27 



II. — On the Action of Old Coalpit Water upon Iron, in 

 the Pendleton Colliery, 



V 



By Mr. E. W. Binney. 



[Read Nmemher 16<A, 1852.] 



The general use to which iron is now devoted in the erection 

 of buildings, the structure of ships and lighthouses, and in the 

 protection of mines from water, makes every fact in any way 

 connected with its destruction or preservation worthy of being 

 recorded, especially in this Society, where so many valuable 

 communications upon this subject have been read, and so 

 much practical information given to the world. 



Cast iron is now used to a great extent for the purpose 

 of "tubbing" water from mine shafts. This process may be 

 briefly described as follows : — In sinking through beds of sand 

 and porous sandstone like those of the lower new red sandstone 

 at Monkwearmouth and other places, or in carrying a shaft 

 through old coal workings down to deeper mines, immense 

 volumes of water are sometimes met with. These are fre- 

 quently dammed out of the shaft by cylinders of cast iron, 

 put in in segments and firmly wedged, and made water-tight 

 by pieces of wood being driven between them. By these means 

 the water is generally dammed out or pent back, and in the 

 latter case driven into old abandoned workings, which are too 

 often allowed to remain full to save the expense of pumping 

 out. The shaft is thus carried down to great depths without 

 meeting with much difficulty from water. 



These dammed-up waters, however, are not only very foul 

 from the mineral matter with which they become charged in 

 the old workings, but they exercise considerable pressure, in 



