1850."] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



a97 



PROCEEDINGS OP SCIEMTIFIC SOCIETIES. 



ROYAL INSTITUTE OF DRlTiSlI AHCMITECTS. 



Till-: first general meeting- of the Institute, ai'ter tlic recess, was 

 held on November -Ith, at the rooms of the Institute, in Lower 

 (Jrosvenor-street. In the absence of Earl de (irey, tlie president, 

 the cliair vvas taken by ^Ir. Fowler, one of the vice-presidents, 

 who in congratulatinij tlie members upon their meeting- together 

 .igain, mentioned, in reference to the prospects of the ensuing- 

 session, tlie Great Exhibition of ISjl — an event whicli could nut 

 fail to he of the greatest interest to the Institute of Architects. 

 !t would, doubtless, bring to this country a large number of the 

 distinguished men of science abroad, the names of some of whom 

 were enrolled in their lists as honorary and correspomling members; 

 and the council had not forgotten to take into consideration 

 .irrangements to giie their expected visitors a befitting and cordial 

 reception. 



Professor Donaldson, the corresponding secretary, in laying ujion 

 the table a collection of works presented to the Institute during- 

 the recess, likewise made a particular reference to 'Suggestions 

 for tlie Imi)ro\-einent of the Lord Mayor's ShoH-', by .Mr. George 

 <jodwin. In alluding to useful communications. Professor 

 Donaldson expressed his gi-atitication that a Erench translation had 

 been officially made of the paijer read to the Institute last session 

 by Mr. Henry Roberts upon ""the Improvement of the Dwellings 

 of tlie Labouring Poor." (Dm Habitatiinis tlci C/dXK'.s- Onrrlcrs; 

 truduit ct j>iihlir par unlrc ilu President dc la Hi imhliqnc : Jliiiistire 

 de I'Ai/ricnttnre et dn Commerce. 1K50.) He dwelt upon this as a 

 fact which proved the govei-nment of France was very prudently 

 turning its attention to the sanitary and social condition of the 

 working classes. 



.Mr. James Bell, Fellow of the Institute, read a paper '"On tlie 

 Remains of the .Irchitecture of the Roman Provinces," which we 

 have given in full at page :;7y. 



INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS. 



Xov. \2. — William Cueitt, Esq., President, in the Chair. 



The following paper was read : — 



j4 comparative vieic of the recorded E.vplosion^ in Coal Mines, liy Mr. 

 ^ViLLiAM West (of Leeds), Assoc, lust. O.K. 



The Reports of Faraday, Lyell, De la Beclie, Pluyfair, and others, were 

 carefully analyseil and tubulated, from which it appeared ihat tendencies 

 towards a dangerous condition existed in mines reputed to be compara- 

 tively safe, and that these tendencies were so numerous, and varied so 

 suddenly in their nature and extent, as to necessitate attention to every 

 kind of precaution. 



The proposed appointment, by the government, of Inspecfoi-s of Mines, 

 ■was noticed, not with the intention of showing that tlieir supervision 

 would diminish the lespousibility of the mining engineers and overmen, 

 but of demonstrating, tiiat by establishing more constant communicalion 

 between the various districts, they might induce the general adoption of 

 those measures of precaulioii which were found in certain mines to be so 

 eBicacious in averting accidents, or in afl'ording means of safety when 

 they did occur. 



The ditiercnt depths of mines, varying from seventy-live yardsal Darley, 

 to three liundred yard- at Haswell, did notappearto have any inlhienceon 

 the accidents. The tendency to the emission of carhuretted hydrogen gas 

 from certain seams, would have appeared a more rational reason, though 

 the records did not appear to bear out that theory, as mines receiving a 

 tolerable character, had been the scene of repeated explosions ; for in- 

 stance, the Jarrow Jline, where, although reported " to be not very fiery," 

 there had been six cNplosions in the course of twenty-eight years, and one 

 hundred and forty persons had been killed. 



The cunipatibility of general good ventilation, with the occasional oc- 

 currence of the most fatal explosions, was particularly dwelt on. The 

 witnesses on the inquests after the Haswell and the Jarrow accidents, 

 agreed that the " ver.tilatiou was perfect," " the pit full of air," and " the 

 air quite good, and plenty of it." Tne fault, then, did not lie iu the 

 <iuanlity of air, but rather in the difliculty oi directing it so generally 

 throughout all parts of the mine, as to sweep away the gas as it was pro- 

 duceil. The "splits," for the air were noticed, and the coudition of the 

 goaf, the pockets of gas formed in the roof, and the sudden irruptions 

 from the occasional falls in the goaf and old stalls, were dwelt on at great 

 length, and, combined with the injudicious use of unprotected lights, and 

 liability of accident to the lamps, were showu to have been the probable 

 cause of all the explosions. The miners' lamps were passed over some- 

 what toocursorily, as at the present moment, when so much has been done 

 for their improvement, that part of the subject might have been descanted 

 on with advantage. 



