C o a l A g e Established 1911 McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, Inc.

DEVOTED TO THE OPERATING, TECHNICAL A N D BUSINESS PROBLEMS OF THE COAL-MINING INDUSTRY

SYDNEY A. HADE. BdUor

New York, December, 1935

The “Old Company

Hard conditions breed strong men, Strip mining at Lehigh Navigation lusty institutions and powerful traditions. properties is as old as the parent Lehigh No better illustration of this fact could be company, for that method of recovery was asked than the history of the Lehigh Navi­ employed at Summit Hill in 1820. Today, gation coal developments. Started more Lehigh Navigation stands as a leader in than a century ago by Josiah White and his anthracite stripping practices. When big associates after two earlier groups had aban­ shovels were regarded as suitable only for doned the enterprise, desperate courage and bituminous open-pit work, the Navigation bulldog persistence won success over difficul­ company demonstrated its faith in larger- ties which would have sapped the spirit of capacity buckets at Cranberry. less sturdy souls.

W i t h t i m e there are some institutions Institutions, like men, however, which grow richer in years and poorer in either grow with the years or decay. To achievements. But Lehigh Navigation man­ management at Lehigh Navigation, the her­ agement never has regarded great age as a itage of Josiah White’s pioneering spirit and passport to lasting fame or glorious tradi­ resourcefulness has been received as some­ tion as a justification for present inaction. thing to emulate as well as to admire. On the contrary, the company has taken such Throughout its long career, Lehigh Naviga­ advantage of technical progress that today tion has shown a recuperative vitality that little remains but old rock dumps to attest has kept it a leader in anthracite colliery its long years of existence. Buildings and practice and an eagerness to break new plants suggest the most recent of develop­ ground matching the zeal of its founders. ments a product of the present decade rather than operations rooted in the early T he RECORD of pioneering develop­ half of the Nineteenth Century. ments in Josiah White’s day set new land­ marks; the records of his successors have The “Old Company,” in truth, is old been no less significant. As part of the de­ only in name. While the record of its past velopment of a system for recovering coal achievements, so sketchily indicated in the from heavily pitching seams, for example, preceding paragraphs, is impressive, the Lehigh Navigation drove the first mining manner in which it is meeting present-day tunnel in the United States. Some of the problems of production and merchandising earliest wet-cleaning processes were the is still more inspiring. These methods of the brain children of its men. Again, at Hauto, Lehigh Navigation Coal Co. are made the Lehigh Navigation pioneered in mine-mouth theme of this issue— Coal Age’s Fifteenth generation of electrical energy. Annual Model Mining Number. S. D. WARRINER J. B. WARRINER Chairman of the Board President

LEHICH

NAVIGATION

COAL

COMPANY FLASHBACKS

In Old Company History

EN \ EARS after the last gun in given the infant industry during the War but almost immediately became intrigued the Revolutionary War had been of 1812 when the Atlantic coast ports Tsilenced, a weary hunter moving with the future of water power and in­ w ere closed to V irginia and foreign coals. land waterways. through the deepening shadows of Pan­ Jacob Cist, Charles Miner and John Rob­ ther Creek valley stumbled over a strange The record of water development in inson were so impressed with the possi­ Pennsylvania had been a sorry one. Two black substance. Could Philip Ginter re­ bilities of expansion that they negotiated visit the scene of his 1791 discovery to­ canal projects had been abandoned and a lease with the discouraged" owners for no public improvement by navigation day he would find several thousand men the de\ elopment of the Lehigh properties. busy mining that same black substance had yet succeeded” in paying dividends in While tie new lessees escaped neither the State. Damming of large streams for shipment to markets which then were the perils of navigation nor, at the out­ wildernesses. He might even see—to his was looked upon with suspicion and dis­ set, the indifference of consumers, rising trust. "Here was a choice,” he said in eyes—lantastic machines taking great prices for charcoal spurred manufac­ bites out of the very ground where once his yellowing diary, ‘'between applying turers to make a real attempt to use my means and my talents in a way or he stumbled. For the trifling mishap of anthracite, and prospects for the venture this lonely Nimrod was to lead to the singular use to my fellow men and not brightened. With the end of the war, impair my estate and not, as I thought, commercial development of the Lehigh however, the bottom dropped out of thé anthracite field and the launching of a involve me in plague or trouble. Thus coal market and the business again was myself and others would be benefitted, es­ producing organization whose corporate abandoned. history goes back to 1820. pecially as I believed I had discovered In the meantime, fate was preparing the true plan of making dam^ secure bv While there is no record to indicate the way for the entrance of a new group that Philip Ginter’s vision could leap the the manner of laying the stone or material of pioneers who would pick up the broken on it instead of against it.” years, he did have a hazy idea that the threads and weave them into a more substance might be some of the new So Josiah White made his great deci­ lasting pattern of success. Early in life, sion. His first venture in the new field "stone coal” which had been used by a Josiah V hite, a sturdy Quaker lad from was the purchase of the Falls of Schuyl­ few blacksmiths and at the Carlisle ar­ Mt. Holly, N. J., had resolved that, if kill, for which he paid $14,000 in the senal during the late war. So he showed he could accumulate $40,000 by the time spring of 1810, only to discover that he his find to his friend Col. Jacob Weiss, he was 30, he would retire from active had jumped out of the frying pan into of Fort Allen, who was interested enough business, become a gentleman farmer and the fire and had jeopardized his for­ to take it to Philadelphia, where Ginter’s give full play to his suppressed inclina­ tune. Embarking into partnership with guess was confirmed. The next year, the tions for things mechanical. Apprenticed Erskine Hazard in a nail factory as one colonel and a group of associates which to the proprietor of a Philadelphia hard­ means of utilizing the falls, he wrylv included Robert Morris, financial angel ware shop at fifteen and the owner of a wrote that, when he needed low water, “I to the Revolution, banded together in the business in that line before he had at­ usually had high water.” Always eager Lehigh Coal Mine Co. and purchased tained his majority, Josiah reached his to experiment, he paid $21 for a ton of between eight and ten thousand acres of goal at the age of 28. He bought his farm, anthracite from the first arkload floated coal lands between Mauch Chunk and Tamaqua. River transportation costs Five of the seven active operations are concentrated in Panther valley ranging from S9 to $18 per ton for coal selling at the mines at SI to $2, the hazards of that form of transportation and deep-rooted consumer preferences for wood, British and Virginia coals caused the temporary abandonment of the proj­ ect a few months after the new company had built a road from the mines to the Lehigh River near Mauch Chunk. Although some improvements in navi­ gation were made in 1798, the Lehigh Coal Mine Co. did not resume opera­ tions until 1803. Only two of the six arks floated toward Philadelphia that year, however, reached destination, and great difficulty was experienced in selling these cargoes. The new coal received its first real boost when Judge Fell in 1808 demonstrated that it could be burned in an open grate. Further impetus was

December, 1935 — COAL AGE 485 most conspicuous.” And in 1825, the com­ down the Lehigh River for use in the fac­ incorporated under that name by a special pany shipped 28,393 tons to market. tory furnace. Following traditional act of the State Legislature on Feb. 13, Steadily increasing demand, however, methods with other fuels without suc­ 1822. Over a century later (in 1930), did not mean that all the troubles of this cess, a workman closed the furnace door the mining and sales branches were sepa­ pioneering company were at an end. In in disgust and started for home; return­ rated from the parent organization to ing some time later for a coat he had for­ form the Lehigh Navigation Coal Co. 1842 a great flood wiped out practically gotten, he found the hopeless fire red Although there are records of scat­ all of the canal work which had been built hot. And anthracite became irrevocably tered production and shipments of hard some years earlier between White Haven linked with navigation in Josiah White’s coal going back to 1807, the tonnage was and Mauch Chunk, and it cost yearly dreams. small and the real history of the commer­ $1,000,000 to repair the damage. A sec­ Unable to agree with the plans of those cial shipments begins in 1820, when the ond and still more deadly flood occurred in control of the Schuylkill Navigation Lehigh Navigation & Coal Co. sent 365 in 1863, but, inasmuch as canal traffic Co., Mr. White, then teetering on the gross tons to the Philadelphia market. In had been declining since 1855, the mana­ edge of bankruptcy, turned his thoughts 1821, shipments were 1,073 tons; “still,’ gers of the company were ready to de­ to the Lehigh district. Late in December, remarks Mr. White, “the consumption of vote their major transportation building 1817, riding a borrowed horse and ac­ families in Pennsylvania was insufficient to railroads. companied by George F. A. Hauto and to take this small quantity, but the bal­ Their first excursion in that direction William Briggs, “my stone mason, who ance was sold to factories.” Shipments had been made in 1827, when a 9-mile also wanted to ride somewhere,” he set of 5,823 tons in 1823 resulted in a carry­ gravity road had been constructed be­ out for his first inspection of Panther over of approximately 1,000 tons the fol­ tween the mines at Summit Hill and Valley and reached Bethlehem on Christ­ lowing spring, and the Philadelphia Mauch Chunk. Between 1837 and 1846, mas Eve. As a result of that trip it was managers begged their Mauch Chunk trackage had been laid between Wilkes- agreed that White, Hazard and Hauto associates to limit the 1824 movement to Barre and White Haven and joined up as would join in the development of naviga­ 2,000 or 3,000 tons. Instead, the Mauch the Lehigh & Susquehanna R.R. Several tion and secure control of the Lehigh Chunk managers insisted on sending years later this line was extended to mines. “We three at once set about to down 9,541 tons! Mauch Chunk and Phillipsburg, and in get a lease of twenty years on the Lehigh This bold disregard of the recommen­ 1871 it was leased to the Central Railroad Coal Mine Co. coal lands of 10,000 acres dations of the early sales agents had most of New Jersey. In 1904 the Lehigh Coal for one ear of corn a year, if demanded, fortunate repercussions for the company & Navigation Co. acquired a controlling and from and after three years to send to and for the industry. Seeing “so large interest in the Lehigh & New England Philadelphia at least 40,000 bu. of anthra­ a stock on hand” at a uniform price of R.R., extending from Slatington, Pa., to cite per year on our own account so as to $8.40 per gross ton, public interest and Campbell Hall, N. Y., and increased its be sure of introducing this coal into the inquiry grew apace. “Stove makers and stock ownership in the Lehigh & Hudson market, by which means they would hope grate sellers now for the first time,” wrote River R.R., extending from Phillipsburg, to make their mines valuable, for thus Mr. White in his diary, “began to boast N. J., to Maybrook, N. Y. far they had proved valueless to the Le­ of having preferable patterns of grates Since Josiah White relinquished the high Coal Mine Co.” and stoves for burning anthracite. Some presidency of the Lehigh Coal & Naviga­ The necessary authority to improve patriotic ladies also began their sample tion Co. in 1841, nine successors, includ­ the navigation of the Lehigh River was fires of anthracite: among them, the ing the present incumbent, have occu­ granted White and his associates by the Widow Guest in Sansom Street stood the pied the presidential chair. Many of them, State Legislature on March 20, 1818. like the founder, have been leaders not The next month White and Hazard were Night on Summit Hill only in their own company but in the at work, sleeping in the woods for a week Strip shovels now work where Ginter industry as a whole; the long years of and using levels borrowed from Benjamin stumbled over “stone coal” in 1791 distinguished service of S. D. Warriner, R. Morgan, “who had retained them as for example, as official spokesman for relics of the Union Canal Co. We knew the anthracite producers are still fresh in of no other level in Philadelphia, and, if memory. Josiah White saw production there had been, we would have been grow from the modest initial shipments too poor to buy it.” In June, plans were of 1820 to 454,258 net tons in 1850; last ■completed for organization of the Lehigh year, the commercial output of the Le­ Navigation & Coal Co., with a capital high Navigation Coal Co. was 3,657,688 stock of $50,000, to improve navigation tons and the operations had a capacity in and develop the mines. Rebuffed by many excess of 4,500,000 tons. To trace in de­ who probably lived to regret their skepti­ tail the many changes in the structure and cisms and finding still other men of organization of the company which means chary either of the navigation or necessarily have accompanied this growth the coal prospects, White and his part­ would exhaust a volume. Emphasis in ners agreed to two separate companies. this prelude has been deliberately placed As a result, the Lehigh Navigation Co., on the earlier days because the pionering with a capital of $50,000, was formed spirit then so dauntlessly displayed has Aug. 10, 1818, and the Lehigh Coal Co., left a brand w hich still burns. H ow 1935 with a capital of $55,000, on Oct 21,1818. management is using the rich heritage of Less than two years later—on April 21, courage and resourcefulness bequeathed 1820—the two companies were merged it by Josiah White and his associates in as the Lehigh Navigation & Coal Co. meeting present-day problems of produc­ The next year the name was changed to tion and sales is told in the pages which the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Co. and follow.

*486 COAL AGE — Vol.40, No.12 MANAGEMENT

+ A t Lehigh Navigation Coal Co.

a n a g em en t in its functional operating officer but also has direct aspects is primarily cerebral: the superintendent of preparation and charge of public relations in the min­ stripping on coal preparation. M organization for action and ing area and, in cooperation with the managerial thinking, however, con­ Official contact between the operating district superintendents, participates in department and the departments located sciously or subconsciously, are influ­ the handling of problems involving labor in Philadelphia usually is through the enced or determined largely by the ^relations. general superintendent, but there are material conditions surrounding the While each major staff official is co­ some exceptions to this general rule. property to be managed. Management ordinate in rank with every other major The general shipper, for example, acts organization in the Lehigh Navigation staff official and—subject, of course, to as a liaison man between the sales de­ Coal Co. mirrors the geographic com­ direction and veto by the general super­ partment and the operating department pactness of its physical operations with intendent—is supreme in his own par­ in handling orders for coal shipment. five of its seven active collieries con­ ticular bailiwick, the key position is Because inspection of coal loaded for centrated in the Panther Creek valley— held by the district superintendents. All shipment is under the jurisdiction of a narrow basin between the Lehigh and the planning and all the activities of the the operating department and not—as is Little Schuylkill rivers on the eastern staff organization as a whole have a the case with some companies—under edge of the Southern anthracite field— common objective: to produce a coal the wing of the sales department, the and the more distant of the other two which will be acceptable to an exacting superintendent of preparation and strip­ properties, only fourteen miles from market as economically and as safely as ping reports on coal inspection directly operating headquarters at Lansford. possible. This may mean a change in to the president, to whom the sales de­ Such a set-up encourages simplification mining methods, an improvement in partment also reports. in organization structure, and this the preparation or sizing, design of new The research division has two distinct Lehigh management has achieved. equipment, a revision in maintenance functions: (1) to maintain standards of The Lehigh operating organization is practices or the development of a new product and of materials used in produc­ a combination of line and staff with market outlet. Since direct responsi­ tion, and (2) to effect reductions in cost functions clearly defined and authority bility for production, however, rests of materials and procedures and to de­ definitely delegated. Executive, sales, upon the district superintendent, the po­ velop new sources of revenue. The first general purchasing and accounting de­ sition he occupies in the management function is performed in a well-equipped partment headquarters are in Philadel­ set-up is readily understandable. He laboratory where coal inspection is con­ phia ; operating department headquarters, must take the plans, the materials, the trolled by means of sizing and ash tests as stated in the preceding paragraph, are services and the equipment developed by and proximate analyses. In the testing at Lansford. Supervision and control the other divisions of the operating de­ of materials used in production, the over all operating department activities partment and translate them into lower laboratory works against definite stand­ are vested in the general superintendent, costs and a more marketable product— ard specifications which are closely fol­ who reports directly to the president. or know the reason why. lowed by the purchasing agent. Jurisdiction of this department embraces Generally speaking, the straight-line On the research side, emphasis at the mining, preparation, company and con­ system of reporting from subordinate in present time is being placed on: (1) tract stripping, operating plants and a division to a staff division chief and new methods of mining, (2) the handling equipment, research, industrial relations from the staff division chief to the gen­ of explosives in such a way as to reduce and personnel work, safety, compensa­ eral superintendent, who is the chief co­ explosive costs and conserve prepared tion and medical service, housing, ware­ ordinating officer, predominates in the sizes, and (3) the adaptation of various houses, supply depots, and forestry. Lehigh Navigation organization plan. types of timber to the special conditions Immediate supervision of various But this does not mean that each divi­ met in the mines. The work on ex­ phases of the work of the operating de­ sion of the operating department works plosives is closely related to the super­ partment is allocated among a staff of in a sealed compartment. Far from it! vision of explosive practices on the part fourteen officials (including six district Moreover, the organization plan makes of the miners. Each of these three proj­ superintendents), all reporting to the specific provision for certain official ects is in charge of a separate engineer. general superintendent. The specific cross-reporting between the district The company has given, and still is functional assignments to each of these superintendents and other divisions or giving, extensive attention to the utiliza­ officials and the divisional breakdown of division heads. District engineers, for tion of breaker waste, of which Lehigh their subordinate staff organizations are example, are attached to the office of Navigation has more than its share in shown in Fig. 1; the work of these dif­ the mining engineer, but also report on the anthracite region, in the manufac­ ferent groups is discussed in detail in the operating problems to the superintendent ture of ceramic building materials. A articles which follow this over-all re­ of the district in which they are sta­ great deal of study also has been de­ view. In addition to this general staff, tioned. There is a close tie-in between voted to widening the market for very the general superintendent also has an district superintendents and the mechani­ fine coal in pulverized form. operating assistant who not only handles cal superintendent on questions relat­ Attached to the division of prepara­ the many details commonly associated ing to equipment and maintenance, and tion and strippings is a corps of service with the position of aide to a chief between district superintendents and engineers who work in close conjunc­

December, 1935 — COAL AGE 487 velopments, depletion and amortization tion with the sales department. These worked. Under this system, the possi­ of leaseholds. engineers handle consumer complaints bilities of inflated production costs in This breakdown is further subdivided in the field. This division also works any period due to an attempt to catch to show: (1) Labor costs for (a) with the sales department in service up on delayed development work are operation, (b) repairs and maintenance, schools held at Lansford for retail dis­ definitely eliminated. and (c) total labor costs per ton; (2) tributors and their “trouble shooters.” Top management at Lehigh Naviga­ Major forecasts for development at tion believes that subordinate officials material costs similarly subdivided; (3) each colliery— covering production from held directly responsible for the results combined labor and material costs, and each level, output from each vein, and achieved within the sphere of their (4) the increase or decrease per ton for the virgin or “remining” tonnage from activities should have more than a each of the 108 individual allocations each vein—are projected for ten-year shadowy picture of what those results, compared with the same period in the periods subdivided into units of 100 measured in costs and efficiency, actually preceding year. Comparative data also working days. All coal recovered by are. Every month each district superin­ are given on the number of mine cars stripping is classified as virgin. At the tendent is given the complete break­ loaded, average load, hours worked, end of each 100-day unit, colliery de­ down on costs in his district and for commercial production and the percent­ velopment maps are posted to show the operations as a whole. The inside age of each size loaded out. actual output and the number of feet cost sheet covers 52 individual alloca­ Inside and outside section foremen of gangway and tunnel driven as com­ tions of expenses for: (1) Mining and also are furnished with sectional costs pared with the forecast for that par­ loading, subdivided for (a) narrow for each pay period at their particular ticular period. Tonnage also is posted work, (b) rock work, (c) chamber colliery. The form containing these at the same time on the companion work, and (d) reopening workings and data gives the number of cars produced graphs to the development maps. recovering pillars; (2) stripping; (3). and total and per-car costs for mining, This system of forecasting affords inside transportation, subdivided for (a) repairs above gangway, starters and both long- and short-range control of haulage, (b) hoisting, (c) tracks, (d) loaders, timbering, narrow and rock actual development work and the ex­ wiring, (e) stable expenses, and (f) work, total section cost, transportation, penses incident thereto. Under the ac­ mine cars; (4) ventilation; (5) drain­ ventilation, drainage and miscellaneous counting methods of the company, the age; (6) general inside expenses, and costs, with comparative and cumulative cost of shafts, main tunnels and main (7) supplies sold and smithing. The total costs for each section of the mine. openings for ventilation purposes are outside cost sheet, with 56 individual The foreman’s breakdown on outside capitalized; other development expenses allocations, covers expenses for: (1) costs shows totals and per-car costs for are treated as part of the cost of pro­ Breakers, subdivided for (a) dumping, transportation, breaker, maintenance and duction. All production-cost items are (b) preparation, (c) loading, and (d) miscellaneous. In addition, he is given reduced to a per-ton basis; authoriza­ refuse disposal; (2) transportation, sub­ similar figures on heat, light and power tions for capital improvements usually divided for (a) haulage, (b) hoisting, costs, general colliery, and administra­ are coupled with a time element. Thus, (c) tracks, (d) wiring, and (e) stable tive expenses. In this way, each sec­ while the money appropriation for de­ expense; (3) general outside expense; tion foreman is as fully informed as to velopment work may be authorized for a (4) heat, light and power; (5) general cost results in his particular field of specific period, actual expenditure of colliery expense ; (6) administrative ex­ operations as his superiors are for their that portion chargeable to operating penses; and (7) reserves for local taxes, larger domains, and is enabled to work costs is controlled by the production compensation insurance, mining hazards, out exact production costs for each work­ rate—i. e., the number of days actually depreciation, amortization of mine de­ ing place in his section. Fig. 1—The straight-line system predominates in the Lehigh Navigation Coal Co. operating department organization

As^o_coalJn_specHon_J{ pRES,DENT

GENERAL SUPERINTENDENT OPERATING ASSISTANT

MECHANICAL SUPERINTENDENT DIRECTOR OF PREPARATION DISTRICT MINING SUPERINTENDENT RESEARCH AND AND STRIPPINGS PERSONNEL SUPERINTENDENTS ENGINEER

------^As fp_prepaiyifion_ c .0 ------_As_t°jpjpçhjne ry_ -it 5 M echanical Co-Operated C hief

Electrical Coal Research Engineer - Inside District Public Preparation Engineers F o r e m a n Engineers Forester Relations _ if . Construction Coal Fire Superintendent - Inspection Outside Leased G eneral Chief of Inspector Forem an Properties Sh ipper Police

Shops Coa 1 S a fe ty Colliery Service Mine Engineer Electrician Inspector

Bp-gsi'ra Retail Coal Compensation P lan t Colliery Sales and Storekeeper Medical Service M achinery S to ra q e Inspectors Real Colliery Y ard Shipper

Road Repair D epartm ent Employment Bureau

488 COAL AGE — Vol.40, N 0.12 MINING METHODS

+ A t Lehigh Navigation Coal Co.

ITH steep pitches and sub­ erage) interval to strike the various "full-breast” system of mining. Breasts stantial coal thicknesses as the Mammoth pillars. are driven 24 ft. wide, including man- W general rule, the Lehigh Navi­ Other beds at Cranberry, from which ways, on 50-ft centers. No coal is gation Coal Co. employs a variety of most of the virgin-coal output comes, drawn from the breasts as they advance, mining systems at its seven active oper­ are mined by the breast-and-pillar sys­ the excess resulting from mining flow­ ations. Supplementing methods de­ tem. From the gangways, chutes are ing down the two manways (one on signed for application in steeply pitch­ driven up the pitch 15 ft. to start the each side of the breast) to the loading ing measures is the use of mechanical breasts. Breast width is 24 ft. Centers chute. Upon completion of a breast, a mining aids where less than a sheet- as a rule are 50 ft, leaving a 26-ft. pil­ 6x6-ft pillar hole, or chute, is driven iron pitch exists. With the exception lar. Pillars are robbed by cutting on the bottom rock up the center of the of the Cranberry colliery, in the Eastern across the ends and then skipping them pillar. From this pillar chute, slant Middle anthracite field, Lehigh Naviga­ down to the gangway. If, as occasional­ chutes are turned at intervals of ap­ tion operations, however, are located in ly happens, wider pillars are left, they proximately 30 ft, starting at the top, sections of the Southern field where are split by pillar holes and worked and the pillar is worked down from these folding was most severe; relatively flat down from the top in much the same slants. As a rule, only sufficient coal areas, therefore, are the exception. fashion. is drawn from the breast to keep it level The seat of the company's mining Sheet iron is used to transport the with the downward course of pillar rob­ operations is in the Panther Creek val­ coal on pitches from 35 down to 12 bing. ley, and between the Little Schuylkill deg. To facilitate running' coal on in­ Coal thicknesses are considerably less and Lehigh rivers. Active collieries in clinations near the minimum, galvanized at Cranberry and Alliance than in the this valley are: Nesquehoning, Lans- sheets have been adopted. Experience Panther Valley area and, with the ex­ ford, Coaldale, Greenwood and Tama- has shown that galvanized sheets have ception of the Mammoth pillar work at qua. A lliance colliery lies farther w est double the life. They also retain a Cranberry gangways, therefore, are in the Southern field near Middleport. smooth surface during idle periods and, driven in the bed at these collieries. In Maximum width of the Panther valley therefore, are in better condition for the valley, on the other hand, driving basin, which spoons out and ends near running coal upon resumption of opera­ has been transferred, as a rule, to the Mauch Chunk, on the Lehigh River, is tions. On pitches under approximately rock or a thinner bed underlying the two miles. 12 deg., 35- to 36-cu.ft. buggies were bed to be mined, as compared with the Compared with Lehigh Navigation employed in the past, but are rapidly general practice in earlier days when operations in the Southern field, pitches being replaced bv scraper loaders mining was confined largely to the up­ at Cranberry collier}', in the Hazelton (p. 494). per portions of the Mammoth and basin of the Eastern Middle field, are V ith, at the present time, a maxi­ Primrose beds (Fig. 1), which usually relatively flat. Maximum pitch in local mum bed thickness of approximately were developed by slopes and gangwavs areas at Cranberry is 90 deg., varying 12 ft, Alliance colliery employs, in ad­ driven in the beds themselves. Under from this magnitude to flat. In general, dition to conveyor and scraper units, the this system, breasts were driven as the however, the pitch seldom exceeds 30 deg., and in the sections worked at pres­ ent no pitch steeper than 35 deg. is en­ Fig. 1—Plan and section of the Panther Creek valley, showing relation of countered. the various coal beds encountered The Mammoth is the thickest bed worked at Cranberry, averaging 23 ft., against 2 \ to 8 ft for the other beds mined. Present operations in the Mam­ moth, which was first-mined years ago, are confined to robbing pillars. As a result of crushing and caving in the bed, the Mammoth pillars are attacked from the Four Foot split beneath. From gangways in the Four Foot, bed-height chutes 10 ft wide are driven up the pitch on centers of 80 to 100 ft. Start­ ing at the tops of these chutes, slants are turned to the right and left at in­ tervals to meet similar slants from ad­ jacent chutes. From these slants, rock holes are punched through the 4 ft. (av­

