NATURE 



IDec. 3, 1885 



total of deaths than even an unusual succession of serious ex- 

 plosions, are to a great extent made up of unavoidable sources of 

 danger to which the miner must be exposed ; and that, on the 

 other hand, the causes which lead to explosions have been long 

 known, and can be readily grappled with and removed by the 

 colliery owner or manager. But as a matter of fact the nature 

 of some of the chief and most prevalent conditions favourable 

 to mine explosions is only now being thoroughly made clear, and 

 the same may be said of the nature of measures and appliances 

 by which explosions may be avoided or diminished in magnitude. 

 From the foregoing considerations, it is evident that very 

 great interest and importance must attach to any decided 

 improvements in systems of working, or in appliances connected 

 with mining, and bearing directly upon the safety, facility, and 

 degree of comfort, with which subterranean operations can be 

 carried on. The members of the Society of Arts will, therefore, 

 I feel sure, take a lively and sympathetic interest in the state- 

 ments and observations which 1 have to oft'er in connection with 

 the Mining Section of the late Exhibition, and, in reference to 

 the labours, now fast drawing to a close, of a Commission, 

 appointed by Her Majesty al50ut six and a half years ago, to 

 inquire and report whether the resources of science could fur- 

 nish any practical expedients, not then in use, calculated to 

 prevent the occurrence of accidents in mines, or to limit their 

 disastrous consequences ; a Royal Commission whose earnest 

 and disinterested labours have been patiently, steadily, and faith- 

 fully pursued to successful issues, in spite of engrossing official 

 public and professional duties, and undeterred by the public 

 censure and abuse with which the persevering efforts of its 

 members to complete, as far as practicable, the heavy task 

 allotted to them, have as yet been alone encouraged. 



The display at the recent Exhibition of implements and 

 appliances connected wdlh mining, was sufficiently comprehen- 

 sive to be fairly representative of the nature of improvements 

 which have of late been accomplished in almost all directions. 

 Some of the exhibits demonstrated very important progress, 

 made since the Accidents in Mines Commissioners commenced 

 their labours, and are traceable in several instances to certain 

 results of those labours, which, though not formally communi- 

 cated to the public, have become known to many engaged in 

 the management and supervision of mines. 



An examination of tlie evidence taken by the Commission, 

 and published with their Preliminary Report, showed that there 

 were several important subjects connected with the safe and 

 efficient working of mines upon which large differences of 

 opinion prevailed. This was especially the case with reference 

 to the employment of naked lights in mines — the relative merits 

 of well-known safely lamps — the uses of gunpowder or other 

 explosives underground — and the possible influence of coal-dust 

 in the development or extension of explosions. It was, there- 

 fore, especially in these directions that the Commissioners 

 considered it their paramount duty to pursue experimental 

 inquiries, and, as those investigations proceeded, their import- 

 ance and the useful results likely to emanate from them became 

 the more apparent, while each succeeding step demonstrated the 

 necessity for proceeding further in the inquiries, so that, even up 

 to this, the period fixed by them for the completion of their final 

 Report, the Commissioners have found themselves still engrossed 

 in experiment. 



Without presuming to deal in anticipation with the conclu- 

 sions arrived at by my colleagues and myself as the results of our 

 protracted investigation, I may venture to indicate the nature of 

 some of those results sufficiently to illustrate the progress made 

 in certain matters most vitally affecting the safety of the miner. 

 The important advances which have of late been made in tlie 

 methods of operation, and mechanical appliances, provided for 

 exploring and for breaking ground, were illustrated in the Exlii- 

 bition by some of tlie most recent improvements in boring and 

 drilling machines, and in the construction of the more ordinary 

 hand tools. Without dwelling upon the marked advance which 

 has been made in the operations of deep-boring and of tunnel- 

 driving, by combining the utilisation of steam or compressed air 

 with the method of continuous flushing, special reference must 

 be made to the great improvement effected in mining operations 

 by the use of drills or perforators driven by compressed air, of 

 which several varieties were shown at South Kensington. 



