1849.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAI 



121 



INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS. 



F(b. 13. — J. Field, Esq., President, in the Chair. 



Tlie p.iper reafl was " On the Coal Field of South Wales," by Mr. 

 JOSUUA ItlClIARDSON, M. Inst. C.E. 



Mr. Richardson commenced hy enforcing the necessity for an unbounded 

 supply of fuel for the export trade, the manufactures, and the domestic uses 

 of Great Britain, and enumerating various sources from whence that supply 

 was at present, and might he in future obtained j giving, at the same time, 

 the various and discordant opinions of eminent authorities as to the pre- 

 sumed duration of that supply from the several mineral districts of vfhich 

 the extent was now ascertained. This was variously stated hy different au- 

 thorities at between 200 years and 1700 years; but Mr. Richardson ven- 

 tured to assert that, in spite of the increasing demand for home consumption, 

 and an augmenting export trade— amounting, at present, to upwards of six 

 millions of tons annually — when the coal field of South Wales should be 

 brought into full work, the duration of the supply was beyond calculation. 

 The area of this coal field alone he estimated, from actual survey, to be 

 1,055 square miles, embracing all qualities, from extremely bituminous coal 

 to pure anthracite. The various veins, and their several thickness, were 

 fully described, with examples of their quality, and analyses of them chemi- 

 cally, with their practical evaporating powers — showing that there existed 

 64 seams or veins of coal, having an aggregate thickness of 190 feet. 

 These veins were described to be so situated as to be easily worked by adits 

 or levels, and by pits of slight depth ; and thus the cost at the mouth of 

 the levels varied from 2^. 2d, to Zs. 'od. per ton — giving a mean of about 

 2s. 10(?. per ton. The means of transport to the ports of CarditF, Newport, 

 and Swansea, although at present inefficient, were daily improving, and en- 

 abled the coal to be shipped at about the same rates as the coal in the Tyne 

 and the Wear. The actual annual consumption was shown to be — 



In the ironworks of South Wales 1,500,000 tons 



The copper- works .'i(lO,0(iO ,, 



Tlie tin-plate and other works 200,000 „ 



In agricultural and domestic uses l,0(in,noo „ 



Exports I,.'i00,0(l0 „ 



Total 4,000,000 tons 



The useful and evaporative qualities of the various veins were carefully 

 investigated, and it was shown, in a table of relative evaporative values, that 



1 lb. of Welsh coal will evaporate Olb. of water 



1 lb. of Newcastle and Yorkshire coal 7^ >, 



1 lb. of Lancashire coal 7 ,, 



1 lb. of Scotch coal a „ 



And it followed, ihat if 



s. d. 



Wel^h coal was worth 20 per ton 



Newcastle and Yorkshire was worth Ifi 8 ,, 



LaTict shire 15 (>i „ 



Scotch 13 4 „ 



The coals of Staffordshire and Derbyshire were not taken into considera- 

 tion, because they were used chiefly for the consumption by home manufac- 

 turers. — From these, and other statements, and from extracts from Sir 

 Henry de la Beche and Dr. Lyon Playfair's able Report on Steam Cnal for 

 the Navy (see Journal, Vol. XI., 1848, p. 273), it was shown, that the Welsh 

 coal excelled all others for steam purposes, and for almost all uses to which 

 it was applied ; and tha', when all other sources of supply had diminished, 

 or had failed, the prosperity of the manufactures and the commerce of 

 Great Britain might be maintained forages by the coal field of South Wales. 



A very animated discussion ensued, in which several eminent engineers 

 and chemists reasoned upon the statements in the paper, and the contested 

 questions of the evaporative powers of different fuels. 



Feb. 20. — The paper read was " On the Explosion of Fire-damp which 

 occurred in the Ear/lesbush or Eskyn Colliery, Neath, South JVales, on the 

 20th of March, 1848,'' by Mr. Joshua. Richardson, M. Inst. C.E. 



This paper first detailed the frequency of these occurrences in some parts 

 of South Wales, and more particularly in this colliery, where the tender and 

 friable nature of the coal peculiarly induced in the working, or excavation, 

 the formation of fire-damp and explosive gas. This had been shown ex- 

 perimentally by Sir Humphrey Davy, when, on breaking up large coal under 

 water, he collected a quantity of fire-damp at the surface. 



It then gave a description of the colliery workings; the state of the mine 

 before the explosion occurred; the condition in which it was found at the 

 time of the inspection, a fortnight after the accident ; the probable causes 

 of the catastrophe, and the best known means of preventing a recurrence of 

 such events. The seam of coal was described as being about 4 feet in 

 thickness, of a highly bituminous and friable nature, and worked by an in- 

 clined adit or entrance, with a main gallery, whence the stalls were woiked 

 on either side — horses being employed to draw out the coal in trams, which 

 were conveyed direct to the vessels in which it was shipped for exportation, 

 to the extent of 30,000 tons annually. The ventilation was effected by a 

 down-cast and an up-cast shaft, between which an air-course was arranged, 

 so as to extend throughout the active workings, with a chimney at the exit, 

 through which the air should have been expedited by a furnace, which, 

 however, had been rarely lighted ; and the air-course, which was 1 mile and 

 5 furlongs in length, was in places of unequal and inadequate areas, so that, 

 in certain states of the external atmosphere, the air in the mine became 



very sluggish, and even at times oscillated to and fro, instead of regularly 

 travelling onwards in an uninterrupted current. This was so much the 

 case, that the colliers employed fans to drive the gas from them into the 

 proper channels. Great negligence appeared to have existed, both in the 

 general system of v\orking, and in the use of the Davy lamps, which were 

 frequently used without the wire-gauze guards. The usual state of the 

 mine could not be judged of by an inspection after the accident, as all the 

 falls and incumbrances had been removed, the destroyetl doors and stoppings 

 had been well replaced, and general precautions had been adopted, which 

 evidently had not previously existed ; but there still remained evidences of 

 want of precautionary measures. Candles and open lamps had been con- 

 stantly used, although the general fiery character of the mine was notorious; 

