Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 6.djvu/83

MODES OF WORKING.] COAL 65 port is given, and the pillars are less crushed than is usual in pillar working. ,: 8 U N D A R Y Fio. 9. Lancashire method of working Coal In the South Wales system of working, cross headings are driven from the main roads obliquely across the rise to get a sufficiently easy gradient for horse roads, and from these the stalls are opened out with a narrow entrance, in order to leave support on either side of the road, but aftsr- wards widening to as great a breadth as the seam will allow, leaving pillars of a minimum thickness. The cha racter of such workings is very irregular in plan, and as the ventilation is attended with considerable difficulty, it is now becoming generally superseded by more improved methods. The second great principle of working is that known as long-wall or long-work, in which the coal is taken away either in broad faces from roads about 40 or 50 yards apart and parallel to each other, or along curved faces between roads radiating from the pit bottom the essential feature in both cases being the removal of the whole of the coal at once, without first sub-dividing it into pillars, to be taken away at a second working. The roof is tem porarily supported by wooden props or pack walling of stone, for a sufficient breadth along the face to protect the work men, and allow them to work together behind. The general character of a long- wall working is shown iu fig. 10, which Fid. 10. Long-will method of working Coal in Derbyshire. represents an area of about 500 acres of the bottom hard steam coal at Shipley in Derbyshire. The principal road extends from the shafts southward ; and on both sides of it the coal has been removed from the light-shaded area by cutting it back perpendicularly towards the boundaries, along faces about 50 yards in length, those nearest to the shaft being kept in advance of those farther away, pro ducing a step-shaped outline to the face of the whole coal. It will be seen that by this method the whole of the seam, with the exception of the pillars left to protect the main roadways, is removed. The roads for drawing the coal from the working faces to the shaft are kept open by walling through the waste or goaf produced by the fall of the un supported roof. The straight roads are the air-ways for carrying pure air from the down-cast shaft to the working faces, while the return air passes along the faces and back to the up-cast by the curved road. The above is the method of working long-wall forward, i.e., taking the coal iu advance from the pit towards the boundary, with roads kept open through the gob. Another method consists in driving towards the boundary, and taking the coal back ward towards the shafts, or working homeward, allowing the waste to close up without roads having to be kept open through it. This is of course preferable, but is only applicable where the owner of the mine can afford to expend the capital required to reach the limit of the field in excess of that necessary when the raising of coal pro ceeds pari passu with the extension of the main roads. Fig. 9 is substantially a modification of this kind of long- wall work. Plate III. fig 2, represents a method of working prac tised in the South Yorkshire district, known as bords and South banks. The field is divided by levels and headings into Yorks rectangular banks, while from the main levels bords or method - wickets about 30* yards wide, separated from each other by banks of about the same width, are carried forward in long- wall work, as shown on the left side of the figure, the waste being carefully packed behind so as to secure the ventila tion. When these have been worked up to the extremity, as shown on the right side, the intermediate bank is removed by working backward towards the level. This system, therefore, combines both methods of long-wall working, but is not generally applicable, owing to the diffi culty of ventilation, due to the great length of air-way that has to be kept open around the waste on each bank. The relative advantages of the different methods may be generally stated as follows. Long-wall work is best suited for thin coals, and those having a good roof, i.e., one that gives way gradually and fills up the excavation made by removing the coal without scaling off suddenly and falling into the working faces, when practically the whole of the coal may be removed. Against these advantages must be placed the difficulties attending the maintenance of roads through the goaves, and in some cases the large proportion of slack to round or large coal obtained. Pillar working, in the whole coal, is generally reputed to give a more advan tageous proportion of round coal to slack, the latter being more abundantly produced on the removal of the pillars, but as these form only a small portion of the whole seam, the general yield is more advantageous than in the former method. The ventilation of pillar working is often attended with difficulty, and the coal "is longer exposed to the influ ence of the air, a point of importance in some coals, which deteriorate in quality when exposed to a hot damp atmo sphere. The great increase in the size of the pillars in the best modern collieries worked upon this principle has, however, done much to approximate the two systems to an equality in other respects. The working of very thick seams presents certain special Working peculiarities, owing to the difficulties of supporting the roof tnick in the excavated portions, and supplying fresh air to the sc workings. The most typical example of this kind of work ing in England is afforded by the thick coal of South Staffordshire, which consists of a series of closely associated coal seams, varying from 8 to 12 or 13, divided from each other by their partings, but making together one great bed of from 25 to 40 feet or more in thickness. The partings together do not amount to more than 2 or 3 feet. The method of working which has been long in use is repre sented in fig. 11. The main level or gate road is driven in the benches coal, or lower part of the seam, while a smaller drift for ventilation, called an air heading, is

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