474 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



cut has been made the whole length, the machine is put on 

 trucks and wheeled to the next room, where the track is laid 

 as before, and so on through the mine. The machine will 

 cut a distance of a yard in five minutes. The economy ob- 

 tained by the use of the machine is estimated at thirty-five 

 cents per ton over the hand labor of miners. This would 

 prove a large saving, even in limited operations. 



It has been commonly supposed that much of the success 

 which has attended the employment of machines for a simi- 

 lar purpose in England is attributable to the thinness of the 

 English coal veins, which run about two feet four inches to 

 two feet ten inches, while in the United States the bituminous 

 veins vary from four feet to eight feet, and the anthracite oft- 

 en from twenty-five to forty feet. In the Indiana mines the 

 average thickness of the seams will not be far from that of 

 the bituminous estimate. Further and more extended trials 

 will be anticipated w T ith much interest. Those who favor the 

 undertaking in the English mines believe that a force of 

 60,000 men with the machines can raise Great Britain's an- 

 nual product of 120,000,000 tons, which now requires the la* 

 bor of 360,000 men. 



PETROLATE, A NEW FUEL. 



M. Pogliani has lately devised a new combustible, which 

 he calls "Petrolate." He employs in its manufacture certain 

 refuse carbonaceous materials, thereby making an artificial 

 fuel which is claimed to be very cheap and of great value. 

 His first formula is of distilled petroleum, 20 parts; colo- 

 phane, 30 ; charcoal-dust, 40 ; mineral coal-dust, 30 ; sawdust, 

 6 ; and sulphate of lime, 10. The petroleum is to be placed 

 in a metallic vessel neated by steam to 167 Fahr. As soon 

 as the colophane is dissolved, the other substances are in- 

 troduced and stirred together, and the mixture is then run 

 off into moulds, and when cold it becomes hard. In another 

 formula, 25 parts of crude petroleum-oil are substituted for 

 the 20 of distilled petroleum. In the opinion of M. Pogliani, 

 the petroleum combines chemically with the colophane, and 

 in its combination, and the mixture with other substances, 

 produces a complete solidification. The combustion of the 

 fuel produced is quick, and prolonged, with a brilliant flame, 

 until every thing is consumed. The calorific power of the 



