gallup American Coal Company, read his paper on "Safety Methods at Gallup American No. 5 Mine." After discussion the meeting adjourned for the day.

Jan 1, 1927

Jan 1, 1923

By C. P. Crawford

Bureau of Mines Technical Paper 172, by S. H. Katz and H. C. Porter, entitled "Effects of Moisture on the Spontaneous Heating of Stored Coal", says at the outset, "Spontaneous fires in storage piles of bituminous coal' have been the source of trouble and loss since the industrial utilization of coal began. In Europe the idea arose that spontaneous combustion is more liable to happen during wet weather than during dry. Statements favoring or opposing this idea have crept into the literature. Conflicting conclusions, based on experiment as well as opinions based on observations of various degrees of reliability, are given in most of the recorded discussions of the subject. "Because of the uncertainty of the effect of moisture and its seeming importance among the conditions that affect spontaneous combustion in stored coal, the work described in this paper was undertaken by the Bureau of Mines. The experiments showed that a coal from Illinois oxidized faster when dry, whereas a sample of Pittsburgh coal oxidized faster when moist. These discordant results and similarly inconsistent results from the observations of different investigators may be coupled with the fact that under actual conditions of, storing, both coal and air always contain a considerable amount of moisture." The foregoing report of the investigations of the Bureau demonstrates that the mystery of spontaneous combustion has not yet been solved. This fact adds to the fascination of the subject. I became interested in the matter about ten years ago in observing what was probably one of the best exhibitions of this phenomenon. The old dump at Castle Gate No. 1 Mine contained boney coal and track cleanings generally. In winter when snow fell upon this old dump, the snow was soon melted by the heat of the dump which was comparatively warm at all times. Within 48 hours afterward little blue flames were in evidence on the surface of the pile. Few of the gas feeders were sufficiently constant to maintain a steady flame at any given point, but shifting emissions of gas were ignited one by another, resulting in a continuous popping and apparent running about of the flames. Another interesting exhibition of spontaneous heating was to be seen a few years ago in the storage coal piles of the local sugar factories. This coal was piled in concrete lined pits and the latter were filled with water. However, or this occasion the coal extended above the surface of the water. At every plant where this condition existed the coal was affected heating, and in each case the affected area was in a plane horizontal to and from 8 to 1.4 inches above the water level. The height of the hot area above the surface of the water appeared to be affected by the fineness of the coal. It is well known that oily rags have a tendency to heat when allowed to accumulate in some location protected from free air circulation. For some reason, as yet unknown, this does not apply to petroleum or its derivatives. Now, the most common explanation of spontaneous combustion is that the combustible material oxidizes by being brought into contact with air in the presence of moisture, the theory being that the moisture acts as a catalytic agent. My theory is that spontaneous combustion is due to oxidation of combustible matter by free oxygen carried in solution by a liquid, the oxidation taking place only as, when, and at the place where this oxygen is released from solution by the evaporation of the liquid. Also, this oxidation takes place to some degree regardless of the condition of the combustible-whether it be lump coal, coal dust, straw, wheat flour, coke, or any other combustible but, as the speed of oxidation is directly influenced by temperature, it follows that spontaneous combustion only becomes noticeable or serious in cases where the resulting heat' cannot escape as fast as it is generated.

Jan 1, 1925

Mr. Shepard's paper was unfortunately delivered extemperaneously so no record is at hand. He spoke most interestingly and at length on the oil shales of Colorado, giving his opinion as to the ultimate outcome of the oil shale industry. He explained his idea that it would be built up of comparatively small plants, each of which would make the crudes, or more exactly would roughly divide the crude into its fractions, piping or shipping the fractions to a Central Refinery, using the residue for fertilizer, as it runs very high in fertilizer salts. He recommended that this plan be taken up by Coal Producers, that they consider the possibility of breaking up coal and selling its more refined products in place of selling raw coal. He spoke at length of the various outlets for products of distillation. Mr. McDermott gave a very interesting talk later on work that is being done in the Northern Colorado field along these lines. Mr. McDermott mentioned the strange fact that coaly materials such as mother of coal appeared to give just as good or better results under distillation than did lignite coal. Messrs. Randall, Howe, Goddard, Danford, and Nash added interesting data covering the use of pulverized fuel, and this data will be collected and offered to the Institute later in the form of a paper. Mr. Young spoke of the use of powdered coal in small units for small plants, mentioning the system now being offered by an Eastern Iron Works for small heating plants.

Jan 1, 1922

By Stanley C. Suboleski

Overview ? Ten minutes or ?the hook? ? Focus on Appalachia, productivity and production ? Message: ? Appalachian mining scene has fundamentally changed

Jan 1, 2007