December, 1935 — COAL AGE 489 gangways advanced and robbing was age gangways and subsidiary openings, deferred until the gangways had reached post-mounted water leyner drills are em­ their limits. With the great coal thick­ ployed—two in rock tunnels and one in nesses prevailing, output from a single Skidmore or other thin-vein gangways. breast was large and its advance cor­ Rock work, including mucking, gen­ respondingly slow. As a result, gang­ erally is contracted. Drilling crews way life was greatly lengthened, with usually consist of a chargeman, driller corresponding liability to deterioration. and one or two helpers, who drill and As mining was extended to lower shoot the face on one shift. On the levels, deterioriation of coal gangways next shift, a mucker boss and four men started earlier and increased in magni­ load out the broken rock and prepare tude, with consequent increases in main­ the face for drilling. tenance cost. To reduce this cost, gang­ With hand mucking, drilling depth is ways were removed from the coal to the adjusted to give a daily advance of 1.8 rock or the thin veins underlying the lin.yd. in an 8xl2-ft. place, yielding ap­ bed, particularly in the case of the Mam­ proximately 8 cars of muck at 115 cu.ft. moth. From these main haulageways, per car, level full, which provides a full panel tunnels were driven to the bed at shift’s work for a mucking crew. To intervals of 1,000 to 2,000 ft. From reduce the cost of rock work, three these tunnels, short gangways were Myers-Whaley track-mounted loading driven in the bed, thus permitting min­ machines are employed at the Lansford, ing and robbing in the panel sections Coaldale and Greenwood collieries. Shaker conveyor driving coal gangway before gangways required major repairs. With these machines, 12 to 16 cars can at Alliance colliery Further improvement in drilling equip­ be mucked per shift, and their use al­ ment and explosives has been reflected lows mucking two 6x8-ft. rock chutes per shift for a long period. Company by a strengthening of the trend toward in addition to the face on a single shift. mucking is the rule with the loading rock or thin veins for development Actual shovel output is limited by con­ machines. work, with the result that now gang­ ditions in the gangway, and to enable Timbering, where required in tunnels ways and airways usually are placed be­ it to perform most efficiently, at least and gangways, also is done by the com­ low the bed, which is tapped by rock two faces must be mucked per shovel pany. Three-piece sets (collar and two chutes. shift. Driving of rock chutes simul­ legs) usually are installed, although, de­ Shafts are employed exclusively in the taneously with the tunnel or gangway pending upon conditions, one leg only Panther Creek valley. Levels are es­ face offers still another advantage in may be employed with the opposite end tablished 200 to 225 ft. apart, measured that the rock chute next to the face can of the collar hitched into the top or bot­ vertically, and from each level cross­ be blasted first and the material thus tom rock, or legs may be replaced by measure tunnels are driven to intersect yielded used as a barrier to confine fly hitches entirely. To reduce loss of the various beds. Only occasionally, dirt from the face rounds to a compara­ timber by decay, the company started however, are gangways turned off these tively short area next to the face. Still installation of treated tunnel and gang­ tunnels in the beds themselves. Usually, higher mucking records are possible in way timbers in 1925. Now approxi­ the connection is made to a haulage driving double-track tunnels, which are mately 10,000 sets are in service in gangway in the Skidmore bed under the made by driving a standard-sized tunnel nearly ten miles of openings in the Mammoth. Where the Skidmore is too and then slabbing one side to the re­ Panther Valley. Preservatives include close to the Mammoth or is in bad con­ quired width. With one face and one Wolman salts, Aczol, zinc chloride and dition, the Seven Foot bed is used if slab, or skip, to load from, one loader zinc-meta-arsenite, with zinc chloride not too far away; otherwise, the gang­ at Lansford colliery averaged 23 cars leading in number of pieces treated. way is driven in rock. Occasionally, a Standards in the valley call for treated haulage gangway is driven in the leader sets in all openings where loss through Table I— Results, in Part, of the 1925 above the Buck Mountain bed, but only C en sus of Inside Mine Timber, mechanical damage or abandoment of where the Buck Mountain is vertical Panther Creek Valley openings before the expected life of the and gangways in the bed itself cannot Length, tunnels and gangways, feet 522,986 timber can be realized is not a limiting be held open. As a rule, however, main Length, tunnels and gangways tim­ factor. Before adopting treated timber, bered, feet ...... 224,880 haulage gangways on each level are Number of steel timber sets 2,403 every opening was surveyed to de­ driven under the .Mammoth, and other Total, all timber sets, including steel 66,252 termine the number and type of sets and Wood timber sets lost by squeeze. . 13,417 beds, if mined, are developed from panel Per cent of total ...... ,. . 21.0 the causes of failure of untreated tim­ tunnels turned off the main gangways at Wood timber sets lost by wet rot. . 3,821 Per cent of total ...... 6.0 bers then employed. This survey, sum­ 1,000- to 2,000-ft. intervals. Wood timber sets lost by dry rot. . 46,611 marized in Table I, showed that in a Per cent of total . . . .,...... 73.0 In driving rock tunnels, primary haul­ Average life, wood timber set, years 5.5 substantial number of cases the char­ acter and life of the openings would justify adoption of preservatives to in­ Table II Loss of Tagged Pieces of Timber by Causes in Per Cent of Total Pieces crease timber life over the average of Installed as Disclosed by Inspections in 1932 and 1934 5-j- years revealed by the investigation. Treatment is restricted to legs and T amaqua Greenwood Coaldale collars, which are purchased already Treated Untreated Treated Untreated Treated Untreated framed from wood-preserving com­ 1932 1934 1932 1934 1932 1934 1932 1934 1932 1934 1932 1934 panies. Short-leaf (Southern yellow) Total failed...... 14.9 33.7 51.7 71.5 14.6 34.5 45.3 64.0 28.3 49.1 pine is used exclusively. In the case of Failed, dry rot...... 0.0 1.3 42.8 51.2 47.7 82.8 0.2 22. 1 46.1 1.1 2.7 12.0 33.9 zinc-chloride treatment, the specifica­ Squeeze...... 9.4 11.2 6.5 10.9 3.8 7.4 14.0 17.9 19.5 Robbing...... 5.2 20.9 2.4 26.2 21.2 26.9 9.4 4. 1 18.7 0.7 10.7 0.9 9.5 tions include the following: Sealed off...... 5.9 7. 1 9.2 0.3 0.8 1.1 Average life of tim­ 7.0 9.5 13.6 12.5 Timber shall be of specie, quality, etc., ber failed by dry as noted in L. N. C. Co. Specification G-2 rot, years, months * 5-2 * 4-3 * * with the following additions: timber must 6-11 4-11 * 6-11 * 5-1 have at least 20 annular rings in the 4 in. from the first annular ring out, contain at least one-third summer wood, have not oyer included the and untreated «mber tagged is installed at the three collieries 13 in. of taper in 9 ft. and not over 2 in. *No compilation of average life made in this year. of bow in 9 ft. of length. Peeling of timber shall be done immediately after cutting. 490 COAL AGE — Vol.40, No.12 ta?k muVt'bVr » 1 50 Jer cent of the inner notably the “slant-chute” and “tap” sys­ carefuUv atae^m 0Veii- Timber must be breast, also 15 ft. high, is started up afteralter Deelin^tnlL peeling to permit an? air ?eParated circulation. shortly tems, to meet certain special conditions. the pitch on the bottom rock. When Seasoning shall not cover period of over Breasts generally are driven 24 ft. wide this second breast has been driven the ™°nthK' and if, at the end of that on 60-ft. centers, although in some cases fn S ’» *ls not seasoned sufficiently proper distance, the first cutback is Hb °fptlon specified it must then either the width or the centers, or both, started and driven back to the top rock, n^Sjasoned to take amount of treatment specified. Mixed seasoned tim- may be reduced to 18 or 50 ft. respect­ the loose coal falling down into the f-erw L,is’. g r\ eil and partially seasoned ively. timber must not be placed together in the space already excavated. The process tank for treatment, as it is impossible to The breast-and-cutback system (Fig. of extending the breast and driving the secure uniform treatment with mixed sea­ soned timber. Treatment shall be full-cell 2) usually is employed in the thicker cutbacks is then repeated until the old with a 3-per-cent solution of zinc chloride, beds. Fig. 2 also shows the hip chute with minimum volumetric absorption of 40 workings on the upper level are reached, per cent, or 3 lb. of dry salt per cubic foot. widely used at Panther valley collieries, whereupon the pillar is robbed down Species included in Specification G-2 which eliminates shoveling in running from the top. are: short-leaf pine, loblolly pine, spruce coal from the manway opposite the bat­ Preliminary to robbing, a 6x6-ft. pil­ pine or long-leaf pine. On quality and tery side of the breast where the hip lar chute is driven off the top of a rock manufacture, the specifications provide chutes are driven in coal, as in Fig. 3. chute connecting to the apex of the hip the follow in g: The pitch of the chute also facilitates chute. Approximately 30 ft. below the running material from the face to the Logs must be cut freshly from sound top of the pillar, a pillar breast with living timber and have good density, butt loading point in driving. Hip chutes straight battery is started off the pillar cuts; must be free from rot or any other defect that may impair their service ; sawed are driven either along the bottom rock chute and cutbacks are made substan­ off square at both ends; reasonably in the coal or in the rock immediately tially as in the regular breast. The straight; free from crooks and knots ; and closely trimmed. Heavily tapered timber beneath, the latter method being em­ final operation is drilling the thin pil­ is not acceptable. ployed where there is a possibility that lars on each side of the pillar breast

Chain-and-flight conveyors permit operation on adverse gradients at Alliance at Cranberry colliery

To obtain accurate data on life and chutes or batteries will be difficult to (from either or both the pillar or reg- causes of losses, installation of treated maintain if placed in the bed itself. ular-breast manways), as well as the timber was accompanied by tagging of Driving hip chutes below the bed also stumps on each side of the battery, and both treated and untreated types. This makes possible entire elimination of the blasting them down into the pillar chute. tagging extended to every individual battery, as the short rock chute acts as The miners then drop back another 25 piece in a set, and was supplemented by a battery in controlling the flow of coal °r 30 ft. and start another pillar breast. a record showing exact location of each from the breast. Where the bed is vertical or nearly piece both in the opening and in the set, With the hip chutes below the bed, as vertical, the pillar chute may be zig­ type of treatment, date of installation, in Fig. 2, the first step in breast-and- zagged from bottom to top rock along date of failure or loss and cause of fail­ cutback mining is driving the main rock the center line of the pillar to keep the ure or loss, as determined by regular in­ chute through which coal is withdrawn pitch in the various sections down to spection. Up to the end of 1934, 39 from the breast, as well as two smaller approximately 35 deg., which eases per cent of the treated timber had been chutes connecting with manways in the travel and at the same time permits flow lost from various causes ; the loss of un­ breast under the first cutback. These of coal. treated timber was 73 per cent. Table manways are spaced to give a breast In case bed thickness does not exceed II shows losses by causes at three col­ width of 18 or 24 ft. Then, starting at breast height, only the one breast along lieries in 1932 and 1934 and indicates the top of the rock chute, the opening the bottom rock would be driven, al­ the extent to which dry rot has been in the coal is gradually enlarged to both though connections to the hip chute checked. full breast width and height— 15 ft. in would be the same. If the coal is thick, With gangways and primary airways the latter case. This breast is driven however, the cutback system is em­ —in most cases—below the Mammoth to the top rock. Sufficient coal is drawn ployed, and if exceptionally thick or if or other bed, and therefore protected off through the rock chute from time the lift to the upper gangway is long, by substantial thicknesses of rock, com­ to time to maintain a level in the breast the breasts may be driven only half plete extraction of the coal on the ad­ which will enable the miners to reach length. In “splitting the lift” in this vance is now the rule at Panther valley the face while standing on the loose ma­ manner a chute is driven up the Skid­ collieries. Usually, the breast-and-pil- terial. more bed to a point half way between lar system or some modification is em­ Upon completion of the first breast the upper and lower levels, where the ployed, supplemented by special systems, the coal is drawn off and a second usual connections to the bed are driven

December, 1935 — COAL AGE 491 in the rock in preparation for mining in the same manner as from connections directly off the gangway. Upon com­ pletion of operations in the upper half the lower half of the lift is mined in the usual manner. At Nesquehoning colliery, hip chutes usually are driven in the coal and are connected to gangways below the bed by rock chutes. Coal gangways are used in the thinner veins at this colliery, which, however, contribute only a rela­ tively small tonnage. In contradistinc­ tion to the usual practice at other valley collieries, breasts are driven off the apex of the hip chutes. Pillar breasts are em­ ployed in robbing in the thinner beds. In the Mammoth and other thick beds, on the other hand, the pillar chute is employed. Fig. 2—Where coal thickness is great, the breast-and-cutback system of From this chute slant chutes are turned mining is employed. Sketch shows Greenwood colliery plan at 25- to 30-ft. intervals, starting at the i top, and the pillar is worked down from these. With the hip chutes in coal, batteries are necessitated at Nesquehoning. The type usually installed is known as the “jugular battery” (Fig. 3), which is widely used in steeply pitching beds to facilitate the running of coal from the breast and at the same time furnish an adequate bypass for air. In this system, the hip chute is widened about 4 ft., starting about 15 ft. from the point where the battery will be located. The maximum width is carried for approxi­ mately 15 ft., at which point the chute is narrowed to normal width in the space of about 5 ft. One long timber set is placed on the stump side of the breast opening and another on the opposite side. Between these two sets a short intermediate set is placed, the three serving to support the stump pillar over the chute. Next a row of heavy props, or jugulars, is set with the props skin to skin in line Fig. 3—Details of the jugular battery used in the Panther Creek valley with the bottom leg of the intermediate set and parallel with the bottom rock. The opening opposite the battery (Sec. B-B, Fig. 3) is then closed off with plank or poles, depending upon the weight of material to be supported. The battery itself (Sec. A-A, Fig. 3) is formed by placing vertical props skin to skin to narrow the width of the open­ ing between the jugulars and the bot­ tom rock to approximately 2 ft., and likewise enough horizontal props, work­ ing from the top down, to reduce the height of the opening also to 2 ft.. Flow of coal through the battery is controlled by the loose coal dn the loading chute, withdrawal from the chute being re­ flected in a corresponding flow from the battery. Tamaqua is another colliery where hip chutes are driven in the coal, in this case from rock chutes 120 ft. apart. These hip chutes also act as the primary airway. Two breasts are driven off a hip chute, one (A, Fig. 4) from the top of the rock chute and the other ( B ) from the apex of the hip chute. The Fig. 4—Mining with hip chutes on 120-ft. centers, Tamaqua colliery latter breast is equipped with a jugular

492 COAL AGE — Vol.40, No.12 Fast duck Mountain gangway, 2nd level south

Fast Buck Mountain gangway, 3rd level south

Fig. 5—On full pitches and in free coal, Tamaqua colliery uses the slant-chute system

_ *j22p- G a n g w a y

Fig. 6—Mining plan used with free coal at Lansford colliery

with the triangular block of coal at the U - 3 0 'J top of the slant. With this system, min­ ing on one slant chute is deferred until robbing in the previous slant is com­ pleted. Gangway pillars are robbed on the retreat. SthJeveL Skjofrrmne^ \f o 0 While splitting of beds is encountered Fth level,Jtammoth - \ \ at one or two other Valley collieries, this condition is most prevalent at Ta­ maqua, where the Mammoth splits into Fig. 7—Details of the tap system employed at Lansford colliery three beds on the north side. In this case the primary haulage gangway is driven in the rock below the top split, battery, from which the coal runs down also offering a more difficult ventila­ which is worked as a separate bed. one or the other slant to the rock chute. tion problem, the system shortens the Mining in the bottom and middle splits, In starting breast A the rock chute is vertical length of the working places however, is synchronized. As a pre­ extended to the top rock, and excava­ and offers a relatively light pitch along liminary, a gangway approximately tion to breast width and height starts the slants for travel and running coal. 1,000 ft. long is driven in the bottom at this point, leaving a stump over the Advance working is the rule. Main split. This gangway is connected at chute. In pillar robbing a pillar hole is slant chutes are driven on a 35-deg. one end to the haulage gangway by a driven up to the old workings, and the pitch, and are connected by a main air­ short rock tunnel. An airway is driven two halves are worked down in 25- to way above the gangway. In driving over the bottom split gangway, to which 30-ft. skips. If the manway in the ad­ the slant in the Buck Mountain bed, the it is connected by stump chutes on 60-ft. jacent breast is serviceable, the pillar opening is made partly in the coal and centers. on one side of the pillar hole is drilled partly in the thin bottom slate. Starting at the inbye end of the bot­ from both sides and shot down; if The first breast is started down from tom split gangway, rockholes are driven this manway cannot be used, a short the top of the main slant chute, leaving off the tops of the stump chutes into slant is driven from the pillar hole and a triangular pillar next to the old gang­ the middle split. From these holes four the coal drilled from this slant, as well way. Breast width is 24 ft. inside the or^ five breasts are driven, whereupon as from the pillar hole itself. manways, and an 8- to 12-ft. pillar is driving of breasts is started at the inbye Tamaqua also employs the slant-chute left between adjacent breasts. Breasts end of the bottom split gangway. Oper­ method of mining (Fig. 5) in sections are stopped short of the upper gangway, ations are then carried on to the outbye where the pitch approaches 90 deg., as and the remaining coal is drilled and end of the gangway, work in the middle well as sections where the pitch is less shot, or “tumbled.” Pillars are extracted split keeping four or five breasts ahead but where the coal is free. While re­ by drilling them from both sides and of work in the bottom split. This quiring a substantial amount of narrow tumbling them also. Stump pillars are eliminates the possibility of loss of mid­ work and increased maintenance of left in place until all the breasts are dle split coal by collapse of the divider main chutes while running coal, and driven, and then are tumbled, starting and also insures that disturbance in the December, 1935 — COAL AGE 493 tions. This condition has been reflected in the installation of seventeen scraper loaders (Evans, 1; Vulcan, 2; American Hoist & Derrick, 1; Sullivan, 9; Inger- soll-Rand, 4). On this total, two, with 35- and 32-hp. hoists, are installed in worked-out strip pits to work out pil­ lars down the pitch. Eight 25- and seven 7%-hp. machines are in service un­ derground on favorable, flat or adverse pitches, as the case may be. Crews for the 25-hp. units generally consist of five men; 7 \- hp., three to four men. Each crew is provided with an electric drill and the coal is blasted off the solid in 10-ft. cuts. Scraper jobs are laid out to furnish five working places as a rule, all oper­ ated from one hoist set-up. Fig. 8 is an example in the spoon end of a basin. Fifteen cars at 3J tons per car is the normal output of a five-man crew in eight hours; three men generally aver­ age 9 to 10 cars. In 1934, with the Fig. 8—Scrapers are used on relatively flat pitches at Cranberry colliery, machines then in use, the average out­ as in this example in the spoon end of a basin put per man per shift was 8 tons. At Alliance, conveyors and one scraper account for an output of 120 middle split will be reduced to a mini­ are driven to strike the bed. From mum when the bottom split work every fourth tap a long slant chute is cars (115 cu.ft. per car, level full) out of the average of 560 cars hoisted per reaches that point. driven on a 32^-deg. pitch toward the At Lansford, mining generally is upper level. These slant chutes, and day. This includes 30 cars from clean­ done with pillar chutes on 60-ft. centers subsidiary chutes from which additional up work in the Orchard-Primrose basin, (Fig. 6). This method was adopted rock taps are made, are driven in the where elevating, mother and chamber for use in the “free” coal (coal which rock half way between the Skidmore conveyors were adopted to mine the separates readily) encountered at this and the Mammoth. The tops of the relatively flat area of these beds. Ex­ operation, which tends to run and there­ main slant chutes are connected as in cluding this basin, equipment in service fore would be difficult to mine with the Fig. 7 to provide air circulation. An at the time this article was prepared in­ long breast normally used. Gangways air return is provided by connecting cluded one chain-and-flight and one and airways are driven in coal and the every third slant to the upper level. scraper unit in a flat area in the middle chutes are driven up the pitch from the Mining starts from the row of rock split of the Mammoth; a chain-and- tops of the stump chutes connecting the taps just under the upper level, and the flight unit in the bottom split in the airway with the gangway. To start upper half of the bed is extracted first. same section, consisting of a main, sec­ mining operations, slant chutes are This is accomplished by driving back ondary and cross conveyors; and a turned from adjacent pillar chutes. chutes toward the top rock from the shaker conveyor driving a gangway to These slant chutes meet at an apex rock taps. The tops of these back chutes split the lift in the Buck Mountain bed, and from this apex a back chute on a are connected by slants or hips. A cut­ third level, No. 2 shaft. In each case, pitch of approximately 35 deg. is driven back conforming in shape to the hip a reduction in the expense which other­ up half way in the bed. A breast 24 ft. connection is then made, usually in wise would be involved in installing the wide and 15 ft. high is started off the three stages, to the top rock. The miners usual transportation facilities was the top of this back chute. The coal be­ then make two or three cuts up the prime motive. tween the top of the breast and the top pitch approximately 8 ft. high and 7 \ ft. In the Orchard-Primrose basin, work rock is drilled and tumbled. The bot­ deep, by which time the remaining coal has been completed in the Orchard bed, tom half of the bed is then mined in a tumbles. The cycle is then repeated in to 8 ft. in thickness and estimated to substantially similar manner, after the bottom half of the bed. contain 18,000 cars of recoverable coal. which the miners drop back about 30 ft. Approximately two years’ use of the Equipment consisted of a 24-in. chain- and repeat the cycle. Pillars between tap system apparently shows a material and-flight elevating conveyor installed in breasts are mined by breasts driven increase in recovery, accompanied by a a 6x9-ft. rock chute driven on a 35-deg. from the main chute and worked in the rise in percentage of domestic sizes. pitch between the Old Orchard slope same way as the others. Driving under the Mammoth decreases and the Orchard bed; two 24-in. 300-ft. About two years ago the tap system the possibility of damage to, and main­ belt conveyors installed in tandem from was developed for mining the Mam­ tenance of, chutes; the gas which would the foot of the slope conveyors; and moth between the sixth and fifth levels, be encountered in the coal is avoided; three chain-and-flight chamber units dis­ where the lift is nearly 400 ft., or ap­ better top is afforded; and the system charging onto the belt conveyors. proximately double normal. To avoid also shortens the length of the rock Chambers were driven 20 ft. wide on the difficulties necessarily resulting from taps. Slants are employed to cut down 60-ft. centers as the belt conveyorway splitting the lift, the interval between the amount of chute driving and the advanced, and pillars were mined by the two levels was divided into number comparatively light pitch minimizes skipping on the retreat. Coal was of sublevels by rock taps from slant breakage of coal and also maintenance taken from the elevating conveyor to the chutes in the dividing rock between the arising out of carrying away of timber surface in mine cars. Average cover Mammoth and Skidmore beds. The by fast-moving lumps of material. over the Orchard was 80 ft. gangway serving the tap system is Cranberry colliery, with its relatively To mine the Primrose, 100 ft. below driven in the Skidmore, and from it large proportion of nearly flat coal, of­ the Orchard, a specially built chain-and- short chutes are driven up the pitch. fers the best mechanization possibilities flight elevating conveyor was installed From the tops of these chutes, rock taps of the several Lehigh Navigation opera­ in a 6x 10-ft. conveyorway driven on a

494 COAL AGE — Vol.40, No.12 15-deg. pitch. Present mining opera­ or robbing, are worked at a time. Near is undercut by a Jeffrey flameproof tions are being carried on by three the end of a robbing cycle, two new shortwall and is drilled with an electric chamber units operating in tandem and breasts are prepared for the loader. In drill. Conveyors are installed along the discharging onto one of the 300-ft. belt starting the new places, a Jeffrey pit- left rib in left-hand places and along the units formerly used in the Orchard. car loader elevates the coal to car right rib in right-hand places to allow Two to three feet of “falling stone” height. This pit-car loader also re­ free movement of the loader through the usually is held in place by single posts. ceives material from the Vulcan shaker crosscuts. Only half of the height of the Coal is taken from the elevating con­ conveyors which carry the coal away bed is taken as the breasts advance. veyor to the surface in mine cars. from the Joy loader until the places are The remainder, together with the pil­ A Joy 7-BU loader is installed in an in far enough to permit elevation of lars, is shot down and removed in lifts experimental section in the Primrose the conveyors to car height. on the retreat. The loading crew con­ bed at Coaldale where the maximum Breasts are driven up the pitch on sists of seven men and the average daily pitch is 12 to 14 deg. Coal thickness is 35-ft. centers and wide enough to ac­ output of the unit is 23 cars at 115 cu.ft. 12 ft., and two places, either advancing commodate an 11-ft. collar. The coal per car per shift of eight hours.

STRIPPING

+ A t Lehigh Navigation Coal Co.

ITH a quarter of a century of experience as a background, Fig. 1—Hell’s Kitchen strip­ ping, Nesquehoning colliery. W Lehigh Navigation Coal Co. Sixty feet of coal in the bot­ has adopted stripping as a definite part tom is yet to be loaded of its program to recover coal near the surface which otherwise would be lost and to provide a volume of low-cost pings, depth and area have precluded cu.yd. of overburden and 665,000 market­ tonnage to offset in part the higher cost casting. In these cases, however, the able tons of coal. Maximum depth was of deep-mined material. Outcrop strip­ recoverable tonnage has warranted 165 ft. Overburden was removed1 by a pings, in several cases with local anti­ hauling overburden to dumping grounds Bucyrus-Erie 320B electric shovel with clines and synclines present, are the away from the pit, either in trucks or 7^-cu.yd. dipper, and was hauled in general rule, and at present stripping dump cars. No. 1 Mammoth stripping, 30-cu.yd. standard-gage cars to a dump projects number sixteen, of which three Cranberry colliery, falls in the first 5,900 ft. distant. Maximum grade to are operated by the company. class. Overburden is loaded by a shovel the dump was 3% per cent. Coal was Only three strippings are in virgin and hauled out of the pit by Linn trac­ loaded by a 100B electric shovel with coal. At the others, up to 50 per cent of tors, which also transport the coal to 3-cu.yd. dipper. the coal has been removed by under­ the breaker. Stripping has been completed on the ground mining in the past. Ratio of Cranberry also offers a basin strip­ ' 70-ft. extension, and the coal is being overburden to coal ranges from 3^ to ping in which the overburden was hauled loaded with a shovel into trucks for 5 to 1, depending upon whether the bed in cars. This stripping (Crystal Ridge) transportation to a loading ramp where is virgin or partly mined, quality of was started in 1925 and completed, ex­ it is dumped into standard-gage hoppers coal, character of overburden (hard or cept for a 70-ft. extension, in 1934. for transportation to the breaker. Strip­ loose) and adaptability to casting. Area stripped was 2,700 ft. long and ping equipment was a Bucyrus-Erie In many Lehigh Navigation strip­ 500 ft. wide and contained 5,200,000 120B dragline with a 3-^-cu.yd. clay

Fig. 2—Western end of the Summit Hill stripping, largest Fig. 3—Dragline making rock cut at Mammoth south dip of the Lehigh Navigation projects stripping, Lansford colliery

December, 1935 — COAL AGE 495 Fig. 4—Plan and sections of Summit Hill stripping, showing present dumps and progress of excavation

and a 4-cu.yd. rock bucket. The over­ sylvania air compressors ; one Ingersoll- burden was removed by casting and Rand well-drill bit-dressing machine; recasting to the west into the old Crys­ one Model S Nordberg track shifter; tal Ridge pit. Coal uncovered totaled one Model 60 Caterpillar tractor; and 46,200 cu.yd. Overburden yardage was 35 30-cu.yd. standard-gage side-dump as fo llow s: clay, 27,300; roctc, 73,500; cars (Koppel, 1; Magor, 11; Differen­ breast material, 13,500. In addition to tial, 3; Western, 13; and Clarke, 7). the 70-ft. primary strip obtained from Overburden is loaded into the 30- the Lehigh Valley Coal Co., the strip­ cu.yd. cars and hauled to one of the ping included a narrow strip along the three dumps (Fig. 4). Coal is loadeu eastern end of the old Crystal Ridge into railroad cars for transportation re pit. Lansford breaker for preparation. Another shovel and hauling job now Tracks are laid with 80-lb. rail and in the final stages was the Hell’s Kit­ Fig. 5—Section through north dip strip­ maximum grade out of the pit is 3 per chen stripping, Nesquehoning colliery, ping, Mammoth spoon basin, Nesquehon­ cent. Dumps have been established, to recover a virgin outcrop of the Prim­ ing colliery, where coal and rock will be where possible, over old crop falls. The rose bed 30 ft. thick on a 30-deg. pitch. removed in alternate shifts Western spreader car is used to scatter It involved removal of 1,300,000 cu.yd. haul the coal. Loading, originally done the ridge on the edge of the fill result­ of overburden by two 70C Bucyrus by one of the steam shovels, is now ing from dumping, and track shifting steam shovels to uncover 514,000 net being completed by a 75A Lorain gas on the dump and in the pit is done by tons of marketable coal. Overburden shovel with 1 ¿-cu.yd. dipper. the Nordberg shifter. was hauled out of the pit on an upgrade The premier Lehigh Navigation Lehigh Navigation strippings also of 3 per cent in 4-cu.yd. side-dump cars stripping is Summit Hill, from which, include a number of dragline projects. pulled by 20-ton steam locomotives. A to date, 7,300,000 cu.yd. of overburden This type of equipment is used either three-rail track was constructed to ac­ and 3,000,000 cu.yd. of coal (2,200,000 for overburden removal alone or both commodate the 36-in. gage rock cars tons) have been removed. When finally overburden removal and coal loading. and the 42-in. gage mine cars used to completed, it is estimated that over­ The clay is first stripped to the full burden yardage will total 13,000,000; width of the pit and piled on one or Fig. 6—Neyers north dip stripping, Nes­ coal yardage, 5,000,000, yielding 4,600,- both sides, as conditions dictate—usu- quehoning, showing drilling for the final 000 net tons of marketable coal. An­ rock cut and also pillars of coal standing other section was added this summer Fig. 7—Dragline loading coal to complete up against the bottom rock where, by removing 240 ft. of cover, a work in Lewis bed stripping, Alliance virgin bed approximately 60 ft. thick can be loaded. Equipment at Summit Hill is: one Bucyrus-Erie 320B electric shovel with 7^-cu.yd. dipper built up from 6 cu.yd. ; two 120B electric shovels with 4-cu.yd. dippers; one Link-Belt K55 gas-electric dragline with 2-cu.yd. bucket; one Marion 37 electric shovel-dragline ; one 50-, eight 55- and one 65-ton Heisler geared locomotives; two 55- and one 40-ton Vulcan rod locomotives; one 38-ton American rod locomotive; one 50-ton Baldwin rod locomotive; eleven electric and five gas Loomis Clipper drills; one Armstrong gas drill; one gas and one electric Sanderson Cyclone drills ; two Ingersoll-Rand wagon drills ; one Western spreader car; two Penn­

496 COAL AGE — Vol.40, No.12 Table I— Summary of Company and Contract Strippings stripping Condition Coal Bed of Bed Contractor Cranberry Removal of Overburden Extension o. earner Crystal Ridge basin stripping...... Mammoth. 50-60 ft. Partly mined J. Robert Baxley.. .Casting with dragline No. 1 Mammoth Math dip opt crop...... Mammoth. 30 ft. Partly mined Hill A spender Shovel loading, truck hauling -Veeqrukcm inç Xo. 3 slope south dip outcrop, local «yncliae and anticline Primrose. 20 ft Paniv Tninrri Trm a =■ i , ——------— ...... jy mined... .Hffl 4 suender shovel loadine. truck hauliim Wihfap couth dip outcrop ~ ...... Primroee, 15 ft...... ------R. ]SL Griffiths Primarily casting with dragline tt^imagth«Kpo«tnop ...... XWmnae. 13 ft...... Partly mined---- R. M. Griffiths...... Primarily carting with dr^B^T Xceth dip outcrop, two splits. 3- to 4-ft. divider...... Buck Mm I4 f- Partly mined J. Robert Baxley. . . Casting with drag]in ' : : • • - 3: 3- Company...... Shovel loading, hauling in cars North dip. Mammoth spoon hsmin...... Mammoth Partly mined. Company...... Casting with dragline Lam ford South dip outcrop, two spins...... Mammoth. 20 ft...... Partly mined.... A. E. Dick . Primarily casting with dragline Sooth dip outcrop...... ■ Mammoth. 40 ft Partly mined.... Hffl 4 Suender Primarily shovel loading, truck hauling Summit Hill hmin...... Mammoth...... Partly mined. Company...... Dragline and shovel loading, hauling in cars Coaldale Fire Barrier anticline. . Mammoth, 50 ft Partly mined. ■ Hill

ally the latter. The rock is then drilled coal up from behind it as tar down as the loading hopper on the day shift. The and shot, whereupon the dragline makes reach of the equipment will permit dragline employed, though designed for a \ -shaped cut down to the top of the (F ig . 7 ) . only 60 ft., has worked to a depth of bed. In case stripping depth is beyond the At the north dip stripping in the 175 ft., the approximate maximum to w orking limit of the dragline, the final Mammoth spoon basin, Xesquehoning, which excavation in the coal will be rock cut usually is made with a shovel rock will be removed and coal loaded carried. and the material hauled out of the pit in alternate shifts by a 175B electric Estimated yardages on this stripping in trucks, as at the Xeyers north dip dragline with 3|-cu.yd. bucket After are: overburden, 243,000; breast ma­ stripping, Xesquehoning (Fig. 6). clay and surface material is removed, the terial, 67.000; coal, 67,000, yielding In a number of cases, the coal is dragline will move along the pit from /3,000 tons of marketable coal. loaded out by shovels in one or more one end to the other on the top of the On salvage strippings carried on by lifts. Truck roads are carried on the rock or coal, dragging up the rock and contractors, the coal is inspected at the coal behind the shovel. At the Alli­ casting it to one side at night and dumping ramp for quality. On yardage ance strippings, however, the dragline dragging up the coal and discharging projects, inspection covers not only stands on top of the bed and drags the it into a specially built portable car- quality but also losses in cleaning up.

MINE DRAINAGE

+ A t Lehigh Navigation Coal Co.

