49 
Gitpsland District. 
The class of raining in this district is principally quartz, and the batteries and winding plants at 
work are of a superior description, both in make and erection. 
The batteries of the Long Tunnel and the late Walhalla Companies are driven by belts instead of 
wheels, the driving wheels having been taken off about six years ago, and belts substituted. The same 
ones are in use still, and have never broken or given any trouble. 
The main driving belt that drives the counter shaft is 14 inches wide, and the belts from counter 
shaft to wyper shaft are 12 inches wide. All the belts are made of sewed canvas, painted with red lead 
between each ply. 
The Long Tunnel battery consists of 40 heads of 8 cwt. each, giving 80 to 85 blows per minute, 
with 7 inches drop. 
The manager considers the belts an improvement on the wheels, as there is less vibration, and 
less cost in repairs. 
In the other mining districts of the colony the bulk of the machinery is in fair working order, 
though 1 have found a good many plants working in a very unsafe condition, often through the ignorance of 
those in charge, who, however, on showing them the danger they were incurring, have taken steps to put 
them in a more satisfactory and safe condition. 
In the following pages will be found descriptions of some of the most recent 
plants and mining appliances that have been brought under the notice of the 
Department:— 
Winding Engine at Lanseffs 222 Mine, New Chum Reef, Sandhurst. —The 
cylinders are 22 inches diameter, with a. 5-foot stroke. The cylinder covers have glands 
both ends, and the piston rod works through both. The hack end of the rod is pro¬ 
tected with a polished wrought-iron shield. The cylinder covers, glands, and flanges 
are turned, planed, and polished bright. The piston rods are made of hammered scrap 
iron. The connecting rods are made of hammered scrap iron, and 11 feet long from 
centre to centre of brasses. The engine cranks and crank pins are forged from scrap 
iron, and are turned, planed, and polished bright. The shaft is 10 inches diameter, with 
square forged on for clutch of the loose drum. The eccentric blocks for the valves are 
wrought iron, made in two halves. The eccentric straps are brass. The eccentric 
rods, valve rods, and links are all made of hammered scrap iron, and all the working 
parts casehardened. The winding drums are 12 feet in diametex-, and made in two 
halves. Each drum has a brake 12 feet in diameter fixed to it, and all the levers come 
within reach of the engine-driver when at the starting-bar of the engines. The clutch 
for the loose drum is 4ft. Gin. in diameter, and the teeth are so arranged as to take up 
or lengthen the rope 2 feet. This is also made in two halves, as all the work on the 
engine shaft is, so that in the event of any breakage any part could be removed and 
replaced without removing the engine shaft. The connecting rods and engine cranks 
ai’e balanced with weights firmly bolted inside of the fast drum. The indicator for 
showing the position of the cage in the shaft is a dial 4 feet in diameter, with two arms 
pointing to the different levels marked on the dial, which is stationary. The arms are 
worked with a worm wheel from the winding or engine shaft. The pit-liead pulleys 
ai'e 12 feet in diameter, cast-iron rim and centre, wrought-iron spindle and arms. The 
engine-beds are brick, with top frame of Oregon timber, to which the bed plates of the 
engines are fitted and bolted through beds with li-inch bolts. The engines are supplied 
with steam from two Cornish flue boilers fitted with Galloway tubes, and are each 30 
feet long by 7 feet diameter. They are connected so that one or either or both can be 
worked at the same time. The boilers are supplied with water by a special boiler feed 
pump from a cylindrical hot water tank into which the engines exhaust the waste steam, 
which heats the water befoi’e being pumped into the boilers. The boilers are set in 
brickwork with stone foundations. 
The house is lofty and roomy, the foundatioixs being stone and brickwork to the 
floor level. The walls are studs and weatherboards and iron roof. 
The whole of the work was designed, made, and erected by Messrs. A. Harkness 
and Co. at their works, Victoria Foundry, High-street, Sandhurst. 
Single-acting Pumping Engine. —The accompanying plate represents a single- 
acting pumping engine made at the Union Foundry, Ballarat, by Mr. John Hickman, 
and is a type of engine found to be the most economical in the consumption of fuel, 
the economy depending on high steam pressure adopted, and the facility of cutting off 
the steam at any part of the stroke to suit the load on the engine. This engine is 
erected at the Berry Number One Company’s mine at Smeaton, and a similar one has 
been manufactured for the Hepburn Estate Leasehold Company. Both of these mines 
expect to have to deal with a heavy body of water at about 600 feet in depth. 
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