LAMBTON B. COLLIERY. 311 



of the hook is compressed. This shears the copper rivet, and 

 causes the head of the hook to widen out, at the same time 

 releasing the rope shackle as shown at (C), so that the hook 

 from which the cage is suspended rests on the top of the 

 thimble; in the meanwhile, the lower shackle, connected to 

 the bridle chains, slips down into a slot and locks the hook 

 in position, so that there is no chance of it slipping back 

 through the thimble unintentionally. To lower the cage and 

 hook again, the bolt of the rope shackle is passed through a 

 hole in the top of the middle plate, the pin (c) is removed, 

 and the rope wound up slightly, when it assumes the position 

 shown in (1)), so that it can be lowered through the thimble. 



Full skips come up in one cage while the empties descend 

 in the other. Two stopblocks are placed between the rails of 

 the full track to prevent the skips from running back into 

 the shaft. The skips are then taken up a short incline by u 

 creeper chain, after which they shunt into a parallel line, run 

 into a side tippler, and pass on the empty line towards the 

 shaft. The skips are retained on this line by a squeezer till 

 the cage is ready for them. This consists of a frame made of 

 angle iron fixed at one end, but loose at the other. The bar 

 on either side of the frame is made to press 011 the tread of the 

 skip wheels by a weight, and can be lifted oft to release the 

 skip by working a lever with the foot. A greaser for lubrica- 

 ting the axles of the skips is located on the creeper chain 

 track. 



The steaming plants consists of a range of five high pres- 

 sure Lancashire boilers at the downcast shaft, 7ft. Gin. in 

 diameter; one is by Tangye, of Birmingham, the other four 

 by Adamson, of Manchester. They are all coupled together. 

 Besides the ordinary lever safety valve, these boilers are pro- 

 vided with dead weight valves, each disc weighing about 

 201bs. At the upcast shaft, there are two 8ft. 6in. Lancashire 

 boilers, by Walker Bros. A Green's economiser is erected 

 at the back of the main range of boilers, but it is not used, 

 for the work entailed in keeping them, clean and in repair is 

 not compensated for by the saving of fuel, when it is cheap, 

 as at a colliery. 



Berry man' s feedwatei heater is found to be the most econo- 

 mical under the circumstances, though it is by no means per- 

 fect for high pressure intermittent engines such as the wind- 

 ing engines, as can be seen and felt by the shower of spray 

 that falls around it during winding. This heater consists of 

 a nest of inverted U-shaped tubes in a shell. The exhaust 

 steam passes through the tubes, so does not mix with the feed 

 water ; consequently, there is no fear of grease and dirt from 

 the cylinders entering the boiler. 