A lth ou gh its outcrops are To decrease mine-drainage expense, Water is pumped from depths 150 ditched, flumes are installed to with its heavy power costs, all thirteen ft below sea level and is elevated as ^carry surface water over the of the main underground pumping sta­ much as 1,200 ft Main pumps dis­ crop falls and subsidence breaks, and tions are fitted with full-automatic con­ charging to the surface operate against one colliery —Xesquehoning—has been trols, and thus are operated without heads up to 800 ft, and relay pumps freed entirely of pumps by a four-mile regular attendants. Each of the two handle water from lower levels to these drainage tunnel, pumping by the Lehigh largest pumping stations (Greenwood main stations. To protect shaft and Xavigation Coal Co. averaged 9.1 tons and Cranberry) has motors totaling main pumping stations, the main-haul- of water per ton of coal shipped during 1,950 rated horse-power; Greenwood has age tunnels of the various levels are the five-year period 1930-1934. At Cran­ three 650-hp. motors, and Cranberry, equipped with emergency flood-control berry, which is the wettest colliery, 21 four motors rated 300, 500, 550 and dams designed for pressures from 5 tons o f water per ton of coal was raised 600 hp. All the larger pumps are direct- to 100 f t last year. connected motor-driven centrifugals. Generally speaking, portable or gath-

December, 1935 — COAL AGE 497 ering-type pumps are not used under­ /%No3 shaft ground, because rock tunnels and gang­ pFan ways which serve as haulways are 1,700'- A driven on an upward gradient of 0.58 per cent and drainage ditches 3 ft. wide and 2 ft. deep (measured from the top Drainage funnel of the rail) are excavated along one rib. Exceptions are a few 50-g.p.m. d.c. f a n - motor-driven triplex pumps used in driving dip breasts and dip gangways. Cranberry is equipped with eight of these pumps—the largest number at any one of the seven collieries. A few com­ pressed-air-operated pumps are used in dip places where open-type electric mo­ tors are prohibited because of gas. Water from all workings and levels of Nesquehoning colliery flows to the The mine waters average about 300 drainage tunnel and thence to the Lehigh River parts per million of free sulphuric acid which rapidly corrodes ordinary metals. however, is indicated by a test at Alli­ special linings are used in cast-iron, At times of low water in certain col­ ance in May, 1931, which showed only steel and wrought-iron discharge lieries and in other collieries when flood 20 parts per million of free sulphuric columns, which in most cases are in­ water enters through old workings, the acid. stalled in coal-, air- or water-hoisting acidities increase to high concentra­ Parts of pumps in contact with water shafts. Wood pipe is used only for tions. That some water is low in acid, are built of acid-resisting bronze, and emergency flood pumping; under these conditions it has successfully withstood pressures of 200 lb. per square inch. Until a few years ago the standard discharge columns were of cast-iron “bolted” pipe with wood lining, and many of these columns in sizes up to 24 in. (outside diameter) are still in service. Three years ago a 12-in. o.d. steel pipe with bitumastic lining was in­ stalled in a borehole at Alliance and grouted in place. Its present service condition has not been determined, but some of the lining has loosened and has come out with the water. Two years ago, at Lansford No. 6

300

200 Full-automatic pumping station in Tamaqua colliery containing three units, each consisting of a 500-hp. motor and a 2,000-g.p.m. 610-ft. head, six-stage all-bronze pump 100

0 Jan. Feb. Mar Apr. Hay June July Aug.Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec.

Nearly three billion gallons of water was pumped out of Cranberry colliery during 1934

operation a lead-lined 16-in. o.d. dis­ charge column with screw couplings was installed in a borehole, but the lead lining was made to project beyond the steel so that it made a tight joint when the pipe was screwed up. Aligning clamps assured that the neat cement grouting would be of uniform thickness around the pipe. This column is 560 ft. long and serves as the discharge for two 2,000-g.p.m. 8-stage pumps driven by 550-hp. motors and situated in the Primrose bed at the fourth level. Nine months later, an 18-in. wrought-iron pipe with wood lining was installed to a depth of 750 ft. in No. 12 shaft, Half-round steel flumes such as these at Tamaqua conduct water over crop Greenwood colliery, to replace a 20-in. falls and surface cracks wood-lined cast-iron pipe which had

498 COAL AGE — Vol.40, No.12 Looking outbye at the top-hinged steel-door emergency flood- wne side of the Hood-control dam, No. 3 level, south side, control dam for 100-ft. head, east main tunnel, fourth level, 1 amaqua. Each door half rolls on an overhead track into a Tam aqua recess in the rib

given satisfactory service for ten years but had been destroyed by a fire in the shaft timbering. Dresser couplings were used for connecting the 18- and 20-ft. lengths. For distances of 5 to 6 in: from the ends, inside surfaces of each length were sandblasted and sprayed with lead. Main pumps are principally of 2,000- and 3,000-g.p.m. sizes and have four to ten stages. Barrett-Haentjens, Allis- Chalmers, Cameron and Goyne units are used, with General Electric, W esting- house and Allis-Chalmers motors. All pumping stations except one at Cranberry are above sump level, so are not subject to accidental flooding by leaky or broken suction lines. Pump- room excavations are protected by steel and concrete, and, in the larger stations, bridge cranes facilitate maintenance. In several instances, control and signal wires from the station are extended up the shaft to the main substation on the surface, where an operator always is In this full view of the Tamaqua dam, the edge of one sliding door appears on duty. By pushbuttons he can start at the extreme left where it is beyond the water-flow conduit. A manhole and stop the pumps. Red and green sig­ is partly visible in the door at the right nal lights mounted beside the buttons indicate whether the pumps are running or stopped and other signals indicate Tons of Water Pumped Per Year From the Panther Creek Valley Collieries high sump-water level. Tons Water Water-hoisting tanks are kept at sev­ eral of the coal shafts ready for emer­ Lansford Coaldale Greenwood Rahn Tamaqua V ear^ ^ofCoa? 193 0...... 3,414,733 2,106,862 1,705,425 1,459,631 3,603,825 12 290 516 3 45 gency, and at Tamaqua, one shaft has 193 1 3,755,258 1,820,458 2,538,083 1,243,695 3,382 100 2 739 594 t a 193 2...... 4,933,933 2,334,319 2,371,405 1,624,984 4,416 533 5 681 174 5 5 been fitted permanently with a water 193 3...... 8,327,929 3,728,608 3,266,110 2,806,029 6,496 125 24 624 801 8 0 hoist. Here two 4,500-gal. tanks are 193 4...... 6,120,267 2,978,233 2,604,186 2,034,403 5,127.483 18,’864,'572 5.7 handled in balance by a Vulcan hoist Totals 26,552,160 12,968,480 12,485,209 9,168,742 23,026,066 84,200,657 ~ 2 driven by a 1,200-hp. General Electric Note: Nesquehoning is drained by a tunnel and contains no pumps. Rabn colliery is shut down and is 2,200-volt induction motor. From a without a breaker, but mine pumping is continued.

December, 1935 — COAL AGE 499 depth of 800 ft., 1,080 tanks of water can be hoisted in 24 hours—an average capacity of 3,300 g.p.m. This water hoist is also emergency equipment and is used about once a year. In August, 1934, it operated for ten days and handled 17,892,000 gal. of water; in the same period the elec­ tric pumps of the colliery handled 122,670,000 gal. At the central shops at Lansford a pair of tanks are stored ready to be rushed by truck to any col­ liery where emergency might call for quick conversion of the coal hoist to a water hoist. Nesquehoning colliery, with workings more shallow than the other Panther Valley collieries, which has no pumps, is drained by a rock tunnel to the Lehigh River. Section dimensions of this tunnel (which is 19,890 ft. long, is entirely through rock and was completed in 1912) are 7x11 ft. Elevation above sea Rubber gaskets are hanging loosely in place on this side-hinged steel-door flood-control dam in Lansford colliery, No. 6 shaft, fifth level level is 596.2 ft. at its intersection with No. 2 shaft and 547 ft. at the discharge portal; mean gradient is 0.246 per cent. The portal, which is about one mile upstream from Mauch Chunk, was con­ creted in 1914. By 1920, however, cor­ rosion compelled the replacement of the steel rails of the tunnel track; acid water also destroyed this second track, and it will not be renewed. Replacement timber is floated into the tunnel, only about one-half mile of which is timbered and that, fortunately, near the colliery end. During flood periods the tunnel discharges as much as 46,000 g.p.m. Natural ventilation, which reverses with the seasons, provides fresh air for men who wade in boots through the tunnel to make inspections.

Side-hinged lOO-ft.-head dam installed in Lansford colliery

To demonstrate this concrete-and-plank dam in Lansford, No. 6 shaft, third level, several of the lower planks were taken from their storage place along the rib and dropped into the grooves in the concrete abutments

In some areas, because of unfavorable surface contours, holes are cut to per­ mit water to drain to tunnels ; at Green­ :U wood colliery, these holes also serve as air intakes. Because of the frequency with which •V £ wood flumes were destroyed by forest •S s / T vV fires, by persons walking over them and r - cutting them for firewood, or by rotting, half-round steel flumes are now being installed extensively. Flumes 24 in. in : diameter exceed others in total footage, □ i= although 3-, 4-, 4 \ and 7-ft. diameters also are used. Unit lengths run from » 4 - h 2 12 to 30 ft. and plate thicknesses are A, Ji-4 * 1? \ - -4- or A in. Sections are joined by rivets countersunk in the upper plate. Asphalt paint was adopted for the first installa­ — 4'M '■o tions, but experiments are now being JL L made with aluminum paint. 9-7" T Metal stakes driven into the ground 500 COAL AGE — Vol.40, No.12 at each joint and fastened to the curs ed plates hold the smaller flumes in place. Flumes crossing ravines, supported on rail^ or structural steel bents spaced on 15 ft. centers or closer, have long bolts with distance pieces across the top. As many as sixteen emergency flood- control dams are used in tunnels and gangways at most collieries. These vary in design from a simple concrete-and- plank dam 5 ft. high, and not sealable at the top to an elaborate steel-door dam capable of holding back 100 ft. of water. Wood dams consist essen­ tially of two types: a dam in which 3-in. planks are dropped into vertically slotted concrete side abutments and an­ other in which 8x8- or 5xl3-in. cross timbers are piled one above the other against a concrete door frame and held in place and tightened by bolts through steel angles, which bolts also work against a wedge timber to close the joints between timbers. Alliance colliery con­ tains a number oi these heavy timber- type dams designed for heads up to 30 ft. ^ V 0f>"hul8ed da? is 1116 131651 o f 1116 permanent types installed. Wate conduit and control p.pes are cast into the concrete in a position as T h o w Steel-door dams consist essentiallv at the left of three types with door frames in all rectangular openings built of reinforced doors are hinged at the sides and in \ ertical beams, one in the center and concrete with a structural-steel frame. the third they are hinged at the top and These dams are designed for heads of in some cases another to strengthen swing against the top of the tunnel when each door, are stored near the dam 35 to 100 ft. and the doors are in two open. ready to be bolted into the doorway sections. In one type the doors hang Link-type hinges provide such flexi- when the doors are to be closed. These trom tracks and slide into spaces pro- bility that the doors can be bolted beams are of 8xl2-in. 45-lb. H-sections vided m each rib. In another type the against special one-piece rubber gaskets. or other sections of equal or greater strength. The doors are built of either 1-in. or f-in. plates. Through one concrete side abutment of the doorway a bronze or cast-iron pipe 18 to 24 in. in diameter provides for normal drainage and also for con­ trol of w'ater when the doors are closed. In some cases gate valves are kept in place on these openings, but in others the valves are applied to the pipes only when needed. A tapered wood plug is still another method used for closing the openings. Instead of pipes, however,

Sliding-door dam installed in i'io. 3 5 0 tunnel, Tamaqua

v

Reinforcing roni j -1 Reinforcing Rubber r rails g a s Ref

December, 1935 — COAL AGE 501 Ü-Sj spacing. SλHi timber*- N 40tb. rail to support concrete bolted to concrete over open span forbearing surface Present roof / V of tunnel ^

»5^ xlO-6"~~' - Eye bolt to be used as hinge L.L.Y.P. tim ber support for door and when ■Outline o f grooved forsptining dam is placed for drawing I hitch 3'deep wedge-shaped timber in place I C I I Pressure n* § Rib skip I c: for pipe I 26lb./sg. in.

Cross Section Longitudinal Section Several of these older type wedged-timber dams designed for 26-lb. pressure stand guard in the collieries many of the low-head concrete-and- dams; Greenwood, one sliding door and At Alliance and Cranberry, most plank dams have rectangular side open­ fifteen concrete-and-plank; and Coal- pump-station maintenance is handled by ings controlled by steel-plate gates. dale, four side-hinged and seven con­ local electricians and mechanics report­ One of the steel doors of each high- crete-and-plank. ing to the colliery superintendent. Large head dam is fitted with an 18x20- or About half the electrical energy used construction jobs and heavy repairs are 16x24-in. manhole. Flat steel plates annually at Cranberry is expended in taken care of by men from the mechani­ cover these manholes and are bolted pumping; during 1929, for example, the cal and electrical departments at Lans­ over rubber gaskets. Dams with doors total power used per ton of coal shipped ford. Five men reporting directly to hinged at the sides or at the top are was 30.7 kw.-hr., and 15.3 kw.-hr. was the mechanical superintendent at Lans­ the latest types to be installed. They energy used in handling water. Alli­ ford inspect and maintain pumps at the cost less than the sliding type, but the ance, where 11 kw.-hr. per ton goes to Panther valley mines and one of these one with hinges at the top must be operate mine pumps, stands second in men makes regular inspection of pump­ equipped with a chain block for con­ size of dewatering load. Three to 10 ing stations at the two other properties. venient and safe opening and closing. kw.-hr. per ton of coal is used by pump­ Every possible precaution is taken to Lansford has three top-hinged, one side- ing stations at the four Panther valley insure against pumping-equipment fail­ hinged and five concrete-and-plank mines dewatered by mechanical means. ures, which might result in flooding.

COAL PREPARATION

+ A t Lehigh Navigation Coal Co.

OAL preparation at Lehigh Navi­ breakers now in operation. In addition, gation Coal Co. is based on two the company offers a number of special C general principles : selection of grades, including stoker buckwheat and equipment to meet the particular con­ stoker rice, which are closely sized—the ditions surrounding the cleaning and most important consideration in stoker screening of the various sizes to present- fuels—and low in ash ; metallurgical day consumer standards, and inspection rice and barley, below 10 per cent in organized to detect any departure from ash and containing a minimum of under­ these standards, either in impurity con­ size, and “Anthrafine” (No. 4 and No. 5 tent, size or appearance. As a guide Three Lehigh Navigation breakers are buckwheat), in which it specializes. equipped with cones for cleaning in its preparation work, the company Conditions surrounding mining at uses the revised standards of the An­ Lehigh Navigation operations, particu­ sequently, gobbing of rock and other thracite Institute. These standards larly in the Panther Valley, bring up refuse in the mine is impossible, and the (Table I) establish the maximum limits preparation problems encountered only average refuse content of the raw coal for impurities and undersize or over­ to a lesser extent or not at all in other varies from 34.3 per cent to 46.4 per size for the eight standard sizes shipped anthracite areas. Thick beds and heavv cent. All this material must be re­ from the seven Lehigh Navigation pitches necessitate chute mining. Con- moved in the nrenaration olant. and its

502 COAL AGE — Vol.40, No.12 character is reflected in the fact that all chutes and openings must be large enough to pass pieces 6 ft. in any direc­ tion. As between large and small sizes, ref­ use content varies considerably, the percentage of impurities running sub­ stantially higher in the former. Conse­ quently, pre-cleaners, or “headhouses,” are installed at all breakers but Cran­ berry and Alliance, where steamboat and broken are jigged before crushing to eliminate much rock that otherwise would have to go through the rolls. The flow of coal under this system is exemplified at Tamaqua breaker, which was reconstructed this summer to ac­ commodate the sand-flotation method of cleaning. Raw mine-run from the dump is passed over bull shakers equipped with screen plates with 6-in. round per­ forations. Material over the shakers (lump) is discharged onto platform picking tables, where rock and other refuse are picked out. From the tables, the lump passes to the No. 1 rolls, where Hauto storage yard provides reserves against sudden demands it is reduced to steamboat and smaller. from the rolls and jigs in the headhouse. The roll product is screened to remove terial through 3/32 and over 3/64 in., Clean coal from the cones is sized on with not over 25 per cent of under­ the steamboat size, which goes to the desanding and sizing shakers, from No. 2 rolls for reduction to broken and size; No. 5, material through 3/64 in., which the various sizes are chuted to smaller. In case broken is being shipped, with not over 10 per cent of 3/64-in. their respective loading pockets. En size. The Tamaqua Anthrafine plant is the No. 2 roll product goes directly with route from the pockets to the railroad the outgrowth of a demand for sizing of the broken and smaller from the No. 1 cars, the sizes from broken down to and this product, originally met by the use rolls to the dirty-coal shakers ahead of including buckwheat No. 1 are passed of various types of screens which in ad­ the cleaning cones. Broken seldom is over lip screens to remove degradation. dition to erratic performance were cost­ made, however, and this size usually is Undersize from the lip screens is ele­ ly, bulky and expensive to maintain. passed through the No. 3 rolls for re­ vated to a bank of resizing shakers. Deister - Overstrom Diagonal - Deck duction to egg and smaller. These shakers also receive the oversize concentrating tables will be employed in Material smaller than 6 in. through from the fines shakers, which in turn cleaning Anthrafine at Tamaqua. Tables the bull shakers falls onto steamboat handle material through the pea deck of will be divided up into two banks to shakers equipped with plates with 4J-in. the prepared shakers. The resizing clean the two sizes, which will be made round perforations, where this size is shakers also are used when egg must in two Hardinge counter-current classi­ removed and chuted to two Wilmot Sim­ be broken down, as sometimes is the fiers operating in tandem. The first plex jigs. The coal end from these jigs case. Egg is crushed in a set of stove classifier will receive the water and fines then goes to the No. 2, or broken, rolls. rolls, which receive material from the from a settling tank. The product from Material smaller than 4£ in. through egg deck of the prepared shakers. this unit, No. 4 Anthrafine, will go di­ the steamboat shakers is passed over Anthrafine (Nos. 4 and 5 buckwheat) rect to the No. 4 tables. The overflow, broken shakers with 3^-in. perforations, will be handled in a special fine-coal carrying principally No. 5 with some where this size is screened out and plant now under construction. Specifi­ No. 4, will go to the second classifier. chuted to two Simplex broken jigs. In cations for this product are: No. 4, ma- Overflow from the second classifier, case broken is being shipped, the coal carrying the No. 5, will go to the No. 5 end from these jigs goes directly to the Table II—Average Daily Output of Coal tables, while the classifier product will dirty-coal shakers; otherwise, it is run and Mine Rock, Lehigh Navigation be returned to the feed to the first unit. to the No. 3 rolls for reduction to egg C ollieries Adoption of this system was preceded and smaller. Mine Refuse by extensive experimentation showing Primary cleaning equipment at Tama­ Coal Rock Content, Shipped, Hoisted, Raw Coal, the following results: greatly facilitated qua consists of one 18-ft. cone for Net Tons Net Tons PerCent tabling; lower ash in coal; reduced loss broken or egg to pea, inclusive, and Cranberry...... 2.000 50 34.9 Nesquehoning. 3.500 600 34.3 of coal in the refuse. Installation of the two square-topped cones for buckwheat Lansford...... 4.500 200 35.9 same system at other breakers employ­ No. 1, buckwheat No. 2 (rice) and Coaldale...... 4.400 600 44.4 Greenwood... . 2.000 400 42. 1 ing tables is contemplated. buckwheat No. 3 (barley). Separation Tamaqua*__ 2,800 300 44.4 While equipment differs, the Tama­ Alliance...... 1.400 100 46.4 into these two size classes is made on qua preparation system applies in es­ the dirty-coal shakers receiving material *Two shifts. sentials at all other Lehigh Navigation breakers, with the exception of Cran­ berry and Alliance, where, as noted Table I—Standard Anthracite Specifications, Round-Mesh Screen above, steamboat and broken jigs are omitted. Cranberry breaker is equipped Screen Mesh ------—Maximum Per Cent Inches Diameter Over­ Under­ Slate Bone Ash with two Chance cones for broken to hrough Over size size buckwheat No. 1 inclusive, and two Broken...... 4M 3K 5 15 1H 2 Gyro-Separators for rice and barley. Egg...... 3K 2A 5 15 IH 2 Stove...... 2Î 5 15 2 3 The slate end from the Gyro-Separators Chestnut. . . 1 % If 5 15 3 4 Pea...... If A 10 15 5 5 is treated on two Deister-Overstrom Buckwheat. A A 10 15 15 Diagonal-Deck concentrating tables to Rice...... A A 10 15 15 Barley...... A A 10 20 15 reduce loss of coal and permit shipment

December, 1935 — COAL AGE 503 gation design and manufacture) jigs; shipped. Nesquehoning colliery proba­ buckwheat Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, 35 bly employs the most elaborate equip­ Deister-Overstrom Diagonal-Deck con­ ment for treatment of flats. Primary centrating tables. flat removal from egg, stove and chest­ Coaldale— steamboat and broken, four nut at this breaker is accomplished by Simplex jigs; egg to pea, inclusive, 34 Frederick pickers. Secondary shutter- Liberty jigs; flat stove, two Liberty type pickers perform further removal of jigs; flat chestnut, two Liberty jigs and flats from chestnut just before it goes two Deister-Overstrom Diagonal-Deck to the loading pockets. concentrating tables; flat pea, one table, The first operation on chestnut at same type; buckwheat No. 1, twelve Nesquehoning takes place before this Liberty j igs and two tables, same type; size is jigged, and the flats resulting rice, five tables, same type; barley, two are treated on two concentrating tables. Liberty jigs, two tables, same type, and Clean coal from these tables goes to a one Gyro-Separator; Anthrafine, two set of rolls where it is crushed to pea concentrating tables, same type, and one and smaller and recirculated to the Gyro-Separator. breaker feed. Clean coal from the Shutter-type flat picker on end of chestnut Greenwood—steamboat and broken, chestnut jigs is passed over the shutter- shaker, Greenwood breaker four Simplex jigs; egg to pea, inclusive, type units, and the flats removed are 27 Lehigh Valley jigs; buckwheat No. crushed, screened and distributed to the of low-ash rice and barley. For maxi­ 1, four Liberty jigs and two Plat-O various clean-coal pockets. On stove mum flexibility, the breaker is built in concentrating tables; buckwheat Nos. 2 two identical halves, either or both of and 3, two Hydrotators; Anthrafine, two which can be operated at one time. Al­ Plat-0 tables. liance breaker is equipped with one The Lansford and Coaldale breakers 15-ft. Chance cone, egg to buckwheat also are quipped with rake-type Dorr No. 1, inclusive, seven Deister-Over- classifiers for dewatering the finer sizes. strom Diagonal-Deck concentrating At Coaldale, five units are in operation, tables, rice and barley; and one Gyro- as follows: rice, 1; No. 4 buckwheat, 1; Separator, Anthrafine. No. 5 buckwheat, 1; refuse, 2. Six Cleaning equipment at the remaining classifiers are used to dewater No. 5 Lehigh Navigation breakers consists of buckwheat at Lansford. Feed to the jigs, concentrating tables, Hydrotators Anthrafine units at Lansford consists of and Gyro-Separators, as follows : the underflow from a 15-ft.-diameter set­ Nesquehoning—steamboat and broken, tling tank which receives the breaker four Wilmot Simplex jigs; egg to pea, wash water. Overflow from this tank inclusive, 38 Simplex and Lehigh Val­ goes to a 100-ft. Dorr thickener. Oper­ ley jigs; flat chestnut, two Deister- ating as a clarifier, this thickener re­ Overstrom Diagonal-Deck concentrating moves the fine material from the water, Frederick flat picker operating tables; buckwheat Nos. 1 and 2, thirteen which is then recirculated to the breaker on egg at Nesquehoning concentrating tables, same type; buck­ as wash water. wheat No. 3, one Hydrotator; Anthra­ Flat pickers are employed at practi­ and egg, flats are removed after the coal fine (Nos. 4 and 5), two Gyro-Separa­ cally all Lehigh Navigation collieries, is jigged. These flats are crushed to the tors. reflecting an increased sensitiveness next smaller size and recirculated. Lansford—steamboat and broken, six among purchasers to the presence of Shutter-type flat pickers usually are Simplex jigs; egg to pea, inclusive, 8 this material in shipments, although its employed at other collieries where this Simplex and 25 Liberty (Lehigh Navi­ quality is equal to that of the other coal material is present in troublesome quan­ tities. Egg, stove and chestnut, all or Picking floor, Coaldale breaker. Bull shakers are equipped with in part, are the three sizes treated in cast manganese steel plates to resist wear this manner, particularly the latter. The pickers, varying somewhat in type to meet the requirements of the particular sizes on which they are employed but all operating on the same general prin­ ciple of providing backward-slanting openings through which the flats es­ cape, are installed either on the ends of the sizing screens or in the shaking carrying chutes used at some of the breakers. Usually, the crushed flats are recirculated to the cleaning units. Pure mountain water is employed for coal washing at the Tamaqua, Green­ wood, Coaldale, Lansford and Nesque­ honing breakers. The latter breaker had used such water, impounded in dams in near-by streams for some years, and consequently was able to hold the rec­ ord for low maintenance cost. Further­ more, shipments from Nesquehoning, as compared with those from the other breakers—at that time using mine water for washing—presented brighter and fresher surfaces, due to the fact that

504 COAL AGE — Vol.40, No.12 L.ifflituiiing steam sizes at .^..»ation collieries

Rake-type classifier em­ ployed for dewatering fine coal in Lansford breaker

Anthrafine is cleaned in these fin e-coal units at Nesquehoning

One of two fine-coal cleaners on Nos. 2 and 3 buckwheat, Greenwood breaker

Still Creek dam, the source of fresh water for washing at Tamaqua, Greenwood, Coal dale and Lansford breakers

Side-dump cars hauled by steam loco­ motives are used for refuse dis­ posal at Lehigh Navigation collieries the water used for washing and spray­ acid and wear, although with the use of luauu,s emu wnen substandard ing was free from the “yellow boy” fresh water at Panther Valley collieries conditions are noted, the car is con­ (an ocherous deposit) and clay nor- acid-resisting material is not necessary. demned and the coal is returned to the . mally present in mine water. To secure Generally, chrome-steel plates are ap­ breaker for repreparation. If no unusual these same advantages at the other plied to washed sizes, as a tendency to conditions are noted, the car is dropped breakers the company (through the block appears when used to screen un­ into the loaded yard, where it is sam­ Panther Valley Water Co., a subsidi­ washed material. At Cranberry breaker, pled at nine points on the top by two ary) dammed Still Creek, a stream however, chrome steel is used on all assistant inspectors. In taking these north of Panther and Nesquehoning sizes from barley to chestnut, inclusive, samples, the inspectors check the ap­ creeks. and on dirty-coal shakers a life of 1,440 pearance of the coal. This check in­ Storage capacity of the Still Creek shifts has been recorded, against 72 cludes general appearance, dull coal, dam is 2,500,000,000 gal., and the water shifts with steel plate. At all breakers cinders, chips, discoloration, excessive flows by gravity to the Tamaqua, Green­ life of chrome steel—costing about five segregation of fines and any other factor wood, Coaldale and Lansford storage times as much—ranges from ten to which in the judgment of the inspectors reservoirs through a 30-in. pipe 12 miles twenty times that of ordinary steel. would affect marketability. long. Loading cars at a number of breakers Samples obtained are screened to de­ Shaker plates and chutes, constituting is accomplished with special equipment termine the percentage of undersize and • as they do a major item of expense in designed to minimize drop and thereby oversize and also the gradation of the breaker maintenance, have received spe­ breakage (p. 538 of this issue). material within the upper and lower cial attention at Lehigh Navigation col­ Inspection houses are established at limits of the size. Hand-picking is em­ lieries. On bull shakers and steamboat all the collieries, and are manned and ployed to sort out the slate and bone in and broken shakers, Taylor-Wharton equipped to insure a complete check of all sizes down to and including pea in cast manganese steel plates have been the condition of every car before it determining impurity content. Results adopted because of their increased re­ leaves the colliery yard. An inspection attained by hand picking are checked sistance to wear. At Alliance breaker, crew consists of a head inspector and regularly by float-and-sink methods. for example, a life of 260 to 288 days three assistants. One of the assistants Sizes smaller than pea are tested in has been secured from cast plates, as has the duty of inspecting breaker refuse specific-gravity bottles and float-and- against 44 to 48 days for rolled plates. to prevent loss of coal. sink machines, and results are used to Chrome-steel (12 to 14 per cent Cr.) Inspecting of coal starts as it is loaded determine ash from standard curves. As plates are widely used on steam sizes into the car. The coal is constantly a check, actual ash samples are run at at Lehigh Navigation breakers to resist under observation as it flows out of the regular intervals.

TRANSPORTATION

+ A t Lehigh Navigation Coal Co.

ransportation at the col­ hoist and discharges the empties down­ inside slope is equipped with a single­ lieries of the Lehigh Navigation grade to another “go-devil” in the empty drum Finch hoist with a 150-hp. motor. TCoal Co. involves the use of 130 hole. Cranberry is operated entirely by inside electric and 56 steam locomotives under­ Standard landing capacity is 60 cars. and outside slopes, of which the largest ground and on the surface to handle an If additional capacity is required, aux­ is No. 1 at the breaker, equipped with a average of approximately 37,000 tons of iliary turnouts are constructed a short double-drum 675-hp. Vulcan hoist. mine rock, raw coal and breaker refuse distance from the main tunnels. Transfer Once hoisted, it is necessary in prac­ per day. At the Summit Hill stripping, cars also handle loaded cars at times, tically all cases to haul the cars to the fourteen additional steam locomotives but under the system in Fig. 1 they are dumping point at the breaker. This task are employed in hauling coal (included required to handle empties only, thus usually falls to a steam locomotive, al­ in the above total) and overburden (ex­ avoiding the shock and spillage incident though at Coaldale, where the shaft cluded). to handling loads. landings are established underground, In the Panther valley, where five of Double-drum hoists with straight the cars are brought out by electric seven operations of the company are cylindrical drums clutched for hoisting locomotives. Hauling coal and rock located, development is by shafts from from various levels are standard at Le­ from strip pits is another major item in which cross-measure tunnels are driven high Navigation collieries. Two Panther surface transportation. The third is to cut the various beds. All shaft hoists valley hoists are steam-operated. Nine refuse disposal. Car capacities in strip­ are equipped with platform cages. Shaft others (Treadwell and Vulcan) are ping and refuse service range up to 30 landings have been standardized, as in driven by electric motors, as follows: cu.yd. ; gradients up to 3^ per cent. Fig. 1 to permit rapid and flexible han­ 900 hp., one; 950 hp., one; 1,000 hp., Nordberg track shifters are widely used dling of cars with a minimum of shock three; 1,200 hp., one; 1,250 hp., three. to facilitate moving tracks on refuse and spillage. Loaded cars are brought Two shafts are in operation at Al­ and spoil banks. A few steam locomo­ to the caging point by a “go-devil.” liance, where hoisting equipment con­ tives also are employed in shifting rail­ Empty cars are bumped off the cages sists of one Vulcan double-drum unit road cars. onto a transfer car, which is moved with an 850- and one Allis-Chalmers Steam locomotives in’ service include from cage to cage by a double-drum unit with a 500-hp. motor. One major 42 mine-gage and 28 standard-gage 506 COAL AGE — Vol.40, No.12 Table I Type and Number of Electric Locomotives at Lehigh Navigation Collieries locomotives 35 batteries are provided, three of the units operating double shift Trolley Cran­ Nesque- Lans- Coal- Green­ berry honing Tama- Al­ and requiring two batteries apiece. Life Geneial Electric, 20-ton foid dale wood qua liance Goodman, 20-ton 1 4 of batteries on straight battery units is Westinghouse, 20^ton.. ... 1 1 General Electric, 15-ton I 54 months, and the average monthly Goodman, 15-ton...... 3 ’ i cost is $31.41, based on an average bat­ Westinghouse, 15-ton.. General Electric, 83-ton...... ’ 4 tery cost of $1,696.20 (including freight Jeffrey, 8-ton...... 8 Westinghouse, 8-ton. charges, installation cost, special repairs, Westinghouse, 6-ton...... if any, and scrap value or allowance for Cable-Reel 10 Goodman, flameproof, 8-ton.. equipment replaced). The cost for com­ Storage- B attery * bination locomotives is $45.22, based on General Electric, 8-ton...... Gen. Elec. permissible, 8-ton.. an average life of 46 months and an Mancha, 6-ton...... Ironton, 53-ton...... average cost of $2,080.05. With com­ Mancha, 53-ton...... bination locomotives, however, battery Ironton, 5-ton...... Mancha, 5-ton...... 8 life is affected by overloading, due to Vulcan, 5-ton...... 1 the ability of the locomotive to start Vulcan, 2-ton...... |3 Combination f heavy trips on the trolley, which the Westinghouse, 10-ton...... Whitcomb, 8-ton ...... battery must handle beyond the wire. General Electric, 7-ton...... Battery life in the period 1920-24 was T otal.. 24 to 30 months; present life mirrors 24 22 24 32 14 15 research by the company to determine batteriesbatte'y. .., locomotives’ as specifically noted, equipped with 4¿¡ cell, 29-plate Exide-Ironclad suitable types, improvements in the art 1-All equipped with 88-cell 17-plate Exide-Ironclad W to-i ‘Equipped with extra battery for double-shift duto 2m 7 a * of battery manufacture and advances in ruckel-alkah batteries »Equipped with two 42-celf' 29-platebVtteriesTi?