 and, after the explosion, two Davy lamps were found, without their wire- 

 gauze guards. 



The temperaturein various parts of the mine was so near that of the exter- 

 nal atmosphere, Ihat it was evident spontaneous ventilation could not have 

 proceeded regularly ; and it was shown, that the slightest change of the 

 density of the air, even from the sun breaking out, would have sulli ed to 

 remler stagnant the whole system of ventilation; especially as the furnace, 

 which should have accelerated the current by exhaustion, had been allowed 

 to fall into a ruinous condition, and had seldom been used, and the velocity 

 of the current had rarely exceeded 5 feet per second, which was totallv in- 

 adequate to supply the requisite quantity of air for such an extent of work- 

 ings. The cause of the accident was, therefore, very apparent, and might 

 be attributed to a want of a general good system of ventildtion, permitting 

 accumulations of gas and fire-damp, and the careless use of open lights, or 

 unserviceable Davy lamps; and the consequence of this was the sudden 

 death of 20 men, and several horses, with great injury to the mine. The 

 means of prevention were, evidently, a complete revision of the system of 

 ventilation — the enlarging of the air-course to uniform and adequate di- 

 mensions — the proper division of the air into several columns — the con- 

 struction of proper doors and stoppings in convenient positions— strict 

 regulations for the use of Davy lamps, or other means of lighting, and 

 better general superintendence, by educated men, who would enforce pre- 

 cautionary measures. Due credit was given to the proprietors for their 

 anxiety to afford every means of inspection, and for adopting all suggestions 

 calculated to prevent the recurrence of such an event ; and it was stated 

 that they had since erected one of Mr. Price Struve's ventilating apparatus, 

 of the working of which an account was promised in a future communication. 

 In the discussion which ensued, the various systems of working and of ven- 

 tilation, in all parts of England, were noticed and it was shown that, in 

 general, every means was adopted to prevent accidents ; but that, up to the 

 present time, the mines in the west were not as well managed as those in 

 the north, or the midland district. Every day, however, introduced better 

 measures and better men, of education, for carrying into effect the most ap- 

 proved systems, and that, as the mines became more extensively worked, so 

 these accidents would, and did, become less frequent. 



Feb. 27, & March 6. — The paper read was " On Fire Proof BuilJiiic/s," bv 

 Mr. James Biiaidwood, Assoc. Inst. C.E. 



After alluding to the paper by Mr. Fairbairn, on the construction of 

 buildings of this description, (see Journal, Vol. X., 1847, p. 160), the 

 author proceeded to analyse the evidence as to the capability exhibited 

 i)y cast and wrought iron ueams for sustaining weights, where they were ex- 

 posed to any extreme changes of temperature. He then demonstrated, by a 

 collection of specimens of metal from buildings that had b'en destroyed by 

 fire, that occasionally the temperature in the conflagration of large buildings 

 rose almost to the melting point of cast-iron, and that, even in a small fire, 

 beams and columns of cast iron would be so affected by the heat and jets of 

 water upon them, that they would probably be destroyed, and sometimes 

 cause a fearful loss of life; as in many of the so-called fire-proof ware- 

 houses of the city, a number of persons employed on the premises slept in 

 the upper floors, and, if the lower beams gave way, the whole would be 

 dragged down suddenly ; whereas timber beams resisted fire some time, and 

 allowed time for the inmates to escape. The firemen, also, were liable to 

 more danger from the same circumstance as the only chance of extinguish- 

 ing fires was to send them into the buildings with the branches and water- 

 hose ; but where there was such evident danger, the men were forbidden to 

 enter, and limited their efforts to restraining the spreading of the fire. 



Another point which the author considered had not been sufficiently 

 insisted on, was the derangement of the brickwork by the expansion of the 

 iron beams at high temperatures, and its sudden contraction on the applica- 

 tion of cold water; and, also, from the mortar becoming completely pul- 

 verised by the excessive heat — instances of which have been known to 

 occur. 



The following were the principles on which Mr. Fairbairn proposed to 

 construct (ire-proof buildings: — 



1. The whole of the buildings to be composed of incombustible materials, 

 such as iron, stune, or brick. 



2. That every opening or crevice communicating with the external atmo- 

 sphire be kept closed. 



3. An isolated stone or iron staircase to be attached to every story, and 

 to be furnished with a line of water-pipes comuiuidcating with ihe mains in 

 the street. 



4. The different warehouses to be divided hy strong partition walls, and 

 no more openings to be made than are absolutely necessary. 



17 



