272 COALFIELDS AND COLLIERIES OE AUSTRALIA. 



The seam is from 5 to 6ft. thick, and a section of it is as 

 follows : 



Coal, 1ft. 9in. to 1ft. Gin. 



Band, lin. 



Splint coal, 3in. 



Coal, 1ft 5Jin. to 1ft. 3in. 



Band, lin. 



Coal, 2ft. 5in. to 1ft. Sin. 



The main pump is a Knowles' steam pump, located at the 

 bottom of a TOft. shaft, and is capable of raising 60,000 gallons 

 per hour. There is also a 3in. electrically-driven pump, put in 

 by Croinpton and Co., which is interesting as being the first 

 electric pump used in a New South Wales colliery. 



There are five haulage engines, all working the main and 

 tail rope system, with the exception of one endless rope 



Fig. 1T5. Goose neck hook. Fig. 1T6. Clip. 



system, which has two branch loops working two districts; this 

 rope also formerly worked a pump. When on a main and tail 

 rope track a down grade is met with, the skips are lowered 

 by gravity on one rope, and hauled up a reverse grade by the 

 other. Formerly there were 14 miles of wire rope circulating 

 through the mine. On the surface the haulage from the tun- 

 nels to the railway line is 1J miles, done in two sections. A 

 goose-neck or knock-off hook (Fig. 175) is used at the hauling 

 end of a train of skips to connect the skips to the rope. The 

 clip used for connecting a set of skips to the endless rope, 

 when fetching them up to the main and tail rope system, is 

 shown in Fig. 176. This colliery has 67 beehive coke ovens, 

 but they do not find it necessary to wash the coal, as is done 

 at Wallsend. 



Duckenfield Collieries. 



There are two collieries situated at Minini belonging to 

 Messrs. J. and W. Brown. One is known as the Duckenfield 

 or old tunnel; the other as Back Creek or new tunnel. The 

 newness, hb.wever, is only relative, for both collieries are fairly 

 old, and their workings are connected. Some of the coal is 