December, 1935 — COAL AGE 507 this demand, fabricated structural-steel porated in the casting. To this frame the flange which decreases the depth of the side and end plates. underframes were adopted. While an pedestals, bottom and end plates were improvement, loosening or stretching of riveted. Weight of frame was 1,300 lb. Recognizing the strength of corro- the rivets allowed acid mine water to Loosening of the bottom plates and pedes­ gated shapes, the cast-steel underframe seep in, rapidly enlarging the rivet holes tals were the principal difficulties, later with a corrugated bottom has been de­ and speeding the disintegration of the remedied in the case of pedestals by vised (Fig. 2). This frame, a Buck­ car. The average life of cars with fabri­ casting them integrally with the frame. eye type, weighs about 1,820 lb. Of cated underframes was between three Improvements in the art of steel cast­ these, 150 have been purchased. With and four years and one special study ing followed, and in 1930 cast-steel un­ this frame the capacity of the car has showed a maintenance cost of 7c. per derframes with flat bottom and pedestals been increased to about 120 cu.ft. Like ton of material carried. in one piece (Fig. 2) were introduced. the bathtub, flat-bottomed frame with In the search for a type of construc­ These and other types of frames were upstanding flange and the all-welded tion which would be free from these manufactured for the company by the underframe, the corrugated frame per­ handicaps, the cast-steel underframe General Steel Castings Corporation, mits reduction of side- and end-plate was introduced in 1919, and today all but T aylor-Wharton, Reading Iron Co., depth, thus allowing old plates to be 100 cars underground at four Panther Vulcan Iron Works and Buckeye Steel salvaged by cutting them off 6 in. above valley collieries are equipped with cast Castings Co. Weight of this underframe the bottom to eliminate the riveted sec­ frames. Welded underframes are installed averages 2,250 lb. Shortly thereafter the tion most subject to corrosion. These on the remaining 100. Lansford has 450 General Steel Castings Corporation de­ plates can then be riveted on again. cars; Coaldale, 1,200; Greenwood, 560; veloped the “bathtube” type Common­ Cars for underground use at all the and Tamaqua, 560. As a result of this wealth underframe shown in Fig. 2. collieries except Nesquehoning are pro­ change and other improvements, mainte­ These 2,000-lb. underframes were built vided with roller bearings. With the nance has been cut in half. A special to include draft and buffing gear (Miner exception of the Cranberry and Tamaqua study showed that a modern car with Class “S”) in a box-sectioned end sill cars, which are of the end-gate type, cast frame and other improvements has to distribute longitudinal shocks over all cars are designed for rotary-dump a maintenance cost of only 2.1c. per ton. the entire frame of the car. discharge and are built with solid ends. Chute locations, gangway and tunnel All-welded underframes with integral Brakes with mechanical equalizers are widths have been standardized, and in pedestals and floor plates were then provided on all cars at Cranberry, keeping Panther valley mine-car height given consideration. Four years has Lansford, Greenwood, Tamaqua and Al­ has been set at 5 ft. -§ in. over the rail, passed since these were first installed liance, and have eliminated many flat wheel diameter at 20 in., length over and now 100, made by the American wheels which result where spragging is bumpers at 9 ft. 4 in., body length at Car & Foundry Co., are in service, some practiced. Inside wheels are standard 7 ft. 7\ in., width at 5 ft. 1^ in., track embodying improvements in design sug­ at all Panther valley collieries. Hyatt gage at 42 in. and capacity at 114.87 gested by experience. They weigh about bearings are used at Coaldale, Green­ cu.ft. Cranberry car capacity is 108; 2,190 lb. Results to date have shown wood and Tamaqua, but the Lansford Alliance, 120 cu.ft. The latter cars con­ that welding is an effective method of cars have Timken bearings. Alliance sist essentially of a steel box mounted checking corrosion. cars have Sanford-Day, and Cranberry on a wood underframe. At Nesquehon- Because of the extremely adhesive cars Whitney Wonder roller-bearing ing and Cranberry, side and end sheets nature of the fine coal, experience indi­ wheels. are bolted to an outside wood frame cates that most of the advantage of the Another destructive influence is the supported on a wood underframe on bathtub underframe is lost. The fines starting and stopping of trips. At Lans­ which the bottom sheet rests. fill up the “tub,” giving, in effect, a flat- ford, Coaldale, Tamaqua and Green­ In the first cast-steel underframe bottom car of less capacity. This re­ wood the shocks thus generated have (Fig. 2) the structural-steel frame was sulted in a return to the flat-bottomed been reduced by a series of improve­ reproduced essentially in cast steel with Commonwealth frame (Fig. 2) modi­ ments in car design. Springs in the cen­ side sills, end sills and draft sills incor­ fied in design to provide an upstanding ter drawheads were used in earlier car types to reduce starting shocks. Then the spring-type draft and buffing gear Transfer car handling loaded cars, No. 9 shaft, Coaldale colliery used with bathtub underframes was adopted to diminish starting and stop­ ping shocks. But a better method of curing this evil, if it could be adapted to mine cars, seemed available in the railroad-type friction draft and buffing gear. The Miner T-3 gear, designed with that end in view and provided with an alloy- steel coupler, has now been definitely adopted. With spring supports on axle mountings, shock to car wheels as well as to bearings and axles has been de­ creased. Track irregularities, against which it is difficult to provide where roadbeds are subject to mining stress, are compensated by these mountings, and the cars ride more easily by reason of the introduction of the springs. Metals of great strength and long wear have been sought to prevent wrecks and afford long life to the car equip­ ment in which they are used. At Lans­ ford, Coaldale, Greenwood and Tama­ qua, cast iron, manganese steel, cast steel and special alloy cast iron have all Shr mf , (tOP row’,Ie^ details of original cast-steel underframe without pedestals or bottom- frieht'» bottom siew of late-type flat-bottomed frame with upstanding flange; (bottom row lefri Lriv ria’m. ^ 2 mtegral pedestals and flat bottom; (center) "bathtub? undergame;*(ri^O "“o r ^ ^ttTm? ¿TerfraS

been used for wheels, with the last in Steel Co.), which, though they cost two nance items is the striking record of the most general use. Bent axles used to be or three times as much as ordinary axles, cars installed at Lansford in 1928. They frequent, and to remedy this as well as to seem likely to justify that expenditure. are equipped with brakes, have flat- reduce wear a number of cars have been Xo underirame failures, only one bottomed cast-steel underframes, special fitted with axles of heat-treated alloy roller bearing and two wheels replaced alloy cast-iron wheels and Timken steel (manufactured by the Bethlehem and a minimum cost for other mainte­ roller bearings.

MINE VENTILATION

+ A t Lehigh Navigation Coal Co.

I X of th e seven collieries of the Eighteen main fans, all located on the used, with all air and haulage gangways Lehigh Navigation Coal Co. are surface, are in regular operation; the in the coal beds, which run 3 to 8 ft. in S classed as gaseous and are oper­ heaviest duty on any one—the Green­ thickness. Coal is brought out through ated on a closed-light basis, but methane wood—is 260,000 cu.ft. per minute shafts, slopes and drifts. No booster concentrations in the m ain returns sel­ against a 4-in. water gage. Of the total fans are used, but inside equipment in­ dom if ever reach 0.1 per cent. Because fans, seventeen are driven by a.c. induc­ cludes seven motor-driven blowers with the beds pitch steeply from the outcrops tion motors and one by a steam engine. tubing to advance gangways beyond and folding creviced coal and rock over Electric power requirements for main crosscuts. Tile stoppings are used on large areas, most of the gas has already ventilation at the various operations the main aircourses. been drained to the surface. Local areas, range between l j and 5 kw.-hr. per ton Ventilation methods at Alliance col­ however, may contain much gas, hence of coal shipped. liery are similar to those at the five Pan­ the ventilating problem is one of b ein g Ventilation at Cranberry, where the ther valley collieries, where haulage prepared to reduce concentration in in­ beds lie on pitches between level and gangways and return airways usually dividual breasts, blind chutes and gang­ 35 deg., is handled much as in bituminous are driven in the rock, especially in min­ ways, rather than moving large quanti­ mines. This colliery operates on open ing the Mammoth and Forty-Foot beds. ties of air at all times. lights. The breast-and-pillar system is In working the Primrose bed at Green­

Dece tuber, 1935 — COAL AGE 509 driving long tunnels. Air-turbine-driven blowers are preferred to motor-driven units where much gas is generated or may be expected. At Greenwood, blind chutes and connections are ventilated during driving by 6-in. sheet-metal tub­ ing in which a compressed-air jet, in­ stalled at the heading end, pulls air into the tube by injector action. At all collieries compresed air is used directly for ventilation only as a tem­ porary means of combating emergencies such as falls of rock or runs of coal.

Ventilation method at Cranberry, where the beds lie from level to 35 deg.

wood, however, gangways are driven in rock through which the gangways are the coal. Rock-tunnel haulways usually driven, and facilitates cleaning up falls are 8x12 ft. and the airways, which in airways. parallel them about 40 ft. above, are 6x8 Underground booster fans are used ft. Rock crosscuts are driven from re­ only in the Alliance mine. Five are in­ turn airway to coal every fourth or fifth stalled there at stoppings or at doors and breast, and the air circulates up the rock no tubing is used in connection with chutes from the haulage gangway, or them. The prevailing type is “No. 28 intake, through the breasts and back Volume” Buffalo blowers driven by 15- through the crosscuts. Seventeen to hp. d.c. motors. twenty men, as an average, are supplied Auxiliary blowers fitted with tubing by one split of air; however, the number are used in all of the steep-pitch mines may run as few as eight and as high as except Greenwood. Nesquehoning has forty-five. thirty 4-hp. motor-driven blowers and Ref urn Hau loge On the 7th and 8th levels at Coaldale, five Coppus air-turbine blowers; Tama- airway ga ng way airways are placed on the same level as qua, eight Coppus blowers; Coaldale has The upper drawing indicates the usual the haulageways, and overcasts or chutes some motor-driven and some air-driven arrangement of airway above the gangway are driven to the coal every fourth (total eight) ; Lansford has five motor- for pitching beds. The lower drawing or fifth breast. Airways are 8x10 driven units; and Alliance one air-driven shows the method in broken rock at C oaldale ft. and are laid with tracks. This system unit. These blowers with tubing are was adopted on these levels at Coaldale used for driving blind chutes and gang­ Compressed air used in water-leyner because of the broken condition of the ways, for making connections, and in drills employed in gangway rock work and the air used by jackhammers which The motor room of this fan at No. 3 shaft, Nesquehoning, serves also as a some miners own and operate to drill d.c. substation. Both controls are full-automatic shotholes in coal, of course, furnish a degree of ventilation. Continual vig­ ilance on the part of the mine officials is necessary, however, to limit the com­ pressed air to its economical uses. Twelve of the main ventilating fans are exhausting and six are blowing units. Most main ventilation is the one-way type because several of the exhaust fans are located at a distance from the down­ cast hoisting shafts and in many places holes are cut from workings near the crop to the surface to serve as intakes or, in the case of blowing fans, as out­ lets. Some air also escapes through old workings and broken areas. At Greenwood, holes cut from the sur­ face of the mountain down to a water- level tunnel serve both as air intakes and as drains for surface water. A zig­ zag muleway that connects with all levels serves also as an air intake. As electric

510 COAL AGE — Vol.40, No.12 Alliance colliery uses several ventilation Control buttons, signal lamps and alarm bells for the boosters such as this blower which operates three mine fans and for an outlying motor-generator in No. 1 tunnel, Skidmore slope, No. 1 shaft are grouped in the main substation at Nesquehoning

locomotives have practically displaced provided for all principal fan installa­ For at least 25 years, stoppings of stock for haulage, the muleway now finds tions. Alarms function through failure fireproof construction have been in­ more use as a manway. of air pressure rather than through mo­ stalled for permanent work in the Pan­ When construction of the latest fan tor or power failure, hence a broken ther valley mines; wood is still used for installation at No. 10 shaft, Greenwood, belt gives an alarm even though the temporary stoppings. Worked-out chutes was under way, in 1928, special care was motor still may be running. Practically are closed off with cement blocks. taken to reduce resistance in the shaft, all large fan motors are wound-rotor type Because of the low percentages of me­ which is 18 ft. 2 in. x 19 ft. and 600 ft. and, in some cases, the control includes thane in main returns, few air samples deep. It was necessary at that time to provision for operating the motor on have been taken and analyzed. Tests at resurface the shaft, and coincident with rotor resistance to reduce fan speed dur­ Tamaqua in October, 1934, showed quan­ that work it was lined with pine planks ing shutdowns or as a temporary means tities between 0.065 and 0.08 per cent set flush with the faces of the timbers until pulley sizes can be changed. in the main return of the Arlington work­ and fastened by Monel metal nails. Because of differences in elevations of ing, which has an exhaust fan. On a Equipment at the top of the shaft con­ the intakes and returns and due to the split ventilated by the Locust Mountain sists of a 12x5-ft. Vulcan fan driven by many openings at the crops, natural cir­ blow fan, a percentage of 0.02 was ob­ a Westinghouse 325-hp. 2,200-volt 490- culation has considerable effect on the served before firing and 0.07 after firing. r.p.m. motor with full-automatic con­ ventilation. At some of the collieries— The State mining law specifies a mini­ trol. Pushbuttons for starting and stop­ Alliance, for instance—fans are stopped mum of 200 cu.ft. of air per minute per ping, operating signal lamps and an whenever the colliery is to be shut down employee, but practices typical of all alarm are mounted on a panel in the main for as much as a week at a time. Nat­ Lehigh Navigation collieries show the colliery substation several hundred feet ural ventilation then provides enough following: Alliance, 566 cu.ft.; Coaldale, distant, where an operator always is on air for safe operation and inspection of 360 cu.ft.; Tamaqua, 455 cu.ft. These duty. automatic pumping stations, which in all figures are calculated for the greatest Full-automatic and remote control is cases are near the shaft. number of men inside at one time.

Main Fans Operating at Collieries of Lehigh Navigation Coal Co.

Size, Ft. Deliver­ Air Water Air ------Miotor------Dia. x ing Direc­ Gage, Shaft, Make Type Horse­ Type of Location Make Width Cu.Ft. tion In. Ft. power Drive Nesquehoning: Wildip...... Jeffrey...... 7x3 79,000 blow 1.8 8x10 G.E. Ind. 75 480 long flat belt No. 1 shaft...... Jeffrey...... 10x4 230,000 blow 3.5 1 2 dia. G.E. Ind. 250 485 long flat belt No. 3 shaft...... Connel...... 11x5 160,000 exh. 2.6 10x10 W. Ind. 250 485 long flat belt Lansford: No. 4 air shaft...... Jeffrey...... I2x4| 75,000 exh. 1.2 14x18 G.E. Ind. 325 490 long flat belt No. 5 West...... I0x3ï 100,000 exh 2.7 45x12 G.E. Ind. 100 485 long flat belt No. 6 Mountain...... Teffrey...... 10x4 170,000 exh 2.25 12x12 W. Ind. 250 485 long flat belt Coaldale: No. 8 Mountain__ ....Jeffrey...... 10x4 210,000 exh. 2.3 12x12 w . Ind. 150 480 long flat belt No. 9...... 10x4 210,000 exh. 3.0 12x12 Al.-Ch. Ind. 150 360 long flat belt No. 8Pr mrose...... 12x6 30,000 blow 2.8 8x10 (steam driven) direct Springdale...... 5-ft. air-prop. 40,000 exh. 1.0 8x 8 W. Ind. 15 715 direct Greenwood: No. 10 shaft...... 12x5 260,000 exh. 4.0 18x19 W. Ind. 325 490 long flat belt ...L.N.C. Co...... 20x61 100,000 blow 2.0 9x16 W. Ind. 150 485 silent chain Arlington...... Vulcan...... 12x5 104,800 exh. 3.0 12x 15 w . Ind. 150 485 long flat belt No. 1...... Jeffrey...... 8x31 150,000 exh. 2.7 10x10 G.E. Ind. 125 575 long flat belt No. 2...... Sturtevant...... 10x5 116,000 exh. 2.5 12x12 AI .-Ch. Ind. 150 575 long flat belt Cranberry: . . .Jeffrey...... 8x31 105,600 blow .9 8x8 G.E. Ind. 25 575 silent chain .. .Guibal...... 16 dia. 51,480 blow .6 7x7 G.E. Ind. 25 575 silent chain N. Whaiton...... Guibal...... 16 dia. 53,120 exh. .8 8x9 G.E. Ind. 25 575 silent chain Legend: G.E. — General Electric Al.-Ch — Allis-Chalmers Ind. — A.C. induction motor Stur'v't — Sturtevant w. - Westinghouse Robin. ■ Robinson Connel. - Connelsville Air-prop. — Airplane propeller type Am. Blow. - American Blower L.N.C. Co.— Lehigh Navigation Coal Co.

December, 1935 — COAL AGE 52 j OPERATING PERSONNEL

R. E. H O B A R T Mechanical Superintendent

F R A N C IS E. STER N ER Superintendent, Tamaqua District

JAMES S. MILLER H. S. GILBERTSON Superintendent, Alliance District Director of Research and Personnel

CHARLES D. RUBERT Superintendent, Coaldale District

A. C. NEUMULLER A. L. WALBRIDGE F orester Superintendent, Cranberry District

512 COAL AGE — Vol.40, No.12 LEHIGH NAVIGATION COAL COMPANY

THOMAS D. LEWIS General Superintendent

W. S. RAUSCH Mining Engineer

FRED B. NOLD E V A N E V A N S Superintendent, Xesquehoning District Operating Assistant to General Superintendent

E. P. H U M P H R E Y Superintendent of Preparation and Strippings

D. C. HELMS F. R. EDWARDS 'm perintendeet, Lansfvrd D istrict Storehouse Inspector

zember, 1935 — COAL AGE ELECTRIFICATION

*+■ A t Lehigh Navigation Coal Co.

ROM its 1905 beginning, electrifi­ ford—by the Lehigh Navigation Elec­ type panels and switches to handle two cation at Lehigh Navigation Coal tric Co., a subsidiary. Pending comple­ incoming circuits and six outgoing FCo. collieries has taken over all tion of this plant the company installed transmission lines. This equipment is steam loads except one shaft hoist and a a 400-kw. 440-volt 25-cycle power plant always under the eye of an attendant. number of locomotives on outside hauls. at its storage yard about one mile from Lengths of transmission lines to colliery Electrical equipment and methods reflect Hauto. With the completion of the substations are: Nesquehoning, 24,000 consistent installation for reliability and Hauto plant in 1913, electrification and ft.; Lansford No. 5 shaft, 14,000 ft.; economy and adoption of new equipment the displacement of steam for hoisting, Greenwood, 16,000 ft.; Tamaqua, 23,200 as soon as advantages are proved. pumping and driving breakers got under ft.; and Coaldale, 4,300 ft. To guard Combined electrical demand of the way in earnest. In 1917 the Hauto plant against pumping interruptions, the loop company’s seven collieries in 1934 was was sold to the Electric Bond & Share system was employed in building trans­ 37,428 kw. ; energy consumption was Co., and the present owner is the Penn­ mission lines. 82,257,863 kw.-hr. In 1913, when elec­ sylvania Power & Light Co. Sale of Seventeen miles of two-circuit line and tric load became a major factor, demand the plant was accompanied by negotia­ 23 miles of single-circuit line constitute was 2,200 kw.; consumption, 2,226,000 tion of a long-term power-service con­ the 25-cycle 11,000-volt system serving kw.-hr. Per-ton consumption was 0.6 tract based on a one-hour demand Panther valley mines. Earlier construc­ kw.-hr. in 1913, or one thirty-seventh period. This contract called for the pur­ tion was based on A-frame-type steel of the 1934 figure of 22.5 kw.-hr. per chase of a specific quantity of fuel from towers, but experience indicated the ton. Approximately 1,100 motors (ex­ the coal company and necessitated con­ superiority of wood poles with wood cluding fractional-horsepower and mine- struction of a main substation and crossarms. Consequently, the latter con­ locomotive types) are now in use. In 11,000-volt transmission system by Le­ struction was adopted for the lines last all but a few cases where no labor sav­ high Navigation. built. The 11,000-volt power is trans­ ing would result, mine pumps, fans and This main substation, 1,000 ft. from formed to 2,300 volts and/or 440 volts air compressors are equipped with full- the Hauto plant, is a brick and steel at main substations at each colliery. In automatic controls. structure containing 11,000-volt truck- most cases, these substations also con- Electrically, the seven collieries are divided into three groups, each supplied By 1927, where the curves of totals for all mines begin to run approximately exclusively with purchased power. One parallel, electrification had been practically completed group consists of Nesquehoning, Lans- 100 ford, Coaldale, Greenwood and Tamaqua collieries, all in a radius of 11 miles in the Panther Creek valley. This group 90 / ' o fc OCt / is supplied with 25-cycle 11,000-volt T ons / A energy through one metering station. \ / 80 / 1 \ \ Cranberry and Alliance each constitute / / \ / / * \ / / a separate group served by 60-cycle w N f \ 66,000-volt power. These two collieries, 0 70 \ i o \ \ i formerly operated by subsidiaries, came X < i into the power picture in 1927, when \ i + 60 s / —V they were merged with other company i 3 6 o \ i o operations. / \/ - u In 1905, the company built a power O 50 c plant at Lansford1 with the following equipment : two d.c. generators, 400 and ■2 4 0 o *4- 225 kw., to supply a trolley system ; two 4 L O 0} „VV quarter-phase generators, 220 and 75 V kw., lighting loads in surrounding Iso towns; and two 25-cycle 2,300-volt 3- 4/ phase generators, 700 and 400 kva., col­ Ć 4 20 liery power. A 400-kva. unit was added to the 3-phase capacity in 1910, bringing the total to 1,500 kva. 10 A new plant with three 12,500-kva. 11,000-volt 25-cycle turbo-generators was put in service in 1913 at Hauto— £2 ^ in co tv. CO O O — CM r o x t I f ) (fi L COOO — (N ro "fr 0s o o . ^ I ^ ^ ^ r CNCNCslc''J( N C N | C'4CN CM (N PO ro TO ro ro one mile across the mountain from Lans- O' C P O ' O ' O ' O ' O ' O ' O ' O' O' O' O' O' O' O' O' O' O'

514 COAL AGE — Vol.40, No.12 - q - Ha who pow er house the principal underground d.c. load, the |l remainder consisting of a few booster II II fans, a number of blowers and, in some H a who m ain Subshah/on it. sections, conveyors, scrapers and loading machines. Direct-current feeder cables, Coa loloi le su bshahion insulated with rubber compound and protected by Ferrin circular loom, usu­ '■Greenwood subshah/on ally are taken into the mines through 'Rahn su bshahion the shafts. Normally, one circuit is run Tam ao/ua subshcrhion ' "No. 5 \ L a n s f o r d '' No. 6 ) s u b s h a h io n s to each level except where one cable is sufficient for the entire shaft load. In Unique for a coal company at the time of its installation was this loop system mines where branch feeders supply a which transmits 11,000 volts to the "Valley” collieries level or a large section, automatic sec- tionalizing breakers are installed to min­ Connected Loads at Lehigh Navigation Coal Co. Operations imize interruptions. Synchronous Rotary All trolley wire is No. 4/0, grooved A. C. Motors (Except Synchronous) Motors1 Converters Outside Underground (All outside) (All outside) section, and long-type track bonds with Districts No. Hp. No. Hp. No. Hp. No. Kw. arc-weld steel terminals are employed. Nesquehoning...... 85 6,329.50 0 0 3 1,400 3 900 Hackle Bemie2 (stripping)... 6 456.50 0 0 0 0 0 0 Crossbonds are installed every 300 ft. Lansford...... 118 9,531.60 12 3,000.0 4 1,300 2 900 Length of d.c. circuits is limited to ap­ Coaldale...... 87 5,851.35 17 2,250.0 1 350 2 700 Summit Hill (stripping) 35 848.20 0 0 3 910 0 0 proximately two miles. Culminating an Greenwood...... 35 5,165 7 1,795.0 2 700 1 300 Rahn...... 9 1,484.50 10 1,662.5 0 0 1 500 electrical safety program begun ten Tamaqua...... 68 6,470.75 II 1,863.0 2 900 1 300 years ago, inclosed safety switches have Alliance2...... 36 4,166.50 20 1,417.5 1 350 1 300 Cranberry2...... 112 7,521.00 23 3,894.5 2 495 1 300 displaced all open d.c. switches inside Lansford shops...... 63 1,278.58 0 0 0 0 1 100 the mines and steel-inclosed starters Hauto distiict (includes stor­ age yard)...... 12 1,835.50 0 0 0 0 0 0 have replaced open starters on station­ ary d.c. motors underground. Totals...... 666 5 0,938.98 100 16,062.5 1 8 6,465 1 3 4,400 Motors in mine pumping stations and »Includes three synchronous motor-generator substation sets. 260-cycle equipment (all other districts are 25-cycle). on slope hoists have either 440- or 2,300- volt windings. The lower voltage was generally used in early days, but the tain air compressors and d.c. conversion mit Hill. Lansford breaker has two higher voltage features all installations units, and in each instance the several 200-hp. synchronous motors, one idling in recent years. Practically all the 440- equipments are supervised by one at­ to improve power factor and the other volt shaft and borehole cables are single tendant. driving a wash-water pump. Magnetic conductors insulated with rubber and The motor room of the mine fan ad­ clutches permit interchanging the units. protected with circular loom. Many of joins the substation at Tamaqua, and at At the two 60-cycle collieries, capaci­ the 2,300-volt cables are of the same this and other collieries, outlying fans, tors provide additional power-factor cor­ type; 3-conductor armored cables with­ d.c. substations and air compressors are rection. A 660-kva. capacitor installed out lead, however, are being considered equipped with full-automatic controls at Alliance in August, 1932, paid for as the new standard for this higher with operating buttons and signals in the itself in 22 months and a 600-kva. unit voltage. main colliery substations and therefore installed at Cranberry in November, A cable of this latter type—the larg­ under the supervision of the same 1932, paid for itself in 14 months. est installed in a coal mine— was put into attendants. In several cases control and Locomotives (Table I, p. 507) oper­ service in No. 12 shaft, Greenwood col­ signal lines for main underground ating from 250-volt trolleys constitute liery. Length is 880 ft. and the entire pumping stations are extended to the surface and control buttons and signals From the substation (in the lower foreground), owned and operated by the installed in the main substations. coal company, 11,000-volt 25-cycle energy generated at the Hauto plant All d.c. conversion machines are lo­ (background) of the Pennsylvania Power & Light Co. is transmitted to the cated outside of the mines; rotary con­ Panther Creek valley collieries verters are the principal type. Total capacity of the thirteen converters in service, mostly 300 kw. but ranging from 100 to 500 kw., is 4,400 kw. The only 100-kw. machine supplies d.c. power requirements at the central repair shop at Lansford. One of the two 500- kw. units is stationed at Rahn colliery, which is shut down but kept dewatered. Synchronous motor-generator sets are now favored for substation units and include one 300-kw. unit at Nesquehon­ ing, one 200-kw. unit at Tamaqua and one 200-kw. unit at Cranberry. All three are at outlying points where there are no attendants and, therefore, are equipped with full-automatic controls. Other synchronous machines, princi­ pally driving stationary air compressors, total 5,490 connected horsepower. Com­ pressor motors are direct-connected and sizes range from 250 to 650 hp. One 500-hp. synchronous motor drives the generator of a stripping shovel at Sum­ units are used on chain hauls handling mine cars to and from the dumps at the top of the breaker. Two more are in­ corporated in a compressor installation. A 300-hp. motor transmitting power through a flat belt and spur gearing drives the empty ramp chain haul with­ out clutch connections; therefore, this haul is in operation whenever the motor is running. The loaded chain is driven from the same motor but is started and stopped by pushbutton operation of a 48-in. magnetic clutch. Another 48-in. clutch is used on a second pair of car hauls alongside the first. In the main substation a 600-hp. Elec­ tric Machinery Co. synchronous motor Monthly variations of electrical energy used at all collieries closely parallel is connected through magnetic clutches the total tons of coal produced to two 1,800-c.f.m. Sullivan angle-com­ pound compressors. Ordinarily but one weight of 16,544 lb. is supported at the air cylinders with solenoid-controlled compressor is in operation and the motor top of the shaft by the armor wires. valves. then furnishes considerable power- Specifications are : three-conductor, 800,- Breaker machinery is driven for the factor correction. The magnetic clutches 000-circ. mil, ii-in. 30-per-cent Amerite most part by 440-volt 300-hp. and 500- permit shifting from one compressor to rubber insulation, rubber-filled tape, con­ hp. slip-ring induction motors connected the other or operation of both. ductors cabled together with jute fillers, by long flat belts to the lineshafts of the To facilitate economic control and one rubber-filled tape to form the jacket, transmission rope drives. Most of these maintenance of electrical transmission, jute and No. 4 B.w.g. galvanized wire installations have been in service about distribution and power equipments, and armor heavily asphalted. The cable con­ twenty years and their starting panels, to provide data for power-cost account­ ducts 2,300-volt 25-cycle power to three of the manual type, are grouped in a ing, 258 watt-hour meters (excluding 650-hp. motors in the fifth-level pump­ separate control room in each breaker. meters in company-owned houses) are ing station. Reversing switches to facilitate repair installed and are read at the end of each Most of the mine-pump motors are of work are included in the controls. In month. Of these meters, 204 are at squirrel-cage induction type and are the Tamaqua breaker, completely rebuilt Panther Creek valley mines, 35 at Alli­ started on reduced voltage. A few older this year, and in the new No. 5 buck ance and 19 at Cranberry. Power- pump motors are of the slip-ring type; plant, Nesquehoning breaker, individual charge classifications and the ordinary in 1931, the automatic controls were im­ motor drives are employed. ranges of kilowatt-hours per ton are as proved by adding equipment to insert Double-deck squirrel-cage motors are follows: haulage, 1.2 to 4.2; hoisting, resistance in the rotor circuit to slow not used. To enable the lower-cost plain 0.9 to 3.9; ventilation, 1.5 to 5; drain­ down the pumps before the motors are squirrel-cage motors to start heavy age, 0 to 15.3; breaker machinery, 4.1 cut off the line, thus preventing shock loads, Madden slip-ring starters were in­ to 7.1 ; compressors, 1.2 to 7.5; lighting from sudden water stoppage. stalled on six 15- to 50-hp. motors in the and charging stations, 0.2 to 0.6; and Slip-ring induction motors are used rebuilt Tamaqua breaker. This starter, miscellaneous, 0.1 to 0.9. on all shaft hoists. Rating of the largest made under Bethlehem Steel-Nieman Electrical department employees num­ is 1,250 hp. Liquid rheostat controls are patents, consists of a centrifugal clutch ber 69, 16 of whom are substation oper­ used on a few of the older installations, hub on which is mounted the motor ators. Office help, inspectors, construc­ but the grid-resistance-type controls of V-belt pulley or chain sprocket. The tion men, central winding-shop em­ the newer hoists have proved more satis­ starter allows the motor to reach nearly ployees and metermen make up the re­ factory. The latest electric-hoist instal­ full speed before it engages its load. mainder. Local electrical men at each lation, made in 1930, is at No. 14 shaft, At Lansford colliery, Cutler-Hammer colliery—termed district electricians— Tamaqua. Here a Westinghouse 1,200- magnetic clutches are used on five motor and their maintenance forces are not in­ hp. 2,300-volt 293-r.p.m. slip-ring motor drives. Besides the two 26-in. magnetic cluded in the electrical department ros­ drives a Vulcan hoist. Primary con­ clutches on the 200-hp. synchronous ter, as they are on the payrolls of the tactors of the controls are actuated by motors already mentioned, two larger colliery superintendents.

