280 COALFIELDS AND COLLIERIES OF AUSTRALIA. 



vibration, owing to the air being- discharged equally all round 

 the periphery. A register made by Shaeffer and Budenberg 

 Ltd. for indicating the number of revolutions made by the fan 

 is connected with it. 



The pit horses are brought to the surface every day, where 

 they are provided with good stabling accommodation. 



A Westing-house generator of 185 E.M.F. and 46 amperes, 

 driven by a Junior automatic engine, provide the electric 

 lights. 



The boiler plant consists of three Lancashire boilers 8ft. 

 by 30ft., and two Cornish boilers 6ft. by 26ft. The mine water 

 being bad for boiler purposes, water is pumped from a dain 

 near the mine by means of a Stilwell-Bierce and Smith-Yaiie 

 Co.'s pump to an open feed water heater. The feed pump is 

 one of Gardner's duplex double ram pumps. The shaking 

 screens are 15ft. long, and are given 70 to 80 strokes per 

 minute, the motion being imparted by a duplex engine. 



There are tAvo picking belts, 80ft. long by 4ft. 6in. wide, 

 made by Messrs. Poole and Steel, of Balmain, who also pro- 

 vided the machinery for driving them. The plates of the belt 

 are connected to three steel chains made of long links ; there 

 is one chain at either side of the belt, and one in the middle. 



\Ycst Wallsend Colliery. 



This is one of the Caledonian Coal Company's collieries, 

 and is under the management of Mr. A. E. Warburton. 



The down-east shaft is 482ft. deep and 16Jft. in diameter. 

 Each cage runs 011 three wire rope guides, and are separated 

 by two bufter ropes. The winding engine was made by Grant 

 and Ritchie, of Kilmarnock, and has cylindro-conical drums, 

 but only the conical portion is used, as the shaft is not deep 

 enough for the rope to wind on to the cylindrical part. The 

 drum is lagged with wood, but as the rope lias worn grooves 

 into it, it is now practically a scroll drum. The boiler plant 

 consists of six tubular boilers, in which the tubes act as flues. 

 Skips full of slack are drawn to the boilers from the pit's mouth 

 by means of a rope, and the ashes are removed in a similar man- 

 ner up a short incline, so that they can be emptied into a 

 hopper waggon. 



No coal cutting machines are used in this mine, all the 

 coal being worked by picks. 



A band rope passes down the air shaft, which works three 

 endless rope systems underground, the different systems being 

 put in and out of action by friction clutches. 



The main pump is one made by Grant and Ritchie, and 

 has a single steam cylinder, but a double ram. The water 

 column passes up the" air shaft. 



