3 8 4 MINING 



RESCUE APPLIANCES The organisation of rescue operations has made great advances 

 since 1910. In 1910 the Mines- Accidents (Rescue and Aid) Act was passed in England, 

 providing for the organisation and equipment of rescue brigades at all collieries and the 

 erection of private and central rescue stations. An order was finally promulgated in 

 1912 defining the requirements under these heads. In the meantime central rescue sta- 

 tions have been erected or are in course of erection in all the British coalfields, and valu- 

 able services in the direction of recovery work have been rendered by the trained bri- 

 gades at Darran, Hulton, Bignall Hill and Cadeby. 



In the United States rescue stations have been established by the United States 

 Bureau of Mines at Urbana, Illinois; Knoxville, Tennessee; Seattle, Washington; Mc- 

 Alester, Oklahoma; Birmingham, Alabama; and Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. In extension 

 of these stations are seven mine-safety cars. In 1911 over 100,000 miners attended 

 lectures and demonstrations, and over 7,000 received training in mine rescue and first- 

 aid work in addition to the arrangements made by independent companies. 



The principal types of apparatus in use at the present time are the following: oxygen 

 regenerative appliances, Draeger, " Proto " (or Fleuss), " Meco " (or " Westfalia "), 

 Tissot, and " Weg;" liquid air appliances, " Aerolith " (or Suess) and Claude. An 

 investigation in the Rhenish-Westphalian districts under the mine regulations of May 

 i, 1912, showed that 847 portable sets of apparatus were in use, of which 381 were of 

 the Draeger type, and 449 of the Westfalia type. Broadly, the improvements in 

 apparatus have taken the form of modifications in design accommodating them to the 

 convenience of the wearer; increased attention has been paid to the effects of heat, and in 

 the " Proto " apparatus experience at the Howe Bridge station has resulted in the addi- 

 tion of an emergency by-pass arrangement, which may be used for cooling the air in the 

 breathing bag. Lung-governing valves have also been introduced similar to that first 

 employed by Garforth in the " Weg " apparatus, used at Altofts and Cowdenbeath. 



In the liquid air appliances, a new feature is the use of regenerative purifiers. At 

 Newcastle a new liquid air apparatus, entitled the aerophor, has been developed by W. 

 C. Blackett, which is able to supply air to persons in distress, independent of the wearer. 

 In this apparatus, which is a development of the Suess or Aerolith apparatus, the 

 pack and breathing bag are united and the pack is built to fit across a man's loins. 

 There is a by-pass between the liquid air pack and the mouthpiece, and the regenerative 

 properties of the purifier have been improved (Colliery Guardian, August 16, 1912). 



At the Singles colliery in the south of France safety chambers have been provided as 

 places of refuge for men in the event of explosions. Similar steps have been taken in 

 Austria, and it may be noted that the Herrn Draeger, of Liibeck, have proposed the 

 construction of such chambers, equipped with purifying materials. 



LIGHTING. In the illumination of the working face in collieries the chief development 

 has been the increased adoption of portable electric lamps. The provision of these is 

 now compulsory in connection with rescue operations in Great Britain, and there is a 

 growing tendency to employ them for all purposes, where other means exist for detecting 

 firedamp or at pits where this consideration is of lessened importance. One reason for 

 this change is the restriction placed upon the use of flame safety lamps by recent legisla- 

 tion, which by their indifferent lighting capacity impose heavy burdens upon the worker. 



According to the British Coal-Mines Act 1911, locked safety lamps are to be used in any 

 seam in which the air in the return airway is found normally to contain more than \ per cent 

 of inflammable gas, and, with certain exceptions, in any seam in which an explosion of gas 

 has occurred. At the same time an official test for safety lamps has been instituted, and 

 the government experimental station at Eskmeals in Cumberland is equipped with appliances 

 fur this purpose. Towards the end of 1912, new regulations for lamps were issued by the 

 Home Office. According to Article 146 of the French regulations, safety lamps must con- 

 form to one of the types approved by the Minister of Public Works. Spirit lamps may only 

 be furnished with internal igniters of approved design. The igniting bands must be dis- 

 posed so that only one relight can be made at a single time, and must be composed of sub- 

 stances that are inflammable but not explosive. In British mines the use of internal igniting 

 apparatus in connection with spirit safety lamps is limited by law from disciplinary con- 

 siderations, but in Continental mines their use has extended considerably. 