Typical sections from a 24-hour Hauto substation wattmeter chart for Oct. 17, 1935, when Lansford, Coaldale, Greenwood and Tamaqua collieries were operating

—20,000

15,000!?,

10,0005

5,000

516 COAL AGE — Vol.40, N 0.12 Arrows point to the new cable and its suspension at No. 12 shaft, Greenwood. This is the largest 2,300-volt three-conductor armored cable used by the coal industry in the United States

Magnetic clutches with screened guards couple this 600 - hp. synchronous motor to a pair of 1,800-cu.ft. angle-compound compressors in the No. 6 sub­ station, Lansford

In Lansford breaker, two 200- hp. synchronous motors circu­ late wash water and supply leading current for power- factor correction. The cou­ plings, protected by screen, are of the magnetic-clutch type

Housed in the steel cabinet a the main substation, is the 600-kva. 2,300-volt cycle capacitor which paid itself in 14 m onths

Three 667-kva. single­ phase transformers in a substation at Alliance breaker reduce voltage from 11,000 to 440 to supply the breaker motors

Where d.c. feeders branch to serve a separate level, With heads protected and electric cap lamps, these miners await the cage at Alliance

SAFETY

+ A t Lehigh Navigation Coal Co.

TRONG pressure on the major lion tons, 337.85. In the period Jan. 1, safety program has been based on ascer­ causes of injuries and fatalities is 1931-Sept. 30, 1935, the fatality rate taining how injuries result as a means S the keynote of the Lehigh Navi­ per million man-hours was 0.930; per of prescribing proper remedies. In that gation Coal Co. safety program. Natu­ million tons, 2.985. Considering lost­ year, a study of the causes of all serious rally, no possible cause of an injury is time injuries, the rate per million man- injuries and fatalities was made and pre­ neglected, but logic dictates concentra­ hours in this period was 80.05; per ventive measures were evolved. These tion on those classes of accidents taking million tons, 256.89. measures supplement the mine law and the greatest toll as the best method of General supervision over surface were related directly to the findings in achieving maximum results. As both safety is exercised by a safety director, presenting them to employees by bulle­ equipment and men are involved in who also acts as fire inspector. Under­ tins, posters and word of mouth. Fur­ injuries, prevention generally is ap­ ground safety is the responsibility of thermore, measures were segregated by proached from two angles: improve­ colliery officials, who, however, receive occupations to make the appeal to each ment of physical condition of mines assistance in special problems from the class of employee more definite, and and equipment, and development of a main operating office. A regular check listed not only dangerous conditions to safety spirit among both supervisors of ventilation, cleanliness and general watch for and report but also methods and employees. Man-to-man discussion mine condition is made by a mine in­ of accomplishing different tasks safely. on the ground is favored, wherever spector, who also investigates, in co­ In improving physical conditions, at­ possible, in putting over safety, supple­ operation with colliery officials and, in tention is centered on maintenance of mented by publicity and educational many cases, the State mine inspector, all equipment in good condition—also an media of a general nature. fatal and serious injuries, reporting di­ aid to operating efficiency; installation In addition to the usual perils of coal rectly to the general superintendent. of guards around all moving machinery mining, Lehigh Navigation operations Since 1924, the Lehigh Navigation and along trolley lines at crossings and must cope with the additional hazards of working steeply pitching beds sub­ ject to rushes of coal and rock and sudden outbursts of gas following runs. Table I—Injury Record of the Lehigh Navigation Coal Co. by Years From 1926 Total Lost-time Permanent While conditions therefore are some­ Man-Hours Output, Injuries and Injuries and Partial Fatali- what more difficult than usual, definite Worked Net Tons Fatalities* Fatalities Disabilities ties progress has been made. In the period \ l l i ...... 4,152,481 3,203 1,323 10 22 \ l 2l ...... 4,399,961 3,973 1,667 10 23 1926-30, inclusive, for example, the fa­ ...... \5AVA*A 3,968,632 2,954 1,064 6 14 ...... 4953,748 3,426,176 3,773 1,421 17 14 tality rate per million man-hours was q 2?...... 3,564,248 3,655 1,117 13 27 1.421; per million net tons produced, \ l \ \ ...... 0L633 3,341,091 3,178 925 4 10 \ l \ l ...... 9,154,709 2,860,553 2,555 774 7 4 5.125. On the basis of lost-time in­ \ l \ l ...... 2,780,057 2,326 661 6 II juries, including fatalities, the rate per ...... UA ° A 'I V 3,657,668 2,975 916 16 16 l935t ...... 7,965,856 2,437,084 2,234 597 10 4 million man-hours was 93.65; per mil­ »Includes all inj uries reported, whether or not involving lost time, f January-September, inclusive.

518 COAL AGE — Vol.40.No.12 points where coal is loaded into carsp Table II— Injuries and Fatalities by Causes at Lehigh Navigation Colleries, 1931-35 , 1931------. .-----1932— . ------1933---- — l 93tTTT' "----- good track carefully maintained; timber Fatal- Fatal- Fatal- Fatal- Farid of the proper size placed in the proper All ties All ties All ties All ties All ties manner; careful construction of man- Injuries"}" Only Injuries"}" Only Injuries"}" Only Injuries'}" Only InjunesT > Animals...... 11 .. 6 3 .. 8 . - is ways, batteries, chutes, etc., and clean Caught in machinery. . . . 12 1 10.. 11 1 10 .. gangways, tunnels, manways and other Electricity...... 16 13 10 2 8 9 " Escaping steam...... 9 5 9 .. 2 'i 1 openings. Explosives...... 2 I .. 3 2 6 I Explosion, gas...... 8 ...... 8 .. a i ■■■■ Ventilation, in view of the irregular Falling material...... 104 .. 97 .. 76 .. 96 .. • and unexpected occurrence of gas, has Falls of coal, rock, etc------813 5 535 I 465 1 618 Falling persons...... 194 I 146 127 .. 191 2 144 been the subject of special attention. Prevention of gas explosions also has nyin4 .kmatCrial' . COal. 0r 375 .. 242 .. 205 .. 259 .. 202 .. Steel, etc...... 270 238 . 224 260 .. 194 been approached through electric cap Gas asphyxiation...... 3 .. 9 I I • ,kn lamps and safe blasting practices. In Handling material 390 .. 402 .. 396 1 50 ., 12 Rush of material...... 14 2 10 I 16 I , 7 37 ! ventilation, the first rule is plenty of air Stepping on nails...... 53 .. 36 u •• 27 . . Fixed objects... 37 .. ,29 .. 36 .. 23 .. « _ without interruptions. Fans, therefore, Striking obstructions. .. . 214 .. 224 .. 209 are made of incombustible material as Transportation, coupling , „ , , ,. • , c7 1 . ( 5 4 1 , orspragging...... 67 1 , i 55 1 , 5 1 3 57 4 J i* 2 far as possible, and all electrically driven Other transportation.. 122/ { 117 / .101 J I j Tools, defective...... 3 J i •• ] 30 main fans are equipped with automatic Slipping...... 1M ■■ 22 .. M8 166 .. j ?g starters, remote-control equipment, spe­ Handling...... 234 198 34 " 74 1 40 cial recording gages, voltmeters and am­ All others...... 62 ^ 58 ^ 54 _ — meters, thermostats and explosion doors. T o ta l...... 3,178 10 2,555 4 2,326 1 1 2,975 16 2,234 4 »January-September, inclusive; flncludes all injuries reported, whether or not involving lost time. Company standards call for large, clean airways and prohibit passage of air through gob areas to live sections. Table III— Injuries by Time Lost, Lehigh Navigation Colleries, 1931-35 All return air is kept above the intake 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935* by constructing overcasts (p. 509) every 2,253 1,781 1,665 2,059 1,637 No lost time...... 460 392 298 377 226 four or five breasts to the primary air­ 1-7 days...... 94 68 66 70 46 8-10 days...... 104 73 79 111 5| ways. Friction is reduced by the fre­ 1 l-14days...... 253 230 201 326 260 quent splitting; doors on gangways are Over 14 days...... 4 7 6 16 10 P. P. Disability...... 10 4 11 16 4 eliminated; short-circuiting while load­ Fatal...... 2,555 2,326 2,975 2,234 ing from the chute is prevented; and, in Total...... 3,178 case of a gas explosion, its effect is »January-September, inclusive, localized. Introduction of overcasting has sub­ T a b le IV—Fatal and Non-Fatal Injuries new location and the installation have stantially reduced the number of auxiliary Gas Explosions, by Five-Year Peri­ F rom been checked and approved as safe by fans, although such fans still find a place ods, 1913-35 the electrician, foreman and mine in­ in the operating set-up. Electric mo­ Non- Tons per tor drives are forbidden, however, unless Fatal fatal Tons per Non-Fatal spector. Injuries Injuries Fatality Injury Another factor in the reduction of in­ the air from the face can be shunted to 1913-1917 17 317 1,266,152 67,901 juries from gas explosions (Table IV ) is the return ahead of the fan. Carrying 1918-1922 28 186 685,679 103,220 6 69 3,000,137 260,881 the use of permissible electric cap lamps precautions still further, a special report 1923-1927 628,981 1928-1932 4 26 4,088,401 and flame safety lamps at all collieries is required when underground electrical 1933-1935* 2 11 4,437,205 806,800 but Cranberry. Installation of electric equipment is moved as evidence that the *Two years, nine months. lamps was started at Lansford colliery in 1912, and at present 5,744 are in use. Ignition of gas by explosives was the Table V— Fatal and Non-Fatal Injuries Involving the Use of Explosives, third major line of attack, which, among Lehigh Navigation Collieries, 1923-34 1932 1933 1934 1935* Total other measures, involved substitution of 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 I 2 electric firing units for fuse. The first Blown-out shots—-fatal.. .. 1 1 4 of these units went into use in 1913. Now, Non-fatal...... 3 " . . . 2 Dislodged shots—fatal...... I "... 7 1,450 are in active service. N o n -fatal. • • • 3 Drilling into misfires—fatal i 1 7 Explosives accidents as a class were N on-fatal...... made the subject of a special drive start­ Drilling into explosive— 3 fa ta l...... 1 ing in 1930 after a thorough investigation N on-fatal...... 11 Excessive charge—fatal. . . . 27 N on-fatal...... Firing from trolley wire— 1 6 Table VI—Injuries and Fatalities Involv­ fa ta l...... ing Explosives in Terms of Man-Hours N on-fatal...... Firing from unsafe position 2 Worked and Tons Produced, Lehigh —fa ta l...... I Navigation Collieries N on-fatal...... 1 Flying material—fatal...... 10 Per 1,000,000 Per 17000,000 Non-fatal...... 7 ,— Man-Hours— . ,—Tons Produced—, Fumes (returning too soon) 6 Fatal Non-fatal Fatal Non-fatal —f a t a l ...... ' 2 1 2 1923 . . . . 0.368 0.921 1.392 3.480 N o n - fa ta l...... ' i Gas explosions (fuse) fatal 21 192 4...... 0.189 1.260 0.756 5.039 6 12 2 1 192 5...... 1.030 1.133 3.600 3.959 N on-fatal...... 192 6...... 0.245 0.901 0.765 2.806 Handling caps—fatal...... i "2 192 7...... 0.555 0.833 1.874 2.811 N on-fatal 192 8...... 0.324 0.973 1.247 3.742 Picking into powder fatal. ' 2 192 9...... 0.267 0.736 1.026 2.823 N on-fatal ...... • • • • • • • ‘ 4 "2 ' 2 193 0...... 0.298 0.522 1.099 1.925 Premature (tamping) fatal j 193 1...... 0.000 0.178 0.000 0.597 N on-fatal...... ' 2 1932 ____ 0.000 0.109 0.000 0.340 Short-f use—fatal...... 193 3...... 0.226 0.226 0.725 0.725 Non-fatal ...... •••■ "2 Shots fired by others—fatal ' j ' 2 1934 .... 0.098 0.489 0.270 1.350 3 i 1 "2 1935*.... 0.000 0.125 0.000 0.428 N o n - fa ta l...... Average, Not classified—fa ta l ...... ' i 3 1923-30 0.383 0.908 1.396 3.312 N on-fatal...... LI __ —— -—- — 46 Average, 6 3 10 3 8 5 4 113 1931-35 0.062 0.227 0.201 0.734 11 11 12 15 11 T otal non-fatalities ...... 15 20 ♦January-September, inclusive. »January-September, inclusive. 519 December, 1935 — COAL AGE oí blasting injuries. Results (Tables V explosives and keeping them in a safe and V I) include a reduction in fatalities place away from detonators and out of per million man-hours worked from 0.383 the line of shots. Special attention has in the period 1923-30, inclusive, to 0.062 been given installation of firing lines to in the period of 1931-35 ; per million net eliminate confusing connections and tons produced, from 1.396 to 0.201. Non- thereby mistakes in firing. These lines fatal injuries from explosives were re­ are fastened in wooden cleats about 6 in. duced from 0.908 per million man-hours long securely nailed to timbers. Wires to 0.227 ; per million net tons, from 3.312 are kept apart and free from coal, rock, to 0.734. Average yearly cost of fatal air lines, sheet iron and other metals. injuries was reduced from $21,048 (1923- Safety breaks (Fig. 1) are installed a 30) to $3,769 (1931-34); non-fatal in­ safe distance from the face and the wires juries, from $7,126 to $984. Total com­ are cut and the ends shunted. After con­ pensation and medical savings were ap­ necting the lead wires, the miner joins the proximately $95,000 to the end of 1934, two circuits at the safety break on the in addition to an incalculable saving in way out. Connections are broken when suffering. returning after shooting, thus guarding Preliminary investigation of blasting N a ils the miner from the mistakes of others injuries covered a period of six months, I Wires shurrheol and, to some extent, from stray cur­ after which the work and its importance K 3 0 " ------> rents. Safety breaks have substantially were outlined to colliery officials. Then, reduced injuries and fatalities from shots with the assistant foreman in attendance, Fig. 1—Safety break in firing line fired by others. all miners, starters and rockmen were protects man at face Ignition of explosives, resulting in visited at their working places in order partial detonation, loose powder in the to inspect and discuss practices then in Leg wires looped coal and dangerous gases, came into no­ around ca rtrid g e ___ use, present the record of previous in­ tice in 1931. Investigation disclosed juries and enlist cooperation. These that embedding the igniter in the cart­ visits, it was stressed, were to pass on ridge was the cause, which was corrected helpful information on placement of by tying the igniter in place with the holes, care of blasting machines, detona­ Improper me+hod of preparing match-head outside the cartridge (Fig. tors and explosives ; installation of firing primer wi+h delay electric igniter 2). To reduce premature explosions lines ; preparation of primers ; charging Iqniier shell - from charging of holes, stress is laid on of drillholes ; misfires ; and the cause and drills in good condition and large enough prevention of injuries. so that the charge will go in easily; prep­ Wide variations in conditions make aration of primers to prevent loosening establishment of a standard method of of the cap in charging; wooden tamping placing holes impracticable, but helpful PropeK method bars only; and avoidance of excessive assistance has been rendered in a num­ force in tamping. Miners are expected ber of instances. All blasting is elec­ Fig. 2—Changing position of igniter to report misfires to the foreman, who checked explosive ignition trical, with the exception of one colliery, sees that they are handled under com­ and detonators include electric blasting petent supervision. Believing that pre­ caps, delay electric igniters with attached where they can be kept dry. Every six vention of injuries from misfires re­ caps and some all-metal delay electric months they are inspected and repaired quires elimination of misfires themselves, caps. Ten-hole electromagnet and five- by the electrical department. the management, however, presses for hole permanent-magnet blasting ma­ Detonators are taken into the mines proper preparation of explosives and chines are used unless more than ten in small quantities in a wooden box for charging of holes. holes are to be fired, in which case a protection and prevention of loss in the Safety headgear is worn by 90 per 50-hole pushdown machine is employed. coal. The anthracite mine law limits cent of the miners at six cpllieries. In­ All blasting machines are returned at powder quantities to 25 lb. or enough for troduction is under way at the seventh the end of the shift to a central station one shift. Stress is laid on protecting operation. In 1930, when the use of hats

Wheels, pulleys, belts and other moving parts are fitted with Use of trolley guards at loading chutes is one of the protective screens or railings to prevent injuries in surface plants measures employed at Lehigh Navigation collieries

520 COAL AGE — Vol.40,No.l2 go to all colliery superintendents for dis­ cussion and appropriate action. In many cases, accident reports are made the sub­ ject of special meetings of operating of­ ficials, and regular—in many instances, daily—meetings on injuries is the rule among foremen at the various collieries. Employees are requested to report all injuries and appear at the first-aid sta­ tion for treatment. Here, reports are made out for minor injuries; reports going to the colliery superintendent, thus insuring a check on injuries of this type. First-aid stations or hospitals are in­ stalled on every level, usually near the shaft landing, and first-aid kits are placed in practically every fireboss’ section. Placement of men also is adjusted so that each such section contains a complement thoroughly grounded in first-aid prac­ tice. With the cooperation of the U. S. Hospitals or first-aid stations are maintained on each level. Above is Bureau of Mines, a training course for the Dr. Young Memorial in the No. 9 shaft workings, Coaldale colliery employees in the Panther Creek Valley was instituted in September, 1934, ex­ tending through to May, 1935. Approxi­ started, scalp injuries numbered 202, or When serious or fatal accidents do oc­ mately two-thirds of the men availed 8.4 per cent of the 2,397 injuries incurred cur, the management believes in a thor­ themselves of this training. _ First-aid inside the m ines. In the first nine months ough investigation, as outlined above, as and mine-rescue teams are maintained at of 1935, scalp injuries numbered only the best basis for evolving preventive each operation and receive instruction 33, or 2.4 per cent of the 1.340 under­ measures. In addition to submission to during regular training periods. ground injuries. central office officials, copies of reports

COMPRESSED AIR

+ A t Lehigh Navigation Coal Co.

In every case of synchronous d rive the ECAUSE air drills continue to hold stationary units at the collieries proper. Nine other compressors, in sizes from 150 motor is connected directly to the crank­ first place as tools for rock work, to 842 cu.ft., are in coal strippings, cen­ shaft. All excepting one unit, a S u llivan Bthe compressing of air and its dis­ tral repair shops and as portables. at Lansford, have rigid connections. tribution to the mine workings accounts for as much as 7 \ per cent of the electrical This 1,500-cu.ft. compressor and 350-hp. synchronous motor at Alliance en ergy used at certain collieries of the colliery are typical of several of the main compressors L eh igh Navigation Coal Co. All but one of th e large compressors are driven by synchronous motors and the total con­ nected electrical load of all compressor; is 5,745 hp. In addition to drilling, air also is put to at least a dozen other uses in and about the mines. _ W ith th e exception of a few portable m achines, compressors are installed on the surface, usually in main power sta­ tions where an attendant is on duty, ihe few units otherwise situated are equipped with automatic starters having control wires extended to pushbutton and signa - light panels in the m ain substation. Pro­ tection for these few compressors without regu lar attendants includes thermostats on bearings and air cylinders. Twentv-two compressors ranging in ca p a city from 150 to 3,600 cu.it. per min­ u te and operating at a nominal pressure of 100 lb. per square inch constitute the 521 December, 1935 —COAL AGE This Lansford unit consists of two 1,800- cu.ft. angle-compound compressors in­ stalled one on each side of a 650-hp. 25- cycle 214-r.p.m. synchronous motor, and the shaft connections are made through magnetic clutches. When but one of the two compressors is in use, the extra ca­ pacity of the motor is utilized to improve power factor. A 3,000-cu.ft. Ingersoll-Rand compres­ sor at Nesquehoning is driven by a 650- hp. motor started on full line voltage (2,300). This unit is equipped with full- automatic control and operates without an attendant. Each compressor has its own receiver outside the building and there are no valves between compressor discharge and receiver. In addition, as the receiver is fitted with a relief valve, the units are pro­ tected against overpressure. Vapor explosions in receivers are Contractor’s men using water-leyner air drills in driving a tunnel guarded against by close supervision to on the fifth level, Lansford reduce the quantity of air cylinder oil to a minimum safe for lubrication and by blowing out receivers daily. On a 1,500- cu.ft. compressor four drops per minute in the low-pressure cylinder and three drops in the high-pressure are the usual adjustments. Receiver blowout connec­ tions are at the lowest point except in a few cases where vertical dished-head re­ ceivers stand on solid concrete. In the latter a little water is put into the bottom so that the accumulating oil will be floated up to the blowoff level. Nine thousand feet is approximately the maximum distance of air transmis­ sion and the usual steps of pipe sizes as loads diminish at points of branch con­ nections are: 6-in., 4-in., 3-in., 2-in. and 1-in. An exception to the 6-in. maximum is a 10-in. cast-iron line in a shaft at Tamaqua. Most of the 6-in. lines in shafts are cast-iron, but in the last in­ stallation, No. 12 shaft, Greenwood, a 6-in. steel pipe with VanStone joints was Controls of this 650-hp. synchronous line-start motor and 3,000-cu.ft. installed. Underground receivers are compressor at Nesquehoning are full-automatic used in some cases and these usually are within a few hundred feet of the shaft. Distribution piping in sizes of 4 in. and below is steel. Uses of compressed air underground, arranged approximately in the order of their necessity, are as follows: contrac­ tor’s rock drills, jackhammers used by a few miners to drill shotholes in coal, air- turbine-driven blowers and air jets for auxiliary ventilation with tubing, car transfers at shaft levels and landings, re­ ciprocating pumps for gassy dip work­ ings, priming a few pump stations by in­ jectors, blowing dirt out of electric loco­ motives, blast for forges and transfer of batteries of a permissible locomotive. Those miners who drill coal by air fur­ nish their own jackhammers, but they number only about 4 per cent of the total miners employed. At all collieries the compressed air lines are arranged to constitute emergency water-line systems for fighting fires. A drive consisting of a gravity-tightening motor-mounting connects this The connections between high-pressure 100-hp. motor to the 520-cu.ft. compressor in Tamaqua substation water pipes and the main air lines are in 522 COAL AGE — Vol.40, No.12 place at all times and valves for proper Stationary Air Compressors in Use (Excepting Those at Shops and Strip Operations} control are included. Capacity R.p.m, «------M otor— Above ground one of the important uses Cu.Ft. Com­ Rated of compressed air is the operation of rock Make Per Min. pressor Make horsepower Type Location Nesquehomng: gates at breakers. In most cases this air Ing.-Rand...... 3,000 187$ G.E. 650 Synchronous Substation is furnished by a compressor installed at Bury...... 1,500 214 W. 375 Synchronous Substation Worth...... 500 203 AL-Ch. 150 Induction Headhouse at breaker the breaker and operated free of a regu­ lar connection with the main compressors Lansford: Sullivan...... 3,600 214 E.M. 650 Synchronous Substation supplying air to the mine workings. Other Ch.-Pneu ...... 1,500 214 W. 250 Synchronous Substation Pa...... 525 250 G.E. 100 Induction Breaker outside uses include end dumps for coal Sullivan...... 150 W. 25 D.C. Blacksmith shop cars, machines used in sharpening con­ Coaldale: tractor’s drill steel, brakes and clutches of Ing.-Rand...... 1,600 Steam-driven hoists, and all shop uses including chip­ Bury...... 1,500 214 Al.-Ch. 350 Synchronous Substation Worth...... 770 188 W. 150 Induction Substation ping, riveting, and blowing dust out of Worth...... 830 202 Burke 150 Induction Substation machinery. Sullivan...... 500 W. 75 Induction Substation To assure proper lubrication, mainte­ Greenwood: nance and safety at compressed-air sta­ Bury...... 1,500 214 G.E. 350 Synchronous Substation Bury...... 1,500 214 G.E. 350 Synchronous Substation tions the equipment is under the general supervision of an inspector who reports Tamaqua: Ing.-Rand...... 3,000 187$ G.E. 600 Synchronous Substation directly to the mechanical superintendent. Pa...... 520 240 Al.-Ch. 100 Induction Substation As this same man is responsible for the Bury...... 500 W. 100 Induction Breaker inspection of mine fans and hoists, the Alliance: cost of supervision over compressors is Bury...... 1,500 225 Al.-Ch. 350 Synchronous Suostation Ch.-Pneu...... 400 G.E. 75 Induction Breaker less than the salary of one man. In recent Ing.-Rand...... 200 235 G.E. 40 D.C. Breaker years, no developments of machinery or Cranberry: methods have appeared which would in­ Ludlow...... 1,600 W. 250 Synchronous Substation dicate that the status of compressed air Ing.-Rand...... W. 40 Induction Substation at mines of the Lehigh Navigation Coal Note: Ing.-Rand. Ingersoll Rand Al.-Ch. Allis-Chalmeis G.E. General Electric RM . Electric Machinery Co. will change materially in the near W Westinghouse Ch.Pneu. Chicago Pneumatic future. Worth. Worthington Pa. Pennsylvania

MAINTENANCE

+ A t Lehigh Navigation Coal Co.

