TBANSACTIONS OF SECTION G. 815 



7. Electricity as applied to Mining.^ By Frank Brain. 



This paper is written from the mining engineers' standpoint, briefly sketching 

 the known applications of electricity to mine-working up to the present date. 



The writer regrets there is very little known to add to what has already been 

 made public. He cannot but express surprise that a power which it is apparent 

 has now passed the range of experiment, and is developing itself economically and 

 efficiently, should not have been made greater use of than appears to have been the 

 ■case hitherto. 



The recommendations of the Mines Commission and the passing of the more 

 stringent Coal Mines Act of 1887 have both stimulated mine managers to inquire 

 into "and recognise the advantages of electricity for blasting and lighting. By 

 means of a small hand magneto battery and electric fuzes all the shot-firing in 

 .most of the fiery collieries is now done, the explosive used being one of the many 

 lately introduced which, fired by an electric detonator, give off no flame. Dynamo 

 machines at many pits are used for lighting the surface and main roadways of the 

 ■colliery, and this current has also been used for the purpose of shot-firing, notably 

 at Ynyshir Colliery, Rhondda Valley, South Wales. All the shots are fired in 

 this vs^ay simultaneously while every man is out of the pit, thus putting loss of life 

 beyond possibility. This adaptation, it should be said, however, is protected by 

 a patent. 



The adoption of the electric lamp in place of the well-known ordinary safety 

 lamp is now very strongly advocated. There are several in the field, notably, 

 ithe Swan and Pitkin, using secondary batteries, and the Scharschieft', using a pri- 

 mary battery. The South Wales Institute of Engineers, who with other kindred 

 societies have lately had these and other electric lamps before them, have referred 

 .the matter to a Special Committee to inquire into and report upon. Several 

 colliery engineers in South "Wales are practically testing them — one, Mr. G. W. 

 Wilkinson, of Risca, having several hundreds in daily use. So satisfied is he with 

 their results that an order has been given for a still further number. 



The applications of electricity to transmission of power are confined to a few 

 collieries — so far as the wi-iter knows, in Great Britain to three only, viz., Tra- 

 falo-ar Colliery, Forest of Dean ; St. John's Colliery, Normanton ; and Allerton 

 Main Colliery, near Leeds. At Trafalgar, what was a very small pumping plant, 

 ■started in December 1882, developed, by May 1887, into three sets of plant, doing 

 the undergroimd pumping of the colliery, and that at a saving of some 500^. per 

 anntim. At St. John's, a six horse-power set of pumping plant did such excellent 

 work that a o3 horse-power set was put down in March last in another part of the 

 colliery, and has since been in continuous work. 



These extensions speak for themselves. In each case the power is conveyed by 

 ■cables from the dynamo at the surface to the pumps placed at a considerable distance 

 underground. At Allerton Main, very small quantities of water are being dealt 

 with at inaccessible points. The power is supplied to the motors from secondary 

 ■batteries charged at the surface, and conveyed to the required points in the colliery 

 tubs or carts. A coal-cutter is also being driven by the same method. 



On the Continent, underground haulage at Zaukeroda Colliery has been success- 

 fully and economically working since 1882, and also at HohenzoUern Colliery since 

 1884, the cost in each case being much less than by horses. 



In America, where electric tramways are now numerous, the writer has 

 been able to obtain particulars of but one application to mining : this is a railway 

 on the same system as the Zaukeroda. The electric locomotive receives the current 

 from an overhead conductor, the return current to the dynamo passing through the 

 rails. It is at Short Mountain Colliery in the Wiconisca mines, and has been 

 working satisfactorily since April 1887. 



There has lately been put in operation at Big Bend, on the Feather River, 

 Butte Co., California, the most stupendous set of electric mining plant, so far as 

 the author knows, in existence. A large river has been tapped, and with a fall of 

 three hundred feet it gives hundreds of horse-power by means of Pelton wheels. 



' Printed in extenso in Electrical Engineer, vol. ii. (N. S.), p. 310. 



