200 FREDERICK EDWARD SAWARD 



tubes, in preference to the horizontal and diagonal align- 

 ment. The tippling of the coal is largely done by automatic 

 or seK dumping cages and the steam ram, though at slope 

 mines the tippling is accomplished principally by means of 

 drop bottom mine cars and inclined trestling provided with 

 a large bin placed immediately under the mine car tracks. 

 The coal mining is all done by pick work; as yet, machines 

 have failed to perform this work satisfactorily. The coal 

 is very easily mined by hand. 



The hauling of coal underground is largely done by some 

 form of tail rope or endless rope haulage. At the Leisenring 

 shaft No. 1 of the H. C. Frick Coke company, compressed 

 air locomotives have been installed at a cost exceeding $20,000 

 and are giving most excellent results. These locomotives 

 are of the high pressure type, using air at a pressure 

 of 500 pounds per square inch (manipulated by a form of 

 reducing valve, and are very compact — quite a contrast to, 

 and a great improvement over, the cumbersome low pressure 

 machine in use at mines heretofore. 



Electricity is largely in use for stationary lights at the 

 principal points about the mines and in the various buildings. 



The mine workings are now developed by the two, three, 

 four, five and six entry systems of mining. All the working 

 places are driven on sights, i.e., on lines given by the mining 

 engineer. In some of the mines the retreating system of 

 working has been adopted, and the aim is now to recover 

 all the coal as nearly as possible. The most skillful mining 

 engineering talent is employed, and coal mining is rapidly 

 becoming a science instead of a rule of thumb operation. 

 The cost sheet is no longer considered by its monthly showing, 

 as in former days, but by its relation to the general result 

 during the whole term of the operation. 



The coal is all coked in the beehive type of coke oven, 

 and the coke is drawn by hand, as machinery has so far failed 

 to perform that operation either as satisfactorily or as cheaply 

 as the human coke drawer. The coal is run directly from 

 large bins, located near the mouth of the mines, into hopper 

 shaped cars known as larries, and these, in turn, are hauled 

 to the coke ovens by locomotives or some form of rope 