ESPITE steady and successful supervision is carried further at the five superintendent are the following men: pressure to reduce expenditure on Panther valley collieries than at Alli­ an electrical engineer who has a force Dequipment maintenance in recent ance and Cranberry. of 16 substation operators and 53 maintenance and construction men; a years, maintenance is still an important Reporting directly to the mechanical item in the cost per ton of coal shipped from collieries of the Lehigh Naviga­ Heavy repairing, electrical rewinding and foundry tion Coal Co. The effect of machinery casting are done at the central shops at Lansford delays both on tonnage output and on fixed costs makes maintenance of me­ chanical and electrical equipment a major operating activity. Finding the most suitable lubricants, seeking better materials in general and designing im­ proved layouts and parts are activities that naturally group under maintenance. Although each colliery superintendent is directly responsible for the mainte­ nance of his equipment and the local electricians and mechanics report to him, the whole activity is guided and super­ vised by the mechanical superintendent and his force of mechanical and electri­ cal engineers, and machinery inspectors with headquarters at Lansford. Exten­ sive repairs to equipment that it would be impractical to send to the Lansford central shop are handled or supervised by men sent from headquarters ; this 523 December, 1935 — COAL AGE About thirty Lehigh Navigation steam locomotives One hundred locomotive armatures were repaired are overhauled each year in the electrical shop in 1934

mechanical engineer who has a force of plied to machinery used in the mining, duty are made by selecting cars with draftsmen and designers ; the shop transportation and preparation of 3,657,- new bearings and with axles that mea­ superintendent, whose payroll includes 668 tons of coal was $19,947, or approxi­ sure up to standard, filling with the new 220 men occupied with mechanical re­ mately jjC. per ton. This figure, which lubricant and operating the cars in regu­ pairs and construction ; seven machinery is at least ^c. per ton less than would lar service, with inspections every four and boiler inspectors and a foreman in have been considered a fair average a months, until failure of the lubricant— charge of the coal-bagging plant. Cen­ few years ago for a comparable group perhaps in 1^ years. As a result of tests tral shop departments include a steam- of anthracite mines, has been achieved on plain-bearing cars, a grease contain­ locomotive repair shop, mine-car shop, by wider adoption of anti-friction and ing a small quantity of hair to give stay­ and a foundry equipped for casting brass otherwise improved bearings, installa­ ing qualities was adopted for that serv­ and iron. A research department with tion of centralized automatic lubrication ice. a laboratory in one of the shop build­ on breaker machinery, and by finding Centralized Ideal lubricators are used ings cooperates with the mechanical improved lubricants for special jobs. on shaker eccentrics and bearings in the superintendent in selecting lubricants, Roller bearings are now used exclu­ Coaldale, Tamaqua and Cranberry determining the best grade and construc­ sively on mine cars at four of the seven breakers. Cranberry has nine units tion of wire rope and other materials collieries : Lansford, Coaldale, Green­ which lubricate 296 shaft bearings and for individual jobs and in the general wood and Tamaqua. Timken bearings 110 eccentrics. Breaker lubrication testing of all materials received. are used at Lansford, and Hyatt at the cost—material and labor—prior to the In 1934 the cost of all lubricants ap­ other three. Tests of lubricants for this installation was 1.47c. per ton; now it averages 0.58c. per ton. Heavy loads, fairly high speeds, con­ Looking from the headframe of Alliance No. 2 shaft we see in the distance the breaker with tinuous operation and exposure to a cer­ its gunboat hoist. Hoisting rope life is important from the standpoint of maintenance cost tain amount of splash of dirty water make the lubrication of eccentrics diffi­ cult. A proposed new grade of high- temperature grease is tested by applying it to one of a pair of adjacent eccentrics, making comparisons of operating tem­ peratures and observing the staying qualities. Eight types of oils and nineteen greases, not counting the summer and winter grades, are purchased by the com­ pany. The laboratory makes a complete analysis of each and tests its physical properties. The 27 grades mentioned in­ clude all special items of limited use— for instance, a cooling compound of hard-soap composition used temporarily to prevent metal contact in hot bearings until repairs can be made or until the proper standard lubricant can be found. Determining the grade and construc­ tion of wire rope best suited to each job had been a fruitful activity of the re­ search department, as testified by achievement of 50 per cent increase in life of 2-in. hoisting ropes on a gunboat hoist at Coaldale breaker and a 350 per Lubricators Like these on Tarna­ qua resizing screens reduce lu­ brication and maintenance costs Centrifugal filter on a 11,000-volt trans­ former. main substation, Tamaqua. Fil­ tering and testing of oil in transform­ ers of this class is done once a year

Use of special clutch starters reduces maintenance as heavy loads can be started by motors and controls of simple design

Oil-tight cases for silent chains provide thorough lubrication and low maintenance cost. This drive, in Tamaqua breaker, consists of a squirrel-cage motor, clutch starter and silent chain

Lubrication of 104 bearings and eccentrics on the new in Tamaqua breaker is handled automatically by this lubricator. A is the driving motor B c o n ta in th e P ™ » ing valve, C is the tank which holds 8 lb. of lUDncant, for a full shift. 525 December, 1935 — COAL AGE cent increase in life of one H-in. rope Service Record of Consecutive 2-In. Ropes Used on the at Lansford No. 6 shaft. Change of Gunboat Hoist at Coaldale Breaker Gunboats construction from 6x19 to 6x25 was the Form Type Lay Construction Hoisted principal factor in securing the improved Plain...... Cast steel...... Regular. 6x19 24,465 service. Records of rope life have been Plain...... Cast steel...... Regular. 6x19 27,341 kept for at least twenty years and the Plain...... Cast steel...... Regular. 6x19 35,273 Plain...... Cast steel...... Regular. 6x19 39,372 effects of lubrication, sheave diameter, Plain...... CaBt steel...... Regular. 6x19 37,488 Preformed. . .Cast steel...... Regular. 6x19 61,284 fleet angle and other factors observed Preformed. . .Cast steel...... Regular. 6x19 47,474 and corrections made where practicable. Pieformed. . . Cast steel...... Regular. 6x19 54,981 Preformed. . .Plow steel...... Régulai. 6x25 120,174 A rigid specification of all new ropes is that they be properly lubricated on the Performances of Consecutive l|-In. Hoisting Ropes inside. An important duty in applying at Lansford No. 6 Shaft lubricant during operation is to seal Cars the outside and prevent escape of the Form Type Lay Construction Hoisted factory lubricant. Preformed Cast steel...... Regular. 6x19 53,062 Plain...... Cast steel...... Regular. 6x19 56,828 Practically all sheave wheels are 12 ft. Plain...... Cast steel...... Regular. 6x19 76,642 in diameter and are interchangeable, so Plain...... Cast steel...... Regular. 6x25 79,725 Plain...... Cast steel...... Regular. 6x25 185,034 that a small stock of extras suffices for spares. When the rope groove of a sheave is below standard, the complete between resocketing and three feet of ping shovel. With the exception of a sheave is renewed. In all instances the rope usually is cut off. Resocketing is few Lang-lay ropes on jobs where a wood-lagged drums formerly employed done to reduce concentration of wear on greater wearing surface is needed, the on main hoists have been replaced with the section of rope which is in contact regular lay construction is standard. grooved drums of cast steel. Ropes are with the headsheave when the hoist is As stated in the article on transporta­ inspected daily, lubricated and re­ starting its load. Ropes of regular con­ tion (p. 506), duty on mine cars is severe socketed at fixed intervals, and renewed because most of the mining is in steeply when inspections show a certain number struction are used for all but a few spe­ pitching seams, hence the coal drops of broken strands, reduced diameter or cial jobs—for instance, preformed ropes into the cars from overhead chutes and when a second stretch begins. have been found superior for the Coal­ lumps weighing up to a ton may fall Three months is the typical interval dale gunboat hoist and for a 6-yd. strip- as much as 5 ft. Car maintenance is being cut from 7c. to 2.1c. per ton by adoption of cast-steel underframe cars Fig. 1—This report insures safety of in place of the structural-steel under­ underground electric installations frame car which some years ago super­ seded the original wood-frame car. LEHIGH NAVIGATION COAL COMPANY Maintenance of steam locomotives is Approval To Install And Operate Electric Equipment in Mine a major item of mechanical repairs, al­ Number --- —...... though the use of fresh mountain water well suited to boiler feed has a markedly Colliery...... Mine...... Date...... 19. favorable effect on the life of boiler Change of location of ...... - ...... parts. Of the 70 steam locomotives of 18- to 70-ton size, 10 of the 28 which from. are standard gage are 60-ton geared type. Most of the 42 locomotives of narrow gage are 25-ton, but a few 18- to. ton units are in use. At the collieries, only routine repairs Purpose...... are made on locomotives. Boiler re­ pairing is done only by boilermakers sent out from the central shop. Each We, the undersigned, hereby certify we have investigated the circumstances, approve the change, and year approximately 30 locomotives are declare the new location safe. sent to the central shop for overhaul, 20 of them for light repairs and 10 Mine Foreman. for heavy repairs. Flue practice does not include reuse of worn flues by safe- ending, and flue ends are not welded Ventilation Inspector. into the sheet. Equipment installed by ...... The foundry continues to be an im­ Colliery Electrician portant adjunct to the central shop, but This is to certify that I, a representative of the Electrical Department, have inspected the installation as time goes on fewer and fewer cast- at the changed location, above described and approved by the Ventilation Inspector, equipment identified as iron parts are made. At one time most of the cast-iron pipe, up to 20-in., was made locally. Now only special pieces and fittings are made, because factories are equipped to make a cheaper stand­ and find it in full accord with electrical rules and practices, inspection made...... ard product. For certain pump-dis- ...... 19 charge columns recently installed, adop­ Remarks ...... tion of steel and wrought-iron pipes, lined with bitumen, lead or wood, has cut down the use of cast iron. The wider Electrical Dept. Inspector. use of cast steel for repair and renewal Note: Forward original to Min. Eng., retain copy at Colliery Office. parts in general also has cut the foun­ ORIGINAL dry output, as it is not equipped for

5 26 COAL AGE — Vol.40,No.l2 steel casting. One large job still han­ these repairs was $4,480.70. Figured the full-automatic controls to stop the dled by the shop foundry is the casting on a production basis, the company motors if overheating occurs. Station­ of 12-ft. headsheaves. The hub with mined 36,576 tons of coal per locomo­ ary a.c. motors, even in sizes as low as steel spokes embedded is cast one day tive armature failure and the locomotive 10 hp., are equipped with ammeters to and the rim cast the following day after armature repair cost was less than 0.1c. indicate unusual conditions or overloads the former has cooled. per ton. Other armature repairing which might ultimately damage the Maintenance of electric locomotives handled by the central shop included 44 motors. follows the same general plan of making armatures from motors driving blowers Safety is considered a primary factor only routine repairs at the colliery and used with tubing in mine ventilation and in electrical maintenance of d.c. equip­ doing the heavy repairing at the central 49 armatures from motors of miscel­ ment used inside the mines. An elec­ shop. Emphasis is placed on inspection laneous duties. Field coils repaired trical inspector from headquarters at as a means of detecting what repairs numbered 42 and the total cost of arma­ Lansford inspects all feeders, trolley are necessary to prevent lost time and to ture and field-coil repairs was $8,138.00, wire, bonding, electric heaters and d.c. save greater expense at a later date. or approximately £c. per ton. motors (except locomotives). On a Motormen inspect their locomotives each After a blasting battery has been in special form, with copy to the colliery day and the colliery electrician checks service six months it is sent to the Lans­ superintendent, he reports all conditions these inspections. About once every ford shop for inspection regardless of affecting safety, efficiency and main­ three months each locomotive receives a its apparent good condition. This prac­ tenance and makes recommendations for thorough going-over by a full-time loco­ tice is an important factor in mine correction. When changes or repairs motive inspector from the electrical de­ safety because it reduces the chance of have been made, the colliery superin­ partment at Lansford. Copies of his misfires. Wound-field batteries, prin­ tendent notes these on the form and report go to the colliery electrician, cipally the Atlas Special No. 2 rated forwards it to the office of the electrical colliery superintendent, chief electrical 25 volts, 1.5 amp. 25 ohms, have re­ engineer. engineer and mechanical superintendent. placed all the permanent-magnet type About ten years ago a start was made Inauguration of this inspection system formerly used. After a battery is in­ at replacing all open d.c. switches and resulted in reducing locomotive main­ spected, cleaned and repaired, it is tested starters with safety switches and in­ tenance cost 50 per cent. by firing a blasting cap which is con­ closed starters ; today, the 250-volt trol­ Improved batteries and more atten­ nected in series with a resistance equiva­ ley wires (6^ ft. minimum height above tion to charging and cleaning have lent to nine other caps in series. the rail) are the only exposed d.c. con­ ductors inside the mines. This inclosed raised battery life more than 50 per Thermometers, thermostats and indi­ equipment operates with far less main­ cent. Prior to 1924, batteries of com­ cating meters play a definite part in re­ tenance than was required for the ex­ bination locomotives lasted but 24 to 30 ducing electrical- maintenance. All sub­ posed and less safe equipment. months, as compared to 46 months for station transformers with primaries con­ To guard against new installations batteries which have been replaced in nected to the 11,000-volt transmission being made in an unsafe manner or in the last few years. Battery lives of are equipped with indicating ther­ unsafe locations in the mines a form straight storage locomotives have been mometers and their maximum tempera­ report (Fig. 1) must be filed for each increased to 54 months. Present bat­ tures normally stay below 55 deg. C. job. Signatures of the mine foreman, tery costs per month for the two types If temperatures rise above 65 deg. C., ventilation inspector, colliery electrician are: combination, $45.22; and straight an investigation is made. Cylinders of and electrical inspector from head­ storage, $31.41. air compressors and their bearings, and quarters insure that the installation One hundred locomotive armatures also the bearings of fans, pumps, and of meets all requirements of standard prac­ were repaired at the central shop dur­ motors driving the equipment, are tice and safety. ing 1934, and the total shop charge for fitted with thermostats which act with

FORESTRY WORK

+ A t Lehigh Navigation Coal Co.

sion in an educational campaign to pro­ spend money on reforestation or silvi­ imber conservation has tect its timberland from conflagration cultural operations so long as fires are long been a precept with manage­ and in the organization of a fire-fighting permitted to destroy such investments? Tment of the Lehigh Navigation Coal force to check the areal extent and Both the public and the coal company Co. Practical experience and scientific damage done by fires once started. itself must play a part in forest protec­ study, however, have shown that Nature, Since the success of its educational tion: the coal company must so operate left to her own devices, will do an excel­ efforts must depend upon public opinion its locomotives running in or near the lent job of reforestation. Where man’s and support, the company makes a woodlands that fires will not be started assistance is most needed is in protect­ direct appeal for public cooperation in from engine sparks; the public using the ing Nature against human incompetence and with its campaign and extends an woodlands for recreational purposes in cutting standing timber and against invitation to the public and to its own must recognize their obligation to pre­ human carelessness in starting forest employees to join in establishing the vent that use from being a menace. fires. Devotion of Lehigh management best and most efficient methods of com­ As part of the educational campaign to the principles of forest conservation, bating the forest-fire evil. Why, it asks, against forest fires, contests in forest- therefore, finds its most concrete expres­ 527 December, 1935 — COAL AGE vvnen your match goes out, be sure it can’t come back.” That the campaign has been produc­ tive of results is shown in the follow­ ing tabulation of the forest-fire record on company lands for selected years: , 1913 1916 1934 Number of fires . . 68 165 20 Number of acres burned 15,000 5 1 7 1 0 6 Cost of extinction $1,912.70 $349.00 $ 7 5 00 Average number of acres per fire 2 2 2 3 .1 5 3 Average cost per fire ...... - $28.13 $6.09 $3.78 In addition to regular fire-fighting equipment, the company has furnished its forestry crew with a four-cylinder portable Pacific Marine gasoline pump and 1,000 ft. of l^-in. hose. Following fire trails and old log roads, the forestry crew has been able to use this outfit and pump water on approximately 50 per cent of the fires on company lands. As a result of the campaign, forest fires no longer are looked upon as a Signs like this dot the countryside necessary evil; young trees are now growing where they were not permitted protection essays and forest-fire-preven- “Better a dead match than a dead to grow and the green hills are coming tion slogans are conducted in the schools. forest.” back. Natural reproduction, assisted by Pupils are encouraged to establish small “No smoking will keep these forests improvement cuttings and plantings, forest plantations under the direction of green.” have materially augmented an auxiliary the coal company’s forester. Forest-fire “The best cigarette in the woods is a supply of small mine timbers. Although prevention slogans, posted at strategic dead one.” the local woodland holdings are not suffi­ points, catch the eye of the tourist and “Dead cigarettes mean live forests.” cient in size to produce an adequate the transient and aid materially in keep­ “Smokers, spare these trees !” supply for all the company’s require­ ing down the number of fires on company “A match has a head but no brains— ments, the growth now present is healthy lands. These poster boards measure 8x11 forest ahead.” and strong and, in an emergency, could ft., are placed at regular intervals and “You can’t buy green trees at a fire be utilized to supplement the supply from carry such pithy messages as: sale.” outside sources.

Natural reproduction soon develops a healthy growth of trees like this

528 COAL AGE — Vol.40, No.12 MINE SUPPLIES

+ A t Lehigh Navigation Coal Co.

IXE-SUPPLY stocks of Le­ the purchasing of native hardwood mine required. Mine-car materials are stocked high Navigation Coal Co. aver­ timber are handled by a storehouse in­ centrally because most of the repairing M aged $446,733 in 1934, as com­ spector who reports directly to the gen­ is done at the Lansford shop, where pared to 5954,476 in 1921, yet output for eral superintendent. This inspector has practically all iron and wooden cars the tw o years was approximately the two assistants and an office in a build­ have been manufactured. same—3,657,668 and 3,763,134 tons, re­ ing at the Lansford shops which houses For a time, lumber and timber were spectively. Total yearly cost of handling the limited central warehouse for spe­ centralized items, but in general these materials was cut from $125,000 to $40,- cial items. All buying other than that were changed to unit-store items be­ 000. How' was this done ? The answer of local mine timber is done by a pur­ cause their handling and hauling proved lies principally in the abandonment of chasing agent in Philadelphia. The one too expensive. For about eighteen the general storehouse system in 1922 in exception is made because of the close months during code compliance, cen­ favor of a unit system which has been contact necessary on the varying quality tralization, in order to secure better modified and perfected during its twelve of timber, many points of deliver}', and prices, was practiced with bar iron, cast- iron pipe and certain sizes of copper years of operation. the large number of dealers. wire. The quantity-price angle of cen­ The central warehouse at Lansford Materials handled by the central ware­ tral stores versus unit stores is nor­ shops made daily deliveries to Xesque- house at Lansford are as follows: pipe, mally taken care of by the purchasing honing, Lansford, Coal dale, Greenwood headsheaves, mine-car material (iron agent negotiating contracts for quanti­ and Tamaqua collieries over distances of and wood), flooring, materials for ties of materials to be shipped over a approximately 3J, 1, 2 and 4 miles, re­ maintenance of buildings and for the spectively. With the unit storehouse 900 miners' houses owned by the com­ certain period. Items of mine timbering purchased system now in effect, each colliery main­ pany, parts for 94 trucks and automo­ by the Philadelphia office include yellow- tains a necessary stock of materials, ex­ biles, cement, concreting sand, brick, pine gangway timber, yellow-pine chute cept that a few items, for special rea­ crushed stone for concrete, oxygen and timber and 1-in. mine boards in widths sons, continue to be stocked at Lans­ acetylene, and telephone poles. In most from 6 in. up, and in lengths of 6 and ford. Two more collieries, Alliance and cases these items are centralized be­ 10 ft. Purchased locally by the store­ Cranberry, which are 13 miles and 17 cause of carload freight advantages and house inspector are the following: oak miles, respectively, from Lansford, pre­ consumption is less than would justify gangway timber, oak chute timber, oak viously operated by subsidiary companies, carload shipments to the collieries. An forepoling, 5-ft. hardw'ood lagging, 5}-, were acquired in 1926. The unit store item such as headsheaves, which are 6- and 7-ft oak mine ties, 8^-ft. standard set-up includes, in addition to the ware­ 12 ft in diameter and all of standard railroad ties and a limited quantity of houses at each mine, a warehouse to serve design, is centralized because renewals yellow pine for gangways and chutes. strippings within a radius of six miles. are few' and quick deliveries are not T rucks operated from the Lansford

shops and under the supervision of the General wareroom in the unit store at Cranberry shop superintendent make daily deliveries of centralized materials to the five col­ lieries within the four-mile radius. Each of the two outlying collieries dispatches its own trucks as often as necessary to handle equipment sent to the central shops for repairs and to bring back the items of centralized stock for^ daily needs. Mine-gage tracks link Xesque- honing. Lansford and Coaldale collieries with the Lansford shops and are used instead of motor trucks to transport cer­ tain heavy materials. A storekeeper reporting to the col­ liery superintendent is in charge of the local unit store and also of the colliery accounting. Store personnel consists of a bookkeeper, ledger clerk, stenographer and warehouse man. Approximately half the time of the storekeeper and his assistants is properly chargeable to handling supplies. General supervision of unit stores and 520 December, 1935 — COAL AGE All requisitions for materials pass to work. The following materials con­ for instance- ffie derrick is used also through the storehouse inspector’s office stitute the usual range of sales: paper for handling heavy machinery and ma­ on their way to the purchasing agent; for tamping, caps, fuse, igniters, dyna­ terials such as large cast-iron pipe from scrutiny of these requisitions for pos­ mite, files, shovels, handles for hammers, railroad cars to yard storage space sible economies and transfers is an im­ axes and picks, carbide and carbide and/or to cars and narrow-gage trucks portant duty of the storehouse inspector. lamps (Cranberry only) and safety for transportation into the mine. The His other duties include frequent and items such as gloves and protective caps. number of men in the timber-yard force detailed examinations of stocks, super­ Certain yards for mine timber in­ is normally regulated so that by working vision over colliery accounting and ma­ clude a power derrick, logroll, cutoff only on days the colliery operates the terial distribution, transferring materials saw and electric transfer car, all ar­ timber requirements are met. An ex­ to the best advantage, supervision of ranged for short-route and minimum- ception to the individual colliery timber scrap accumulations and shipments, ad­ cost handling and preparation of the yard is a larger yard near Lansford justing claims with carriers and handling general correspondence relative to ma­ terials. The storehouse inspector serves as the close tie necessary between purchas­ ing and operating departments to serve the mines efficiently without waste. Re­ porting directly to the general superin­ tendent and making frequent visits to the unit stores, he necessarily keeps in close touch with time, quality and quantity requirements for materials. Furthermore, he appreciates the prob­ lems of the general purchasing agent be­ cause he himself is a buyer of certain materials. As a rule, the stock carried at an operation is approximately double the monthly average disbursement, and the stock turnover, including cur­ heavy gangway timber, which is re­ breaker which supplies Nesquehoning, rent monthly receipts, is around 40 per ceived in long lengths on railroad cars Lansford and Coaldale collieries. cent. For the company operations as and is cut to proper lengths for mine Timber and other classes of mine sup­ a whole, percentages of main items to use before being taken inside. The cut­ plies are supervised carefully to hold the total value of materials in stock are off saw, which is the swing type and is stocks to a minimum consistent with as follows: machinery and gearing, 26; equipped with air-operated dogs, is in a safe and efficient operation of the col­ electrical supplies, 12; car materials, 6; small building which also houses the lieries. Considering that most materials timber and lumber, 11; rail, sheet steel, derrick hoist and operating station for enter into maintenance and the total ex­ etc., 5; pump parts, 4; bar iron and one-man control of both equipments. penditure for maintenance, including steel, 3; and pipe and fittings, 4. Operations that are supplied entirely mine timbering cost, was nearly $3,- One of the duties of the warehouse with local timber have dispensed with 000,000 in 1934, it is evident that effi­ man at each colliery is to sell supplies this equipment. cient handling of supplies deserves the to the miners each morning as they go In certain cases— Cranberry colliery, close local supervision it receives.

Transfer car, logroll, saw house and der­ Each morning, the warehouseman is Space in the colliery timber yard for stor­ rick included in facilities at the Cranberry on hand to sell supplies to miners ing heavy equipment makes it possible to timber yard at Lehigh Navigation collieries use the timber derrick for both jobs

530 COAL AGE — Vol.40, No.12 INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

+ A t Lehigh Navigation Coal Co.

tion seems to warrant such action. The he personnel program shortage and general restlessness were wisdom of this revised policy has been of the Lehigh Navigation Coal common. Because of the compact char­ confirmed in more recent years when TCo. grew out of a study of a par­ acter of its operations, in 1917 the com­ unemployment has been acute. With­ ticular situation intimately associated pany established a central employment out, it is believed, impairing the com­ with the local industrial background of office. This was placed in charge of an pany’s interests in securing suitable the area in which the company operates. employment superintendent who had employees, it has often appeared desir­ Five of the seven Lehigh Navigation wide authority to hire on a requisition able, if not imperative, to give consid­ collieries are directly contiguous—and of the various operations and thus could eration to relieving the financial dis­ contagious—to each other. While this relieve foremen of a more or less con­ tress of many families. makes very definitely for united action stant annoyance from the solicitation of Market conditions during the greater on the part of the mine-workers’ union, applicants for a change in jobs. As part of the past decade have compelled it also facilitates closer administrative time went on, however, the foremen be­ producers to concentrate operations at supervision on the part of the coal came increasingly dissatisfied with this arrangement, feeling that they had lost their lower-cost properties. The Le­ company. high Navigation Coal Co. has not es­ Not only is the community one of the some of the personal attachment which caped this necessity. At the same time, oldest in the anthracite region but dur­ comes from selecting one’s own men; the management, too, felt the need of however, it has made special efforts to ing the 115 years of the company’s his­ promote the equalization of work—as tory there has been comparatively little giving greater scope to its more gen­ eral interest in the employment situa­ distinguished from equalization of run­ exodus or influx of mine labor to or ning time between high- and low-cost from other mining districts. To the tion. Under a compromise plan put into operations. An outstanding example great majority, one of the most per­ of its endeavors in this field is furnished suasive claims for consideration seems effect about 1924, initiative in hiring was returned to the colliery officials. by the history of what was done to find to be that “I was born in the Panther other employment for the 800 men Creek valley and my father and grand­ Actual engagement for the job now is made by the supervisor of employment, thrown out of work when the Rahn col­ father worked for the company.’ There liery was closed down permanently in is an unmistakable sense of proprietor­ who may exercise a veto power over the foreman’s recommendation if the situa- 1931. As many as possible of these ship in the right to work in the com­ men were given jobs at other opera­ pany’s operations. tions, but the immediate reemployment All these somewhat peculiar local ★ ★ of any great percentage of the 800 was conditions have an important effect out of the question. In the course of upon the relations existing between man­ time, however, management worked out agement and men. The personnel Lehigh Navigation Coal Co. has a plan which practically abolished over­ policies developed to meet them are never thought of a personnel pro­ time at all Panther Valley outside partly traditional and partly the fruits gram as a matter of doing a lot of operations. The man-hours thus saved of conscious planning. In 1924, the nice things to make its workers made possible the establishment of a office of director of personnel was cre­ happy and to gain their good will. second maintenance shift in the various ated to coordinate the more specific per­ Many of the activities which go by breakers and this second shift provided the name of personnel relations sonnel activities and to advise the °Per~ employment for approximately 200 of necessarily are "out” where an ef­ ating department on questions of policy. the men who had lost out when Rahn fective independent labor organiza­ Committed to the belief that the best was abandoned. With few exceptions, results are achieved where every execu­ tion functions. The employees’ in­ terests have been exceedingly well the rest of the former Rahn employees tive is in effect his own personnel offi­ taken care of in many respects by have been absorbed at other operations cer, the director of personnel has the United Mine Workers, who are of the company or given a small pension. preached this doctrine ever _ since the more strongly organized in the Pan­ Although the Lehigh Navigation Coal department was first established. A ther Creek valley than, perhaps, any­ Co. has no regular pension system in complete catalog of just what this means where in the anthracite region. So effect, it long has been the practice to in daily operations would, be difficult, the personnel job, as Lehigh Navi­ grant small stipends to superannuated since it includes almost countless issues gation sees it, is largely one of see­ workers whose service has been con­ involving employment, saffif., discipline, ing that each new problem or situa­ tinuous and satisfactory. At the present adjustment of grievances -ud the dis­ tion is viewed not only from the time there are 148 pensioners on the semination of information concerning standpoint of operating and financial rolls and the annual disbursements for company problems. results but from that of employee these pensions totals over $42,000. Some Back in the War period and down to and community interests. of the pensioners have worked for the the 1925-26 strike, the employment prob­ company upward of sixty years. lem was primarily one of finding men Closely articulated with the employ- for jobs—not jobs for men. Labor ★ 531 December, 1935 — COAL AGE ment administration are the compensa­ is hired by the company he is given a j , - . - —- iuci_naincai tion and medical services. The com­ medical examination by the chief and electrical engineering. Total at­ pany is a self-insurer. While the surgeon. tendance usually ran about 70 The in workmen’s compensation law regulates Housing activities of the Lehigh centive to attend these courses, how­ and limits the employer somewhat Navigation Coal Co. are a heritage from ever, was considerably diminished during minutely, there is, nevertheless, consid­ the days of labor shortages. Approxi­ the last years the institute was open be­ erable latitude left for company policy. mately 800 employees in the Panther cause of decreasing opportunities for The degree to which the company and Valley live in company houses. Monthly promotion. The institute probably will the injured employees have been in rentals (exclusive of rentals on execu­ be reopened when employment condi­ agreement is indicated by the small num­ tives’ dwellings, which run higher) tions improve. ber of petitions which have been filed range from $6 to $25 per month. The Revival of a foremen’s training with the referee and the compensation only real “company town” is Kaska, course, conducted for many years in board during the past twenty years. near Pottsville, where Alliance colliery conjunction with the institute, also is There were 11,587 compensable cases in workers occupy 122 company houses. under consideration. In this course, the that period, but only 138 of them re­ In recent years, several outlying problems of the company were treated sulted in the filing of petitions against groups of houses which stood in the with great frankness and practical dis­ the company. These 138 cases involved way of mining or other operations or cussion was offered on such subjects as claims aggregating $251,150.83; cases which had become decrepit from long costs and realizations, safety and the involving total awards of $96,804.42 service have been abandoned and razed. handling of men. This work was tem­ were decided against the company. It A systematic program of repair and porarily discontinued in 1931 because is the policy of the company to make maintenance has been continued for the the company felt that it was unwise to payments due on compensation awards remaining houses and the standards for pursue the same courses year after year as promptly as possible; in the more housing have been raised appreciably by with the same men without allowing a serious cases, checks are delivered to the introduction of heating, lighting and rest interval during which the problems the homes or to the hospital. sanitary facilities. As far as financial could be developed in a new light. The coal company has a medical staff conditions have permitted, the houses Until recently, hearing and adjust­ consisting of a chief surgeon, six dis­ have been kept in good repair by struc­ ment of grievances arising under the trict surgeons and two nurses. There tural and external replacements and by agreement with the United Mine is a central dispensary in Lansford, painting. In many cases, aluminum Workers consumed a large part of the but major surgical cases usually are paint has been used both as a priming time of the director of personnel, to taken care of at the Coaldale State Hos­ and as a finishing coat with gratifying whom appeals from decisions adverse to pital. The chief surgeon’s office is a results. the complainants might be made prior to point of very friendly contact with the From 1912 to 1931, the company con­ submission of the case to the Anthracite employees and this contact is further ducted the Panther Valley Mining In­ Board of Conciliation. This procedure strengthened by the personal visits of stitute, a night school operated in con­ has been modified with the idea of en­ the chief surgeon to the homes of con­ junction with one of the local school couraging final settlements by the oper­ valescent patients. Before a new man districts, in which instruction was given ating officials directly affected.