So-called coal-cutting machines, for holing or undercutting coal, 

 of which many forms have constituted prominent features in the 

 mining sections of former Exhibitions, were only represented by 

 one variety on the present occasion, and appear to have hitherto 



made little way, although their use would seem to be attended 

 with some decided advatitages. Hydraulic pressure has been 

 applied with some degree of success in connection with drilling 

 machines and with the forcing down of coal ; thus, Messrs. Dubois ■ 

 and Francois ha'e applied a very efficient hydraulic arrangement, 

 called the' Bossoyaise, with considerable practical success, to the 

 removal of rock or stone in mines where fire-damp exists. 

 As regards the different methods of working seams of coal, and 

 the variety of circumstances which determine their expediency 

 or relative merits in difterent cases, I must limit myself to the 

 statement that the so-called long wall system, which consists in 

 the continuous excavation of the coal throughout or along a con- 

 siderable distance of the breadth of the seam, the excavated part 

 being filled up, as the work advances, with stone and slack, or 

 with material brought from the surface, presents facilities for 

 securing efficient ventilation, and other advantages in regard 

 especially to the safety of the workmen, by which it recommends 

 itself for choice wherever it is applicable,and which, supplemented 

 by the employment of wedges, have been used successfully for 

 bringing down coal or rock in some localities where fire-damp 

 is prevalent. 



Large as is the proportion which accidents arising from falls of 

 roof and sides in mine-workings bear to casualties of all other 

 descriptions, an examination of the Mine Inspectors' Casualty 

 Returns happily shows that a considerable improvement has 

 actually taken place in the death-rate from falls during the Last 

 twenty years. This is unquestionably owing to bestowal of in- 

 creased care upon the proper support, by timbering or arching, 

 of the roof and sides of many workings, or upon improvements 

 in the system n\ion which this most important work is carried 

 out. Cheering as these results are, it cannot be doubted that 

 much remains to be accomplished in order to reduce the propor- 

 tion of casualties from these causes to some approach towards what 

 might be reasonably accepted as unavoidable at the present 



One great safeguard to the miner against accidents from falls 

 of stone and coal would obviously be the provision of efficient 

 illumination of the ways and working places. A powerful 

 excuse for the use of naked lights, even where risk of producing 

 explosions was known to be incurred thereby, has been sought, 

 and even sometimes admitted, in the necessity for more light in 

 insecure places than that furnished by the Davy, the Geordie, 

 or the Clanny lamp ; the argument against enforcing the general 

 adoption of safety lamps, most strongly urged by Mr. Burt 

 and others in the debate of 1S78, was the miserable insufficiency 

 of the light afforded by them, and the consequent increase in 

 the number of accidents due to causes other than explosions. 

 Among improvements of late eff'ected in the construction of 

 safety lamps, has been the increase of their illuminating power ; 

 and this subject of underground illumination is, I may confidently 

 say. ripe for verv great amelioration. 



The simple modes of underground transport of coal by manual 

 or horse labour have now, to a very considerable extent, given 

 place to its haulage, along tramways, by means of wire ropes or 

 chains actuated either by steam hauling engines placed near the 

 pit bittom, or bv compressed air-engines stationed in difterent 

 parts of the main roads. Some good illustrations of hauling 

 machinery of these kinds were included in the Exhibition, and 

 members of the Society of Arts cannot fail to remember with 

 interest that our late lamented chairman. Sir William Siemens, 

 was the pioneer in the introduction of electric hauling arrange- 

 ments for mining work. 



A fruitful source of disaster connected with mines has been 

 the descent or ascent of the men by the shafts, and many con- 

 trivances have been devised, and more or less extensively applied, 

 for preventing accidents resulting from the overwinding of the 

 cages in which the men and the coal are brought to the surface, 

 or from the fracture of the rope with which these cages are 

 worked. 



Really efficient and trustworthy appliances of this class cannot 

 fail to be important safeguards, equally perhaps with those 

 aftbrded by great improvements which have been effiscted in the 

 construction and quality of the hauling- or pit-ropes. It is 

 impossible to overrate the necessity for the bestowal of the high- 

 est skill and care upon the manufacture, testing, and periodical 

 inspection of these all-important adjuncts to mining work, to 

 which many thousands have daily, in blind confidence, to trust 

 their lives. , ■ 1 



The great improvements which have been eff^ected m tlie 

 steam brakes and reversing gear applied to the powerful wind- 