The precautions for saving life on the occurrence of accidents, such as 

 abolishing bratticed shafts, and sinking a pair at each mine, at such dis- 

 tances apart as should ensure one rcuiaiuing intact, incase of an explo- 

 sion injuring the other ; the " scaling olf" of a portion of the fresh air for 

 the exhausting furnace, and conducting the return air into thi upcast shaft 

 at some height above the lire ; together witli several minor details for in- 

 suring the constant working of the exhausting apparatus, to draw olf the 

 fatal " after-damp, or choke-damp," were strongly insisted on. 



The rashness and carelessness of the miners was instanced ou with re- 

 gret; but it was shown that by education and good example, their better 

 qualities must be brought out, and that then, the best safeguard against 

 accident would be tlie instinctive love of life, and a knowledge of impending 

 danger from the infringement of any of the precautionary regulations 

 established in the mines. The improvement of the workmen was, there- 

 fore, strongly insisted on, as more real benefit would probably result from 

 such measures, than from the appointment of a host of guverniueut in- 

 spectors. 



The paper was illustrated by large diagrams of the author's views of 

 the forms of " goaf hollows " and " goaf basons," as well as by several 

 plans of mines, &c. 



The President reminded those gentlemen who had recently Joined the 

 Institution, of the engagement they had entered into, to present original 

 communications, or drawings, ice, and urged upon the niembeis of all 

 classes the necessity of furnishing good papers, so that the interest of the 

 meetings might be sustained, and the usual discussions be promoted. 



Xoc. 19.— William Cuditt, Esq., President, in the Chair. 

 The subject of the paper read was " The Ventilalioii of Collieries, 

 theorcticalli/ and practically considered.'' JJy William J'rici: Struve, 

 (of Swansea), M. Inst. C.E. 



The author commenced by showing that the general principles which 

 ought to govern the ventilation of collieries, were — 



1st. That a current of air through the channels of collieries, at a velocity 

 of live feet per second, was suflicieut for most purposes. 



2nd. That a current exceeding that velocity would only be attained a 

 the expense of leakage and other evils. 



3rd. That in order to obtain the requisite supply of fresh air, the chan- 

 nels of a colliery or mine ought to be enlarged, according to the exigency. 

 In the process of laying out a mine, a subdivision occurred by which 

 the workings were apportioned into numerous compartments, which faci- 

 litated the system of splitting the current of air, or diverting it into 

 numerous channels, giving to each compartment a separate, and, therefore, 

 more effective ventilating force ; at the same time the area of the channel 

 was enlarged, and the aggregate length of the air tube shortened, so that 

 it was quite practicable to pass through the workings of a mine 300 cubic 

 feet of air per minute for each man employed. 



The velocity of the air current in a mine was so easily affected, t 

 was important to consider by what accidents, and under what ci'^' 't 

 stances, any changes took place. ircum- 



It could not be supposed that the excavated space of old workings was 

 completely filled by the '• falls" of the roof and "creeps" of the'^floor; 

 extensive rupture of the slratilicatioa occurred, and through this broken 

 ground great leakage must take place. This would seriously all'ecl. a long 

 continuous air course, therelore, the w-ay to meet this difiiculty was to 

 split, shorten, and enlarge the air channel. The details of two cxperi- 

 ments at the Eaglesbush and Vuis David Collieries, where the air was 

 pumped out by Mr. Struvc's Miue Ventilator, showed that a large propor- 

 tion of the air vvas drawn from the old workings, and the " ooaf " or 

 broken ground surrounding the colliery, and did not come down tiie intake 

 shaft, aud traverse the actual workings, as it ought to have done. 



In both these cases, the enlarging and splitting of the air channels, so 

 as to reduce the velocity of the air to about three feet or four feet per 

 second, would have produced most benelicial results. 



These principles were shown to have been lost sight of in the majority 

 even of the great collieries, and the power of rarefaction by a furnace was 

 trusted to for dragging the long column of air over and through innume- 

 rable impediments. In some cases this was left to be produced by the 

 increased temperature of the mine, from the caudles, and tlie respiration 

 of the men, aided by the cooling effect of water trickling down the intake 

 shaft. These scarcely sufficed to produce an average diirereuce between 

 the two shafts of ihirteeu degrees in winter, whilst m the suuimer, aud iu 

 certain states of the atmosphere there was no dill'erence at all, and, conse- 

 quently, little or no veniilaiiou. M'liere rarefactiou by beat was used, the 

 temperature in the upcast shaft varied from uinety degrees to one hundred 

 and sixty degrees; this, however advanlageous for ventilation, was 

 injurious to the shaft itself, aud absolutely daugerous to the men wlio had 

 to traverse it. 



A comparison of the dimensions of the air passages and the velocities of 

 the currents in numerous collieries, led to an estimate of the motive power 

 required to produce the results attained in the best ventilated mines, in 

 case of the employment of a steam-engine aud air-pumps. This power 

 would have varied between 23-horse power and 2G horse power. 



The efficiency of furnace ventilatiou was always increased by the depth 

 of the shafts, especially if they were entirely devoted for the purposes of 

 ventilation, irrespective of the working of the pit. 