532 COAL AGE — Vol.40, No.12 MERCHANDISING

-h ^Old Company*7 Lehigh

devolves on the assistant general sales erch an d isin g in the early tion it had enjoyed prior to the disas­ manager. M days of the anthracite industry trous 1925-26 strike. Where the Naviga­ tion company in 1820 was faced with The greater part of the commercial I was a real selling job. Wood— production of the company is distributed cheap and plentiful—was the mainstay of the problem of how most effectively to invade markets then held by rival fuels, through approximately 2,000 retail coal the domestic consumer ; the few manufac­ merchants scattered throughout the turing plants then in existence along the present management was faced with the problem of how it could most effec­ East, the Middle W est and Canada. Dis­ Atlantic seaboard relied chiefly upon tribution, however, is most highly con­ British or Virginia coals and on char­ tively protect the markets it serves from the invasion of competitive fuels. Edu­ centrated in the Middle Atlantic and coal for their industrial needs. Nobody New England States, which absorb about shattered the welkin clamoring for the cation, service and equipment were the weapons used to win the markets ; edu­ 60 per cent of the output To serve the new fuel from northeastern Pennsyl­ territory in which "Old Company coal vania. The hard-coal pioneers were cation, service and equipment—built to meet present-day conditions—are the moves, district sales offices are main­ compelled not only to develop economic tained at Philadelphia, New York, Bos­ and efficient means for transporting their weapons now being employed to hold markets. And, where necessary, the sales ton. Springfield, Mass., and Buffalo. In product to the consumer but also to teach addition, exclusive sales-agency ar­ him how to use it and to encourage department has been reorganized and expanded so that the greatest possible rangements for handling anthracite have manufacturers in building special equip­ been made with independent wholesalers ment in which it could be burned. use can be made of these weapons. Merchandising activities of the Lehigh in four other areas. The L. F. Owen Co. With consumer acceptance definitely represents Lehigh Navigation interests won and increasing population affording Navigation Coal Co. are headed up by a general sales manager, who reports in Chicago territory; J. B. Dvkstra, De­ a constantly expanding market, the in­ troit, handles Michigan business; the dustry then entered a period of years in directly to the president of the company. Advertising, retail service, credits and George Hall Corporation, Ogdensburg, which development at times was so N. Y., looks after sales in northern New rapid that it outstripped immediate de­ industrial sales are under the immediate supervision of division managers on the York State and in Ottawa, Ont., and mand. D uring that period, conditions its environs; the Empire Coal Co., Ltd., were largely comparable with those staff of the general sales manager with headquarters at Philadelphia. The or­ Toronto, covers other Ontario territory which were to plague bituminous-coal ganization set-up also provides for a divi­ and the eastern provinces of the Domin­ producers in later years. Next came a sion manager in charge of bituminous ion. prolonged period of experimentation in sales and for a division manager in Lehigh Navigation Coal Co. fully production and market control, and then rharge of outside purchases of anthracite recognizes that the first prerequisite to the feverish war years when demand for resale to customers who n ant to successful merchandising is a good prod­ was so great that anthracite was not stock free-burning coal as well as the uct Therefore, as described in_ the sold but rationed to frantic retailers and "Old Company” product. Responsibility article on preparation practices (p. 502), their customers. for coordinating the work of these vari­ the company maintains a rigid inspec­ Hailed by some as the beginning ot a ous divisions of the sales department tion system at the mines to make cer- new era in distribution, the rationing, or quota, system actually marked the end of a cenfury-old cycle. Although production levels from 1920 through 1927 gave no statistical indication of fluctuations which could not be dis­ missed as the result of mild winters or labor disturbances, profound changes seriously affecting the competitive posi­ tion of anthracite were under way. Ter­ ritorially the market was shrinking. worse still, other fuels were making farther and faster inroads among domes­ tic consumers in the States which ab­ sorbed the bulk of the anthracite out­ p u t Top management at Lehigh Naviga­ tion Coal Co. was among the first to sense these changes and to realize that strategy reminiscent of the resourceful­ ness of the pioneers would be necessary if the industry was to retain its existing markets and regain the competitive posi­ 533 Decetnber, 1935 — COAL AGE tain that each car of coal loaded for shipment conforms fully to standards of sizing, purity and appearance. This in­ spection service is under the jurisdiction of the operating department. Provision is made, however, for direct reporting G et those extra on coal inspection to the president by the superintendent of preparation. As “forty w inks” will be explained later, service men at­ No more riling of down to fix the tached to the operating department also furnote. Old Company'! Lehigh keeps every room worm as toast, are available to handle dealer com­ toecouse it lasts longer! plaints. Dealer service offered by the com­

VENDABLE COAL CO/ pany to assist retailers handling “Old \ AUTHœiZEDDLâWrtT Company” coal in their merchandising problems falls into five broad classifica­ tions : (1) advertising, (2) yard serv­ ice, (3) consumer service, (4) retail selling service, and (5) service schools. Advertising service is under the juris­ diction of the manager of the advertis­ ing division of the sales department; yard service is handled by the service division of the same department. Retail selling service is a joint activity of the advertising and service divisions; con­ sumer service and the service schools are joint activities of the service divi­ sion of the sales department and of the operating department. The Lehigh Navigation company was among the pioneers in the anthracite in­ dustry in preparing annual advertising campaigns for the retail distributors. When this program was launched, in 1928, it also included direct newspaper advertising in the territory served by the company. That plan was abandoned sev­ eral years ago in favor of advertising by and in the name of the individual re­ tail merchant, with the Lehigh company participating in the cost. Direct adver­ tising by the Lehigh Navigation Coal Co. is now confined to trade publications serving the distributing side of the coal industry. Company financial participation in the advertising campaign of the indi­ vidual retailer is based upon the annual tonnage handled by the dealer. Generally this participation is limited to a flat rate per ton and is subject to the further pro­ viso that the company’s contribution shall not exceed 50 per dent of the total cost of the campaign. In addition, the retail distributor’s campaign must be ap­ proved by the advertising manager. The list of approved media covers weekly and daily newspapers, direct mail, out­ door signs and displays, radio and tele­ phone directories. In no case will the company underwrite any of the cost of using theater, church or lodge programs, motion picture slides, school and college year books or other media in that cate­ gory. If the retailer feels an irresist- t h e u r o n E E R S able urge to use such media, he is ad­ OF vised to charge off the cost to charitable donations. To qualify for company par­ ticipation in the cost, the retailer’s copy finTHRHCITE must either display the company trade­ mark or mention “Old Company’s Le­ high Anthracite” by name. Neither is it the company’s policy to share in the cost

534 COAL AGE — Vol.40, No.12 ing methods with blowers, stokers and of advertising which mentions competi­ magazine-feed heaters. On the last day, tive fuels. one of the stripping operations is visited; The company advertising portfolio in­ this is followed by a final round-up dis­ cludes a complete line of newspaper ad­ cussion on service problems in which vertising copy for each season of the the students are invited to take the lead, year, as well as direct mailing pieces. and talks on service and advertising. Advertising material supplied to the Because of the intensive nature of the dealer consists of mats, electros, blot­ course, the company endeavors to hold ters, signs, window displays, direct-mail the registration for each class down to pieces, booklets, folders and envelope eight pupils. Since the courses were staffers. Where, because of peculiar local inaugurated in December, 1934, approxi­ conditions, special advertising copy may mately 150 dealers have attended the be required, the company advertising schools. division prepares or cooperates in the Although the company has been test­ preparation of such copy. ing heating devices in its Lansford While, under certain conditions, the laboratories for some time, except for a company will cooperate with dealers in heat-control mechanism which was not radio advertising, that form of publicity actively pushed, the Lehigh Navigation is not widely recommended for the aver­ Coal Co. did not begin to promote the age retailer. This attitude is based in sale of equipment through its retail dis­ part, at least, on the company’s own ex­ tributors in a large way until this fall. perience with broadcasting as a publicity George W . Seiler General Sales Manager Its first drive has been on service water- medium. The Lehigh Navigation Coal L ehigh N avigation Coal Co. heating equipment The line now in­ Co. was among the first in the industry cludes two models manufactured for the to use the radio. Its initial programs, company by a well-known equipment merchant in his work with his cus­ employing the talents of a well-known manufacturer and its own patented hot- concert singer, were criticized outside of tomers. water regulator which can be applied to In most cases, requests for the retail New England as being “too highbrow,” any type of tank water heater and which selling service originate with the com­ and a more popular type of program was maintains a constant supply of hot water, pany salesmen. The service may be given substituted. Although the company felt guarantees no rust and saves about 35 to an individual dealer or at a meeting that its broadcasting had a good effect per cent in coal consumption, and the of the entire dealer organization ar­ upon the morale of its retail distributors, Old Company furnace control, which ranged in advance by the salesman. it was unable to trace any direct benefits is unique in design, guaranteeing uni­ Among the topics which may be taken to this form of advertising. Moreover, form heat. Early returns from this cam­ up at such meetings are employee sell­ the growth of large network broadcast­ paign have been extremely encouraging, ing, part-time telephone selling, how to ing which reached many points outside and the company plans to add other sell the peddler trade, promotion of of its normal sales area and the diffi­ equipment to its line as arrangements can C.O.D. business, retail solicitation and culty at that time of buying split time be made for handling suitable types. The how to combat cheap coal and other were deterrents to continued use of the equipment is sold to the dealer at cost. competitive fuels. Service department air. As a result, the broadcasting started One of the most interesting innova­ engineers also will train salesmen of the in 1928 was discontinued after four tions in which Lehigh Navigation Coal retail dealer in house-to-house solicita­ years. Co. has pioneered is bagging coal at the Yard service includes advice on the tion methods mines. A bagging plant was put in op­ Much of the retail consumer and ad­ best methods of handling coal into and eration at Lansford in the fall of 1931. visory selling work is presented through through the dealer’s storage plant, quick The first month shipments totaled 328 the medium of the service schools con­ loading and dispatching of trucks, im­ tons and since that time over 100,000 ducted at Lansford, where an intensive proved chuting to dealers bins and bag­ tons of bagged coal has been sold. Coal three-day course is given small groups ging of coal. This engineering service is is bagged in 18-, 25-, and 50-lb. quanti­ of retail coal merchants. The first day based upon the experience gained m ties in heavy paper sacks. At present, the merchant students are taken to the handling coal through the company’s bagged shipments are confined to the mines and the breakers, visit the storage own breakers and the data collected from chestnut size, but study is being given to yard, see how coal is inspected and also the market possibilities for other sizes. experiences of successful retail mer" visit the chemical laboratory of the com­ chants and inspection of their yards and Breakage in transit is a relatively minor pany to watch the methods used in ash equipment over a number of years. Yard item; to cover this, each shipment, which analyses and fusion tests. In the even­ service and advice are furnished free is made in box cars, includes a few extra ing, the students spend two hours in empty bags and ties. In a number of to dealers who purchase more than 50 studying the proper approach to pros­ cases, retail distributors have resold per cent of their tonnage from the Le­ pective customers, how to handle con­ bagged coal to independent and chain high Navigation Coal Co. Prospective sumer complaints, and the fundamentals dealers and retailers who buy only an grocery stores, but the Lehigh Naviga­ of draft control. tion company itself sells the bagged occasional car are given advice on yard On the second day, the students are product only to recognized retail coal problems, but no actual service work. taken to the physical laboratory, where merchants. Retail consumer service covers gen­ they receive instructions in how stokers As part of its general educational pro­ eral coal information; instructions on should be installed, the proper setting of gram, the company has established a combustion; special advice relative to coal and air adjustments, use of draft “guest house” at its Coaldale breaker heating plants and proper radiation, how o-aees and determination of gas analyses. where visitors are provided with guides to reduce heating costs, advantages ^ of In addition, the students are told proper for inspection trip of the breaker and a coal over other fuels, vacuum-cleaning methods of fire control in hand-fired typical underground section of the mine of heaters, heat regulators, blowers, au­ boilers and where to look for defects m set apart for this inspection. Since the tomatic coal burners and the air-condi­ equipment and installations. The evening guest house was opened in 1931, ap­ tioning of homes. Much of the data upon session is devoted to discussion of clinker proximately 75,000 visitors have ac­ which this service is based are derived formation, various types of heating cepted the company’s invitation to visit from tests made in the company labora­ equipment and the defects most fre­ the property and get a first-hand picture. tories at Lansford. Trained service men quently encountered with each, and fi are available to assist the retail coal 535 December, 1935 — COAL AGE OPERATING IDEAS From Production, Electrical and Mechanical Men

Machine Cleans Safety Lamps brush, A, with bristle pointing down, (5) To clean the outside of the chimney cleans the wick and adjacent metal parts. the operator releases his grasp, allowing Thoroughly and Quickly (2) The lamp bottom is raised to a the chimney to rotate with the mandrel, Cleaning of W olf safety lamps is now a round hole of the same diameter in the and then pushes down on the outside buf­ task less tedious than formerly, is done in bottom of a compartment, B, and a valve fer, E. a shorter time and with more likelihood is opened to project an air blast against (6) The final step, but one which a deft of thoroughness by a special machine in the wick and top surface. operator usually has performed coincident use at Alliance colliery of the Lehigh (3) The hinged door, C, is opened and with the former steps, is to put the two the double gauze air ring of the lamp is Navigation Coal Co., Kaska, Pa. This gauzes into cup G and swing this spring- pushed into a spring holder mounted on a machine is a compact assembly of brush, hinged cup down and around to cover the shaft inside of the round compartment. An buffers, centrifugal cleaner and blowing hole in the bottom of compartment B. An air jet hitting the ring tangentially cleans cup, all operated by compressed air and air blast removes the dust and the air es­ it while turning it momentarily at high capes back up through a vent along one fitted with inclosing cases and exhaust pipe speed. to carry the dirt out of the room. side of the cup and into the exhaust pipe. (4) The curved, and hinged buffer plate, About 75 seconds is normal time required Fig. 1 is a view of the machine as E, lined with sheep’s wool, is raised from for unlocking the lamp, filling with naphtha, mounted above a work bench and in handy the buffer mandrel, F (also covered with cleaning all of the parts in the machine position beside a W olf naphtha filling tank sheep’s wool), and coincident with the and reassembling the lamp. When the clean­ of standard design. Progressive steps in starting of an air turbine driving the man­ ing is done by hand and includes brushing the cleaning, after the lamp has been taken drel the operator forces the glass chimney the double gauze air ring, the complete job apart, are as follow s: of the lamp over the mandrel buffer and on a lamp takes 95 seconds. When the (1) In a vertical position the lamp bottom holds it from turning for a moment to work was done by hand the double gauze is pushed through a slide where a long effect wiping of the inside. air rings were cleaned but twice a week,

Fig. 1—Mounted on a bench near the filler tank Fig. 2— A lam p is cleaned and filled in 75 seconds

536 COAL AGE — Vol.40, No.12 OPERATING IDEAS . . . from PRODUCTION, ELECTRICAL and MECHANICAL MEN

Old Company’s

OPERATING IDEAS in this month’s section were originated by operating, electrical, mechanical and safety men at the collieries of the Lehigh Navi­ gation Coal Co.—the "Old Com­ pany”—to which this issue, the Fif­ teenth Annual Model Mining Number of C oal A g e , is devoted. In com­ mon with all forward-looking com­ panies, Lehigh Navigation stresses the development of cost-cutting and efficiency-promoting ideas, which this department is organized to present this month and every month. In this objective men at the mines can assist by forwarding ideas developed at their operations. Sketches or pho­ tographs should accompany the ideas if they will help to make them The motor gains considerable speed before engaging its load dearer. Each acceptable idea will bring its sender $5 or more from 25-cycle motors. A current transformer C oal A g e. This type of starter is made under the Bethlehem-Nieman patents and is known and an ammeter (40 amp. full scale), both of General Electric manufacture, are con­ ★ ★ as the “Madden Slip-Ring Starter.” Those applied to motors of 15 to 50 hp. in the nected in one leg of each line between the safety switch and starter. whereas with the machine they are cleaned Tamaqua breaker were supplied by J. P. Madden, Bethlehem, Pa. daily. At Alliance 139 lamps are cleaned per ¿ay—96 for day miners, 18 for firebosses Metal Pipes With Air Jets and 25 for men on night shift Two lamps Use of Ammeters Is Extended Used for Ventilation are provided for each man, so that one lamp is left in the lamp house for cleaning To Smaller Motors Instead of blowers driven by electric while the other is in use. Installation of meters to check machine motors or by compressed-air turbines, Air at 75 to 100 lb. pressure from the performance and to indicate abnormal con­ Greenwood colliery of the Lehigh Naviga­ colliery compressed-air system is used to ditions which might damage the electrical tion Coal Co. uses a limited quantity of operate the machine. Three types of Wolf drive is now carried out on motors of rel­ steel tubing fitted with compressed-air la m p s, Nos. 100, 131 and 201, are accom­ atively small ratings at collieries of the nozzles to promote circulation by injector modated by the equipment. William Jones, Lehigh Navigation Coal Co. Experience action. The accompanying drawing illus­ of Kaska, Pa., now in charge of the Alli­ over many years with meters on the large trates how 20-in. galvanized pipe, the larg­ ance lamp house, devised and built the stationary a.c. motors has demonstrated est size used in the mine, was employed machine. His patent covering it was al­ time and again the value of observing the to drive a blind tunnel extending 400 ft. from the main shaft, which conducts fresh lowed Aug. 20, 1932. meter indications. The accompanying illustration, showing air into the mine. a recent installation in the No. 5 buck ad­ The pipe was installed from a stopping dition to the Nesquehoning breaker, in­ in a tunnel connecting the two shafts, Starter Broadens Use of cludes the controls of four 20-hp. 440-volt thence 225 ft. down the intake shaft and

Squirrel-Cage Motors A glance at the meters tells if the loads are normal Conveyors and other machinery with heavy starting duties which normally call for slip-ring motors and secondary-resis- tance starters were equipped with plain squirrel-cage motors and starting switches in Tamaqua breaker of the Lehigh Naviga­ tion Coal Co. when that breaker was re­ built this fall. A mechanical clutch mounted on the motor shaft and carrying the drive pulley or sprocket allows the motor to approach full speed before it engages the load. The accompanying illustration shows one of these starters on a 25-hp. type CS motor which drives a buckwheat chain-flight con veyor. In this instance the drive connection is a silent chain. Mechanically the starter resembles an automobile brake; the fric tion band, however, is backed up by a number of spring-steel laminations the same width and shape as the lining an stacked to about 1 in. in thickness, lh e load is started without shock and the mechanism works equally well for either direction of rotation and acts as a load- limiting clutch.

December, 1935 — COAL AGE OPERATING IDEAS . . . from PRODUCTION, ELECTRICAL and MECHANICAL MEN

to the face of the tunnel under construc­ onto these nozzle connections to increase Fig. 3, telegraph chutes are fastened to the tion. Two nozzles fitted into the 20-in. circulation above that normally resulting side openings and are run back into the pipe and arranged to point toward the dis­ from main fan pressure. The 20-in. pipe ends of the car, where they are supported charge end, situated at the stopping, were is in 20-ft. lengths, some of which are on horizontal pipes fastened into the sides connected to the compressed-air supply spiral construction and some straight-seam of the car by screw jacks. The level of lines through suitable control valves. After construction. the spout opening in the car can be con­ shooting, the compressed air was turned In using pipe and air jets for the ordi­ trolled by operating the primary hoist to nary job of ventilating certain blind gang­ raise or lower the entire loader. ways and chutes back in the workings and Coaldale breaker employs the solid- where the discharge end of the pipe does column principle of loading prepared sizes not extend to a stopping, circulation with a hinged chute (Figs. 4 and 5). The through the pipe continues only while the discharge end of this chute, which is compressed air is turned into the jet. Six- equipped with two bottom-opening gates, inch galvanized pipe in 10-ft. lengths is is raised and lowered by a hoist to suit used for that work. the height of the coal. For loading steam sizes in box cars, Elevation cross-section both Lansford and Coaldale employ the of shafts and tunnel box-car loader shown in Figs. 6 and 7. This loader consists essentially of two main A i r Je t s chutes hinged at the upper end to permit ¿¿a raising and lowering, two extensible spouts mounted so that they can be run into the box car and then opened out to discharge __ > coal to both ends, a hoist, and the necessary y/W/M telegraph chutes and supporting pipes. When not in use, the carriage on which the spouts are mounted is drawn back un­ der the main chutes (Fig. 6 ). To bring the extensible spouts into position for load­ ing, the carriage is run forward, the wheel A (Fig. 6) running up on the inclined mem­ Column Flow M inimizes Coal Breakage ber B, thus bringing the spouts up under the permanent chutes. The carriage is then In Loading Railroad Cars locked in position and the spouts are swung out into position. In extended position, the spouts are carried by retaining members C O REDUCE breakage in shipping pre­ Two hoists are required for operation of (Figs. 6 and 7), which in turn rest on the pared sizes, equipment for loading rail­ the loader. From the position shown in Fig. frame of the carriage. Telegraph chutes Troad cars at Lansford and Coaldale2 the loader is brought into position by breakers of the Lehigh Navigation Coal are used to conduct the coal to the ends of raising the vertical section with one hoist the cars. The hoist is used only for chang­ Co. has been designed to facilitate the and at the same time lowering the spout maintenance of a solid stream of material ing the elevation of the chutes, which other­ with the other so that it will enter the wise rest in the appropriate notches in a per­ between loading pockets and cars. Lans­ car door. With the spout in position, as in ford equipment includes the Adams lower­ manent stand built on the loading platform. ing chute shown in Fig. 1. The vertical section of this chute is constructed with Fig. 1—Adams lowering chutes in low and high positions, three sides only and is mounted so that Lansford breaker the open fourth side faces a flat steel plate permanently attached to the breaker struc­ ture. This plate extends up to the bottom of the lip-screen chute built out from the pocket gate, and carries guides to permit upward and downward movement of the loading chute. Raising and lowering of the chute are controlled by an electric boom hoist. When loading starts, the chute is dropped down to the bottom of the car. The bin gate is then opened, the coal passes over the lip screen through a heavy water spray and the chute is allowed to fill. The chute gate at the lower end is then opened and load­ ing starts, the coal flowing in a solid col­ umn down the chute into the car. As the level of the coal rises in the car, the chute is raised by the hoist without stopping the flow of coal. This is made possible by omission of the fourth side of the vertical section and permanent attachment of its substitute to the breaker structure, so that the effective length of the vertical column can be increased or decreased by raising or lowering the loading chute. The solid-column principle also has been applied to the design of a box-car loader for prepared sizes at Lansford. This loader consists of the three-sided vertical section mounted as detailed above, to which a spout entering the box car is hinged (Fig. 2).

538 COAL AGE — Vol.40, No.12 from PRODUCTION, ELECTRICAL and MECHANICAL MEN

Fig. 2— Box-car loader for prepared sizes in inactive position, Lansford breaker

Fig. 3— Loader raised to working position Fig. 4 — Bottom view of Coaldale chute with spout extended for loading prepared sizes, showing gates

Fig. 6—Box-car loader for steam sizes, show­ ing position of ex­ Fig. 5 — Coaldale tensible spouts when loading chute lowered loader is not in use to working position

Fig. 7 — Carriage run out and extensible spouts in position for loading

December, 1935 — COAL AGE 539 WORD FROM THE FIELD

Stoker Makers to Cooperate Coal Investigations Planned With Coal Industry By Testing Society Close contact with the bituminous coal A number of coal investigations are un­ industry, with exchange of opinions and der way or planned by the Committee on data, is to be an important feature of the Coal and Coke, American Society for program outlined at the 18th annual meet­ Testing Materials, Philadelphia. Among ing of the Stoker Manufacturers’ Asso­ upon the constitutionality of the TVA act these projected studies during 1935-36 will ciation, held in Chicago Nov. 15 and 16. ( Coal Age, April, p. 172). This decision be a continuation of experiments by Sub­ The engineering committee of the associa­ was overruled on July 17 by Fifth Circuit committee I on Methods and Testing with a tion, headed by T. A. Marsh, Iron Fire­ Court of Appeals at New Orleans, La., view of finding a satisfactory inert mate­ man Mfg. Co., recommended keeping in which ruled that the act creating TVA was rial for mixing with coal in the agglu­ close touch with the work of Bituminous valid and that Congress had a right to tinating value test as published in last Coal Research, Inc., the “proving ground” adopt “any reasonable means” of disposing for the improvement of soft coal for stoker of surplus power ( Coal Age, August, p. year’s report of the committee. The Ot­ application. 348). Thereupon the plaintiffs took an tawa sand now used as the inert material varies in regard to surface characteristics Other projects include revision of appeal to the Supreme Court. heights standards for steel boilers, setting The city of Memphis, Tenn., signed a of the individual sand grains to such an heights for cast-iron boilers, promotion of 20-year contract with TVA on Nov. 23, extent that different shipments of this sand standardization of stoker sizes, obtaining and as soon as the city works out the give different values when used on the improved reports on stoker production and means of buying or building a distribut­ same coal. Therefore sands from other sales, and increase of educational activities. ing system, TVA will provide transmis­ sources will be investigated and tests will sion lines into the city. A $9,000,000 bond be made using manufactured materials such issue for the system has been authorized as fused bauxite and fused alumina, as Supreme Court Test of TV A by referendum vote. they may prove more uniform than silica Set for Dec. 19 David E. Lilienthal, TVA director, an­ sand. The test is so sensitive to surface nounced on Nov. 26 at Louisville, Ky., characteristics of the grains of inert ma­ Test of the constitutionality of the TVA that TV A expects to enter the Kentucky terial that, to be suitable, a substance must act will be taken up in the U. S. Supreme field with low-rate power. He said that be very uniform in this respect. Court on Dec. 19, when argument will be Norris dam is within transmission distance, Arrangements are being made by Sub­ begun. The court assigned this date on and that power will be made available for committee V on Tolerances to assemble Nov. 18 in response to a motion by gov­ those who want it. He also disclosed that data and make recommendations as to al­ ernment attorneys requesting prompt ac­ TVA has been exploring foundations for lowable differences between two laborator­ tion. Plaintiffs’ briefs were ordered filed a large dam on the lower Tennessee River ies analyzing portions of coal crushed to not later than Dec. 2, and government in Kentucky. pass a No. 60 sieve, and tolerances as to briefs not later than Dec. 16. allowable differences between two labora­ James M. Beck, former U. S. Solicitor tories analyzing different portions of coal General, and Forney Johnston, attorney ★ ★ crushed to pass a No. 4 sieve (the 60- for the Alabama Power Co., presented the URCE INCREASE IN TARIFF mesh coal refers to the laboratory sample, plaintiffs’ brief, in which the TVA act was ON RUSSIAN ANTHRACITE whereas the No. 4-mesh coal refers to the assailed not only as unconstitutional but coal as submitted by the sampler to the “revolutionary in its importance” because A DELEGATION from the an­ laboratory). The subcommittee also will the government essayed, “through a board thracite field of Pennsylvania, in­ make recommendations as to tolerances for of three men subjected to none of the cluding representatives of the op­ the volatile-matter determination in case traditional checks, standards or restraints, erators, miners and Congressmen, of solid fuels other than bituminous coals, to establish the government permanently called on President Roosevelt on lignites, and cokes for which tolerances are in absolute control of the power of a vast Nov. 18 to urge that the duty now given in the Standard Methods of region.” on Russian anthracite be increased Laboratory Sampling and Analysis of Coal The TV A program, the brief stated, from $2 to $5 per ton. The party and Coke (D 271-33). “involves the assumption by the govern­ included Louis C. Madeira, 3d, ex- Subcommittee VII on Pulverizing Char­ ment of a business which is intrinsically excutive director of the Anthracite acteristics of Coal intends to continue in­ local in character, the regulation of which Institute; Thomas F. Kennedy, Lieu­ vestigation of the ball-mill method and the has been a matter of local jurisdiction tenant Governor of Pennsylvania Hardgrove-machine method for determina­ from the beginning of the industry, the and secretary-treasurer, United tion of grindability of coal. Experiments transfer of which to the government shat­ Mine Workers; Michael Kozik, will be conducted with a view of shortening ters the theory of the Tenth Amend­ president, District 1, U.M.W .; Rep­ the time required for the grindability de­ ment. . . . resentative P. J. Boland, Scranton, termination by the ball-mill method. A “The proposal necessarily and directly P a .; and Representative F. E. W al­ factor that apparently needs investigation involves a monopoly in fact through com­ ter, Easton, Pa. Mr. Madeira told is how differences in specific gravity of petitive exhaustion of the existing utilities the President that imports of Rus­ the coal and of impurities such as slate and and their inability to compete with a gov­ sian anthracite had risen from 126,- pyrite affect the determination. Some pre­ ernment free of taxation, free from adverse 000 tons in 1929 to 375,000 tons liminary tests on coal and slate, using consequences or operating deficits and with during the year ended Sept. 30, the ball-mill method, indicate that results unlimited funds to carry out its program 1935, an increase of 196 per cent. obtained may be erroneous if the charge and liquidate its mistakes.” Approximately 90 per cent of the used is based on weight alone, and that The late Judge W . I. Grubb, in federal imported coal, it was pointed out, the volume of the sample may be impor­ District Court at Birmingham, Ala., held is of domestic size, which, translated tant. Another point that needs further on Feb. 22 last that sale of electric energy into American labor, means 238,000 study is how best to report grindability Dv TVA in competition with private utili­ man-davs of work, not including rail­ results and the practicability of convert­ ties was illegal, though he declined to pass road labor. ing results of one method to make them

540 COAL AGE — Vol.40, No.12 comparable to those obtained by the other Operating and Economic Phases of Mining method. Progress in the development of methods for the determination of coal friability - Hold Attention at Illinois M eeting that is, the resistance to breakage or de­ gradation in size on handling—has been reasons. One of the earliest plans for pro­ made by Subcommittee XI on Coal Fria­ EMBERS and guests of the Illinois moting safety adopted by the company was bility. More work must be done, however, Mining Institute tackled both the the construction of safety stations at the before methods for this test can be pre­ operating and economic phases of coal min­ M mines with men in charge of rescue and sented to the society. Two methods of ing at the organization’s 43d annual meet­ first-aid apparatus and materials. Installa­ test are under consideration: a small-jar ing, held in Springfield, 111., Nov. 8, to­ tion of the stations was supplemented by tumbler method using a sample of 1,000 gether with an equipment show in which 49 the employment of underground safety in­ grams of coal, the other being based on exhibitors were represented. Safety, d.c. the Standard Method of Shatter Test for conversion equipment for mine use and the spectors. . . The need for mine stations vanished with Coke, using a 50-lb. sample of coal. The preparation and utilization of coal were the the setting up of a State rescue station in small-scale tumbler test is considered ap­ themes of the technical sessions, at which the county. Thereafter, greater stress was plicable for testing the relative friability D. D. Wilcox, general superintendent, Su­ laid on inspection and mine and equipment of coal, whereas the shatter test repre­ perior Coal Co., and H. H. Taylor, Jr., condition, without, however, any marked sents more closely the breakage taking vice-president, Franklin County Coal Co., improvement in the injury record. W ork­ place in the commercial handling of coal. Inc., presided. ing on the theory that attack from another Subcommittee X II on Sampling Coal at An optimistic note was sounded by J. u . angle was necessary, a program of 100-per­ Coal-Cleaning Plants has been collecting A. Morrow, president, Pittsburgh Coal Co., at the annual dinner, with George B. Har­ cent first-aid training was inaugurated. data to determine the variables that affect Resultant interest in safety was reflected in accuracy of coal sampling. The subcom­ rington, president, Chicago, Wilmington & Franklin Coal Co., as toastmaster. Another operation for a considerable time, includ­ mittee probably will soon be able to for­ ing one calendar year, without a fatality. mulate methods for coal sampling at coal- Later attempts to revive the same degree cleaning plants for determination of ex­ of interest through first-aid work were traneous impurities by float-and-sink tests. unsuccessful, leading to the conclusion that Another project pertains to methods of new appeals must be sought. sampling for determination of ash content. Bonus payments to foremen and two Work leading to the standardization of safety men in each section in charge of methods of collecting gross samples by safety material were then adopted. The mechanical means and mechanical reduc­ bonus was lc. per man-shift worked with­ tion of gross samples will be continued out injury, with a penalty of $1 for every by Subcommittee X III on Mechanical Sam­ man-shift lost. The system was drawn up pling and Reduction of Samples. The latter in this way to give both large and small probably will be standardized first, and sections in the hand-loading mines an equal then the subcommittee will study methods opportunity. Safety men were changed of collecting gross samples with a view_ to each month to allow as many miners as standardizing the principles underlying possible to participate. If a section failed such methods. Mechanical methods of re­ to earn a bonus, the safety men were paid a ducing gross samples to a convenient quan­ minimum of $5 to compensate them for any tity for transmittal to the laboratory are loss of time incurred. The miners, how­ now quite generally used by coal operators ever, were not reached often enough and, and large consumers of coal, as the hand furthermore, were not particularly inter­ method of reduction of samples, given in ested in participating just to see a foreman the Standard Method of Sampling Coal get a bonus. (D 21-16), is laborious and time-consum­ In view of the experience under this ing- . j plan, it was concluded that every miner as A new subcommittee will be organized an individual must be interested in the prog­ T. J. Thomas charged with investigating methods for ress of a group of which he formed a President-elect, Illinois M ining Institute determination of dustiness of coal with a part. The summer of 1934 was not good view to recommending a standard method from the standpoint of injuries and August upward spiral in the bituminous industry of test. In recent years a great deal of in particular was a high-cost month. Start­ can confidently be expected, Mr. Morrow coal has been treated with oil compounds ing with the first pay period in September, declared, in view of the trend in cost of or chemicals such as calcium chloride to therefore, the company went to every production, delivered cost, industry’s oppor­ prevent the coal from being dusty when miner with prizes, consisting of a 12-lb. tunity to produce, the public’s capacity to handled, and a standard method will be sack of flour to every man in every section consume and the possibility of new uses sought to test the efficiency of such treat­ finishing the pay period without a lost-time which will relegate power and heat to a injury. The same plan was followed in the ment. subordinate position as outlets for coal. second pay period, with the further pro­ The next upward spiral will have a much vision that men in sections finishing two sounder foundation, and for that reason, periods without injuries received a 24-lb. said Mr. Morrow, he was opposed to the gift of flour, instead of 12 lb. The flour Decries Illinois Gas Project apparent desire of many operators to turn was put up in cloth bags imprinted with control of the industry over to the gov­ the slogan, “Safety pays in many ways.” PW A loans and grants which have been ernment. Nothing indicates that the in­ approved to finance the construction of The result was a substantial reduction in dustry will go so fast or so far or succeed the cost of injuries in September, and the natural-gas pipe lines to Pittsfield, so well with complete centralization of plan therefore was continued through the house, White Hall and Carrollton, In., power. Rather, coal men should be granted next three pay periods with 4- and 8-lb. will result in an economic loss of $1,024,- the right of voluntary association i or con­ pails of lard as the prizes. The plan was 317 to Illinois coal-mine and railroad labor, certed action, subject only to a limited veto successful in implanting the idea of group railroads and federal taxpayers, the South­ bv the government in cases where such ern Illinois Reciprocal Trade Association joint action falls outside well-defined limits responsibility in the minds of the men, and declared Oct. 25 in a petition to Public the cost of injuries for the five periods, of fair practice. . . . , . plus the cost of the prizes, was slightly Works Administrator Harold L. Ickes. To keep the safety idea in the minds of less than the bogey set up by the company. Through its executive vice-president, James its employees, the Sahara Coal Co., Saline The principal objection was that a serious W. Bristow, the association asked Mr. County, Illinois, said Paul Halbersleben, injury in only one section might cost the Ickes to rescind the allotments, asserting o-eneral superintendent, follows the plan o company heavily while it was laying out that the projects are financially and econ­ changin0' the appeal from time to time, omically unsound and would result in seri­ much as automobile manufacturers change money for prizes in the other sections. A lottery plan was next adopted to run ous loss of employment to miners and rail­ ™ar models, and for substantially the same road workers if carried out as planned.

December, 1935 — COAL AGE to April 1, 1935. Under this system, men Illin ois Leaders Pointing out that the sulphur content of in sections working a full pay period with­ coal ranges from i to as high as 10 per out injuries each received a ticket allowing T. J. THOMAS, president, Valier cent, W . D. Langtry, president, Commer­ them to participate in a drawing for dinner Coal Co., Chicago, was elected presi­ cial Testing & Engineering Co., declared buckets (bearing the Sahara shield and dent of the Illinois Mining Institute that its origin was not nearly as important safety slogan) and safety shoes, as well at its 43d annual meeting, held at as its elimination or modification of its as in the grand drawing on April 1 for Springfield, 111., last month. Mr. effects. Sulphur affects the sale of coal; prizes headed by an automobile. For two Thomas succeeds C. J. Sandoe, offers difficulties in the manufacture of coke consecutive periods, two tickets were vice-president, Perry Coal Co., St. and gas; is a factor in spontaneous com­ awarded for the second period, etc., thus Louis, M o. bustion, disintegration of coal in storage giving the men in these sections a better W. J. Jenkins, president, Consoli­ and the formation of clinkers; causes chance in the grand drawing, although not dated Coal Co. of St. Louis, St. changes in the appearance of coal in tran­ in the regular drawing. Louis, Mo., succeeds Mr. Thomas as sit; forms sulphuric acid in the presence institute vice-president, and B. E. Results of the lottery plan were not so of water; and is a factor in the emission Schonthal, president, B. E. Schonthal of “white smoke,” which is decidedly sul­ striking as those attained in the flour-and- & Co., Chicago, was reelected secre- lard period, although it is believed they tary-treasurer. phurous, corrosive and injurious to health. would have been better had the lottery plan Executive board membership for Generally speaking, volatile sulphur is been adopted first. In this and the other 1935-1936 is as follows: W . C. Argust, approximately one-half the total. It is, appeals tried, the major problem was one general superintendent, Peabody Coal however, just as detrimental in many cases of getting the men to talk and think safety. Co.; W. J. Austin, Hercules Powder as fixed sulphur. In burning the coal, about Best results, Mr. Halbersleben declared, Co.; Carl Elshoff, president, Mine B. 90 per cent of the sulphur also is burned, were obtained in the first-aid-training and Coal Co.; Charles F. Hamilton, presi­ the remainder going into the ash, usually flour-and-lard periods, “because every man dent, Pyramid Coal Corporation; in combination with lime. The burnt sul­ was reached by the company and it was to John E. Jones, safety director, Old phur passes off as the dioxide or trioxide, his benefit to see that his fellow workman Ben Coal Corporation; Dr. M. M. with some small part as hydrogen sulphide. was a safe workman.” Leighton, chief, Illinois Geological Some of the sulphur is trapped by soot. Development of portable d.c. conversion Survey; James McSherry, director, Where the gas combines with water, form­ Illinois Department of Mines and ing sulphuric acid, corrosion of metal is a units for underground service, perfection of Minerals; F. S. Pfahler, president, a flameproof cooling and insulating liquid possibility. The trend of stoker develop­ Superior Coal Co.; C. J. Sandoe, ment, however, seems to indicate a substan­ for transformers with the desirable char­ vice-president, Perry Coal Co.; H. H. acteristics of mineral oil, and the introduc­ Taylor, Jr., vice-president, Franklin tial decrease in sulphur difficulties in the fu­ tion of the mercury-arc rectifier for con­ County Coal Co., Inc.; H. A. Tread­ ture. From the standpoint of damage to plant verting alternating to direct current are the well, general superintendent, Chi­ equipment, said Mr. Langtry, all deposits in major advances in electrification in recent cago, Wilmington & Franklin Coal passages and openings are sources of dan­ years, said B. R. Connell, industrial engi­ Co.; Paul Weir, vice-president, Bell ger, and therefore should be removed as neer, General Electric Co. In the case of & Zoller Coal & Mining Co. soon as possible. Where the plant is kept the mercury-arc rectifier, factors which are clean, there is little difference in the rate of advantageous under all or certain conditions ★ ★ corrosion between coals regardless of their are: no moving parts; noiseless operation; sulphur content. ability to withstand overloads; elimination as spiral separators, mechanical picking The companies and institutions repre­ of commutators and brushes and external tables and some air tables; use of rotary sented in the exhibits at the meeting were: arcing or sparking; light weight; long life; breakers employing the difference in the Air Reduction Sales Co., American Brat­ and adaptability to several types of control tice Cloth Co., American Steel & Wire Co., ease with which coal and refuse break up; American Cable Co., Atlas Powder Co., equipment. and use of the difference in the “spring­ Automatic Reclosing Circuit Breaker Co., Comparison of the rectifier with other iness” of coal and refuse. In the case of Carroll Chain Co., Central Mine Equipment Co., Chicago Pneumatic Tool Co., Clarkson types of conversion equipment show: floor very fine particles, the “river-flow” prin­ Mfg. Co., Duncan Foundry & Machine Works, space—least, m.-g. set; greatest, rectifier; ciple is employed to a certain extent with Eagle Iron Works, Egyptian Iron Works, weight—approximately the same; mainte­ Electric Railway Improvement Co., Evans­ wet, or concentrating, tables, and the dif­ ville Electric & Mfg. Co. nance—approximately the same as m.-g. set ference in “wettability” between coal and General Electric Co., W. M. Hales Co., or slightly less than converter; efficiency— refuse in froth-flotation processes. Hercules Powder Co., Illinois Department of Mines and Minerals, International Shoe rectifier good at light loads and exceeded Use of water for coal cleaning brings Co., Keystone Lubricating Co., Koppers- only by converter at full and overloads; up the drainage problem for sizes under Rheolaveur Co., A. Leschen & Sons Rope rectifier efficiency higher at higher volt­ Co., Link-Belt Co., Macwhyte Co., Mine i in. Over this limit, gravity drainage Safety Appliances Co., Modern Engineering ages ; power-factor-corrective capacity— generally is sufficient to avert trouble. The Co., National Electric Coil Co. rectifier offers little without special equip­ drainage difficulty increases with the fine­ Ohio Brass Co., Portable Lamp & Equip­ ment Co., Post-Glover Electric Co., Frank ment. ness of the coal, as the surface to be wetted Prox Co., H. H. Robertson Co., John A. Fundamental factors in coal cleaning is greatly increased and the tendency to Roebling’s Sons Co., Simplex Wire & Cable were discussed by Henry F. Hebley, re­ Co., George W. Snarr Co., Socony-Vacuum pack together is enhanced. Provided no Oil Co., Southwest Bolt & Nut Co., Standard search engineer, Allen & Garcia Co., who pieces less than 1/100 in. are present, fines Stamping & Perforating Co. divided impurities into three classes in ac­ may be placed in perforated baskets, which Timken Roller Bearing Co., Tyson Roller Bearing Corporation, U. S. Bureau of Mines, cordance with their origins: natural ash in are spun at high speed to remove the mois­ University of Illinois, Upson-Walton Co., the vegetation from which the coal is de­ ture. Such machines can reduce moisture Watt Car & Wheel Co., Westinghouse Elec­ rived ; layers of clay and sand deposited at tric & Mfg. Co., West Virginia Rail Co., from 20 to 7 per cent. I. B. Williams & Sons, Ayer & Lord divi­ the time the coal was laid down; minerals When other means of removing moisture sion, Wood Preserving Corporation. (limestone, gypsum, pyrites, etc.) deposited must be resorted to, heat comes into the from water flowing through the coal; and picture. Heat, however, is not enough, de­ dirt from roof, floor and cuttings. clared Mr. Hebley, as the moisture must be Principles available in the cleaning of carried away as fast as the coal gives it up. C. W. Watson Named Trustee coal include: density separation, involving Therefore, hot furnace gases, tempered Clarence W. Watson, formerly U. S. liquids heavy enough to float the coal while with air, are passed through the coal mass Senator from West Virginia, was appointed the heavier refuse sinks, generally too ex­ to provide the heat necessary to change the temporary trustee of the Elk Horn Coal pensive except for testing; addition of sand, moisture to vapor and then absorb the vapor Corporation by Judge Nevin in the U. S. finely ground spar or clay to water to and carry it out of the dryer. The higher District Court at Cincinnati, Ohio, on Oct. secure the same effect as density separa­ the temperature, within practicable limits, 30. The appointment was made as the re­ tion; use of an upward current of water, the more moisture the air will carry. Care sult of an application by the company filed as in the jig; use of launders to separate must 'be taken, however, that the water in an answer to involuntary proceedings coal, which tends to form cubes, and refuse, taken up by the gases is not precipitated under the corporate reorganization amend­ which is more or less flat, through the before removal by a drop in the tempera­ ment to the bankruptcy act. Seventy- stratifying action of a flowing stream of ture. Also, the gases must have sufficient five per cent of the company’s bond and water; use of the same difference in shape, velocity to cut away the layer of vapor note holders are reported to be in favor together with the difference in friction, in surrounding each coal particle so that the of the reorganization. Mr. Watson was the dry cleaning of coal on such equipment water underneath can be taken up. appointed receiver for the company in 1931.

542 COAL AGE — Vol.40, No.12 Coal the Most Efficient Consum erSpokesm en Forecast Higher Demand "NEITHER OIL NOR GAS can A t A.I.M .E. Coal Division M eeting compete with coal on a cents per million B.t.u. basis in the greater part of the country. Their use under NCREASED D EM AND for bituminous locomotive firebox. Indirectly, he con­ boilers is economically unsound ex­ coal in railroad-fuel service, general in­ ceded, stokers had resulted in fuel econ­ cept for unusual conditions, such as Idustry and public utility power-plant uses omy by making it possible to use larger temporary arrangements where the was forecast by spokesmen for those con­ equipment and haul bigger loads; hand fir­ steam-raising equipment is in too suming groups at the fall meeting of the ing would be out of the question with some Coal Division of the American Institute of of the heavier tonnage trains. poor a condition to properly bum Marked growth in tonnages for station­ Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, Cor­ coal or where excess gas must be ary power purposes seemed probable to onado Hotel, St. Louis, Mo., Oct. 28. If dumped pending more logical mar­ E. H. Tenney, chief engineer of power the coal industry is to capitalize fully on kets. It is also significant that, plants, Union Electric Light & Power Co., the possibilities and retain the position in compared with modern coal-firing St. Louis. This prediction was based upon power generation to which it is econom­ methods under all but very small increasing per capita consumption of ically entitled, however, producers, it was boilers, oil and gas are inherently at power; limitations to the supply of oil and argued, must show greater leadership in a disadvantage because of the hydro­ gas; “the apparent economic saturation, promoting more efficient combustion meth­ gen losses in their combustion. barring political subsidy, in_ hydro plant ods. In addition to this broad treatment, construction” ; flattening out in the rate of E. H. Tenney, at Coal Division two of the seven papers presented dealt increased efficiency in coal utilization and Meeting of A.LM.E. with Illinois marketing and preparation “the possibilities of reducing the cost of problems and a third with the geology of coal burning.” Exploration of these possi­ coals in the Southwest. bilities by the coal industry, he said, will ★ ★ Despite a decline of 36.8 per cent in rail­ promote the use of more coal by the power road consumption between 1929 and 1934, by a better technical understanding of industry. . . . while total soft-coal production had de­ In the face of depression declines in in­ power-plant problems. “For smaller plants creased only 33.0 per cent and fuel-oil con­ dustrial and commercial sales, the public- in particular, the coal industry can actually sumption by Class I carriers dropped 28.9 utility domestic load, Mr. Tenney pointed take the initiative in showing operators per cent, Eugene McAuliffe, president, out, has continued to increase “until now how to operate more cheaply and to better Union Pacific Coal Co., visioned a slow the total electric-power consumption has advantage with coal, whether it be along upturn in railroad-fuel demands. “I be­ reached a new maximum.” Although con­ the lines of continued use of old equipment, lieve,” he said, “that railway transportation sumption of coal per kilowatt-hour has an increased rate of output through more will now gradually expand in volume and been cut from 3.2 lb. in 1919 to 1.45 lb. in effective methods of operation, or any other character of service and that our bitumin­ 1934, the actual tonnage used by public way that will tend to preclude the en­ ous coal supply, far exceeding our oil re­ utility power plants has been reasonably croachment of competitive fuels. This will serves in production life, will continue to constant—35,000,000 tons in 1919 and 33,- require a technical knowledge of the fac­ fuel our American railways.” With railroad 550,000 tons in 1934. Fuel-oil consumption, tors that determine not only fuel economy management developing more comfortable, on the other hand, has shown a sharp de­ in boiler rooms but the operating expense, dependable and economical service to meet crease since 1924. Use of natural gas has the maintenance, and the cost of the coal- competitive forms of transportation, “the been greatly increased since 1928, but this burning equipment, all of which will deter­ nation’s traffic—freight and passenger—is increase, in the opinion of Mr. Tenney, is mine the competitive position of coal. even now turning back to the railways.” “a depression and distress-market situation “1. A factor that might well engage the which will not continue when more profit­ attention of the coal men is the amount and composition of the ash content. Fur­ Must Conserve Oil Supplies able outlets can be found by the wells. Except possibly in the oil fields, sta­ nace heat liberations will vary from 12,000 Changes in the relative costs of oil and tionary gas-engine developments, he stated, B.t.u. per cubic foot per hour to 60,000 coal or legislative measures, or possibly are practically at a standstill. N o appre­ B t.u., depending on the tendency of the both, will develop a national tendency to ciable improvement has been effected in the ash to clinker on stokers or to plug up the conserve oil now used for steam making to economy of the diesel engine since the first gas passages between the boiler tubes in protect the requirements of international- one was built many years ago. “Steam pulverized-coal firing. combustion engines and for lubricants. I'0o plants increase rapidly in efficiency as they “2. In plants using pulverized fuel an­ little attention, declared Mr. McAuliffe, has increase in size, but the small diesel is other coal factor is that of the expense of been given to demands for lubricants, practically as economical as the large and grinding and the fineness of grind .possible which now far exceed any possible world the cost per unit of capacity is almost the with a given fuel. This factor follows from supply of animal fats. Diesel locomotives same. It is unlikely that any but the coal hardness, the tonnage to be prepared as a serious competitor of the steam loco­ smallest coal-fired steam plants should for a given heat content (ash having no motive, he intimated, have been greatly face any competition from the diesel plant. value) and the tendency of moisture com­ overrated. To attain safety with speed bination with such material as clay to be­ means higher capital investments in equip­ Higher Oil Prices Forecast come sticky and plug up the pulverizing ment and possibly increased operating ex­ In the case of oil, the user must face the mills. . penses in handling slower moving traffic. “3. Water treatment both before and in specter of diminishing supply and higher Moreover, “the maximum speed in miles prices. “The latest semi-authoritative the boilers can effect considerable savings. per hour ever obtained by the very latest study of the situation indicates known re­ Scale causes a loss in boiler capacity and type of diesel-driven passenger train was coverable oil reserves in the United States is expensive to remove. This expense, as equalled or exceeded forty years ago by to be 12,000,000,000 bbl.—enough for only well as loss in efficiency, damage due to non-streamlined locomotives and passenger thirteen years at the 1934 consumption corrosion and priming, loss in running ca­ trains built under the standards of that rate” Still more significant is the slump pacity and periodic outage of equipment, could all be avoided by properly treated day.” Reduction in unit fuel consumption in the annual rate of discovery of new in railroad service undoubtedly will con­ pools: between 1931 and 1934, the new and controlled boiler water. tinue, but probably on a somewhat smaller wells brought in produced an average ot “Finally, coal operators in meeting the scale. 580,000,000 bbl., against a discovery rate pressure of other fuels and the burden of a higher price on their own can advisably E. G. Bailey, vice-president, Babcock & of 1,990,000,000 bbl. during the 1926-30 watch developments in the art of firing and W ilcox Co., expressed surprise that the period. Economic development of new speaker had ignored stoker-fired locomo­ hydro-electric power is distinctly limited keep in mind the status of their own par­ tives in discussing efficiency in railroad op­ and since 1919 there has been little change ticular coals as it is affected by such de­ eration. Traffic, answered Mr. McAuliffe, in the relative positions of coal and hydro velopments.” Mr. Tenney’s appeal to the coal industry frequently is a greater factor in purchases plants in the growth of electric generation. than firebox efficiency. Carriers serving the The industry can assist materially in to equip itself to give technical counsel to consumers was warmly indorsed by J. E. coal fields must strike a balance between maintaining coal as a p rim ary sou rceo Tobey, manager, fuel engineering division, the traffic requirements of the industry on power in the future, declared Mr. Tenney, their rails and what can be used in the 543 December, 1935 — COAL AGE Appalachian Coals, Inc. “If we don’t,” he M ine Pow er-Plant for that plant regardless of the price at remarked, “our competitors will.” Mr. which it may be offered. Price, he added, Tobey also made the point that develop­ Sales Laboratories simply reflects consumer preferences and ment of off-peak loads would open the consumer requirements. market to increased use of coal in electro­ "COAL-MINE POWER PLANTS Any attempt to set a value on coal is chemical and electro-metallurgical proc­ offer excellent opportunities for the difficult, said Mr. Morrow, because coal esses. While the installed capacity of producer to install modern, or even itself is so varied and variable. While Mr. generating equipment in utility and pri­ experimental, equipment to advance Kreisinger’s formula might work fairly vate plants in the country is approximately the art of burning coal and a place well for coal used on underfeed stokers, it 40,000,000 kw., from the standpoint of to which he could take his customers would not be applicable to coal used with hours per year, this equipment is operated to learn how their plants could be many other types of burning equipment. at only approximately one-third of its total improved. Such opportunities are The ash-fusion point alone, insisted Mr. capacity. With fixed charges already cov­ seldom recognized or utilized. Pros­ Morrow, does not tell the whole story on ered in original and peak-load periods, pective customers of coal-burning clinkering. Much depends upon the char­ power generated in off-peak periods could acter of the ash; coal with a limey ash be sold at little more than fuel cost. equipment often travel great dis­ tances to see some new type of fusing at 2,200 deg., for example, may give Mr. Tobey voiced the opinion that the results equal to those secured from a coal equipment in operation, perhaps use of fuel oil in stationary power plants with a high-iron ash fusing at 2,500 deg. burning a coal different from the was on the wane and gas was only a pass­ Where slag-tap furnaces are used, coal ing threat. The increase in the domestic coal they will burn. Sometimes they with a low-fusing ash is in demand. Some load during the past few years, he said, even ship to other plants, at great industrial plants sell their ashes, while presaged an accelerated demand in the post­ expense, some of the coal that nor­ others must pay to have them hauled away. depression period. While a slight increase mally they burn or wish to burn to High-sulphur Pittsburgh coals, he pointed in coal prices seemed inevitable, the in­ make sure that it is suitable to the out, are harder in structure and carry a crease, he said, would be largely offset by equipment they contemplate pur­ smaller percentage of fines than some of improved quality of the product shipped chasing. How much simpler and the low-sulphur coals. from the mines. This conclusion, he felt, how much more effective in his sales Although “the bituminous-coal industry was justified by the activity in the building effort it would be if the coal pro­ faces a real problem if it desires to retain of new preparation plants. ducer could demonstrate his own the position in the power-generation field Ninety per cent of the pay load for power coal at his own mine power plant to which it is economically entitled,” pro­ consumption, asserted a written discussion on the most modern burning equip­ ducers and coal-carrying railroads as a of Mr. Tenney’s paper by Allen J. Johnson, ment best suited to it.”-—From an group, declared Mr. Bailey, have been director, Anthracite Institute Laboratory, address by E. G. Bailey before the very backward in cooperating with the lay east of the Rocky Mountains, but only Coal Division of A.I.M.E. power-plant owner. Their record on the 30 per cent of the available hydro possi­ score of contact and acquaintanceship with bilities are in that Eastern area. He saw the manufacturer of steam-generating almost unlimited possibilities for growth in ★ ★ equipment and his problems is still worse. the use of coal in the manufacture of pro­ The manufacturers themselves, he admitted, ducer gas. Some gas engines, he said, had content between the base coal and the coal only recently have undertaken “the coordi­ produced power with a coal consumption nation and joint development of fuel-burn­ of 1.35 lb. per kilowatt-hour. Develop­ to which the formula was applied; (2) a deduction of 2c. per ton for each per cent ing and steam-generating equipment on an ments in gas engines had been particularly extended scale.” notable in Europe. of ash above 7 per cent, with no premium for coal with an ash content under 7 per Need Cooperative Campaign What Determines Fuel Values? cent; (3) a deduction of 2c. per ton for each per cent of sulphur above 1 per cent; The most constructive policy the coal The value of any coal for steaming pur­ (4) a deduction of 3c. per ton for each 100 industry can follow, said Mr. Bailey, “is to poses, declared Henry Kreisinger, research deg. in ash fusibility under 2,600; and (5) minimize competition within itself, both as engineer, Combustion Engineering Co., Inc., the deduction or addition of 2c. per ton to individual companies and different dis­ in a paper on that subject, depends upon for each 5 per cent in the percentage of tricts, and face the common problem with four factors: (1) the quantity of steam fines over or under the 25 per cent base. the equipment manufacturer and the power- made per pound of coal, (2) attention Any changes due to differences in moisture plant owner for a better solution. A ll bi­ which must be given the fire in burning content, he stated, would be taken care of tuminous coal has enough volatile, tar and the coal, (3) cost of maintenance of steam- by the adjustment for differences in heat smoke-producing matter, and enough ash, generating equipment, and (4) outage of value. so that the fundamental problems that are that equipment for external cleaning and Application of this formula to the price common to all coal should be worked out repairs. In determining the value of a determination for a 13,000-B.t.u. coal, it collectively. The ultimate goal should be a given coal in relation to these factors, the was shown in the author’s paper, would universal furnace in which any coal, of author listed B.t.u. content; percentages of penalize the shipper of that coal 35.7c. per whatever rank or grade, can be so effi­ moisture, ash and sulphur; ash fusibility; ton for the difference of 1,000 B.t.u. be­ ciently burned that other fuels will be able grindability and friability; and the percent­ tween the heat content of his coal and that to compete only when their price and B.t.u. age of fines in commercial shipments as the called for in the base-coal specifications. value justify their use.” most important chemical and physical This penalty would be arrived at by the In most cases, coal should enjoy an initial properties. Since no standard methods of following calculation: advantage over rival fuels because “energy determining grindability or friability have can be transported more cheaply in coal been established, however, these properties l,000x 100 = 7.14 x 2.5 x $2.00=35.7c. cars than in electrical transmission lines, may be disregarded in setting up compara­ 14,000 gas or steam pipes.” Choosing the wrong tive price bases. grade or size of coal, improper combustion As a tentative method of price adjust­ Use of this formula, which, Mr. Kreis­ methods, and equipment that is obsolete or ment, Mr. Kreisinger assumed a base coal inger later explained, had been submitted unsuited to the particular job, however, all with the following specifications: to one of the subdivisional code authorities help to deprive coal of this advantage and as a basis for price correlation of mine B.t.u. per pound ...... 14 000 to build up a prejudice against its con­ Moisture (per cent) ...... j ’ 2 quotations under the N R A bituminous tinued use. In addition, said Mr. Bailey, Ash (per cent)...... 7 code, was sharply attacked by Gerald B. coal also labors under three distinct handi­ Sulphur (per cent)...... 7 Gould, president, Fuel Engineering Co. of Fusibility (deg\ F.) ' ' 2 600 caps in the competitive race: (1) It can­ Fines (per cent) ...... ’ 25 New York, and J. B. Morrow, preparation not be handled as conveniently as fluid Price, f.o.b. mines...... ' ' $2.00 manager, Pittsburgh Coal Co. The author, rivals; (2) the composition of its com­ asserted Mr. Gould, apparently was con­ bustible is more complex and, therefore, In fixing relative prices on other coals, he fusing price with value. If, for example, efficient and smokeless combustion is more proposed a formula under which there plant conditions are such that a particular difficult than with gas or oil; (3) the ash would be _(1) a deduction from or addition industry must use coal with a minimum is a serious deterrent to high ratings and to the mine price of the amount propor­ ash-fusion temperature of 2,600 deg., fuel efficient heat absorption. tional to times the difference in B.t.u. with a lower ash-fusion point has no value While readily admitting that reduction

544 COAL AGE — Vol.40, No.12 in ash and sulphur content and an increase on a centrifugal and can be shipped in in B.t.u. content raises the value of the freezing weather without causing much coal, Mr. Bailey expressed the belief that trouble. Although there is some degrada­ some expenditures for preparation plants tion, the quantity is relatively unimportant have been carried beyond their economic in so fine a size. limit. The increased cost of sizing and Although sampling is indispensable as cleaning, he said, is “often out of propor­ a source of data upon which cleaning plants tion to the added utility of the product.” are designed and furnishes the basis for Present-day combusion equipment, it is true, the performance record of plants built, its places distinct limitations on the character complexities, asserted Mr. Hebley, are and quality of the coal which may be suc­ little understood or considered by most cessfully used with it, and the producer coal operators. How the sample is taken cannot ignore this situation. But, he added, and its “representative” character are ex­ the coal operator also “should remember tremely important. In the quartering and that every economic trend will be in the requartering of even a large sample, a direction of getting away from such lim­ wholly unrepresentative piece of rock may itations and toward getting better efficiency find its way into the small quantity of out of low-grade, low-cost fuel.” _ selected material used in the final analysis General agreement with Mr. Baileys and cause that analysis to show an exces­ presentation was voiced by Mr. Tenney, sive percentage of ash. Coal is not a who thought that the lack of cooperation simple structure and “the chances that one between coal producers and consumers sample will show the true value of the which both had stressed in their papers coal are remote.” had been due to a failure to realize the Eugene McAuliffe Analysis gives the final measure of the great importance of the subject. While results of the coal-cleaning equipment. agreeing that the basic problem of the in­ Nominated for Chairman of Division Most modern installations, said Mr. Heb­ dustry was to deliver heating value as ley, include laboratories with float-and- cheaply as possible, John Griffen, Koppers- and clay. Such coatings detract from the sink stations for checking the washery Rheolaveur Co., said that he could not see appearance of the coal and increase sales results. Continual proximate analyses, how­ eye to eye with Mr. Bailey on preparation resistance. One Illinois stripping opera­ ever, are expensive, and if, in addition, trends. Through mechanization and im­ tion, said Mr. Hebley, has successfully the calorific value of samples is required, proved mining practices, he pointed out, overcome this drawback by selling on a the testing costs will be high. Part of this pit-mouth costs had been reduced, but these “performance only” basis, but that cannot cost, he stated, may be avoided by the use methods also had resulted in increasing always be done in the domestic market of the Parr formula in conjunction with the quantity of impurities which must be where appearance is rated so highly. the proximate analysis, since unit-coal ca­ removed in surface preparation. Make-up water is frequently introduced lorific values have been worked out under in the fine sprays over screens at pres­ the Parr formula for most of the produc­ Must Consider Ultimate Use sures up to 25 lb. per square inch. As a ing districts of Illinois. Design of a modern preparation plant, rule, however, explained Mr. Hebley, only stated Henry F. Hebley, Allen & Garcia the last bank of sprays can be so supplied Illinois Faces Stiff Competition Co., in a paper on coal cleaning in Illinois, because enough water is not available. In discussing the economic and competi­ must give consideration to the ultimate use The rest of the water can be obtained from tive position of Illinois coals, Walter H. to which the product handled through it is a pond fed by circulation water which is Voskuil, mineral economist, Illinois State put. A certain quantity of ash, for exam­ allowed to clarify by settlement. If the Geological Survey, presented a detailed ple, is desirable to cover the rear end of raw feed has been freed of its minus 48- analysis of fuel movements into the Upper a chain-grate stoker to shield the metal mesh material, a 5/16-in. x 48-mesh mate­ Mississippi Valley States. This area— links from the heat of the furnace. Too rial can be obtained by passing the coal Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Wis­ great a percentage of fines may cause ex­ over or J-mm. dewatering screens. This consin and parts of the Dakotas, Nebraska cessive fly ash and uneven combustion in coal can be dried to 8 per cent moisture and Kansas—absorbs 90 per cent of the Illi­ underfeed and chain-grate stokers. The nois output. At every point, however, best size for domestic stokers is still a Illinois must meet the competition of other subject of debate. In the case of coal to be ★ ★ coals and rival fuels. In the Southwest, burned in pulverized form, the effect of fuel oil and gas dominate; in trans-Mis­ moisture, ash and pyrite on grindability souri territory, Illinois must sell against becomes a factor in the cleaning problem. Coal D ivision N om inees coals from Colorado, Wyoming and Mon­ In many modern washing plants, it has tana. Appalachian coals move in large been thought advisable to treat finer sizes, EUGENE McAULIFFE, president, volume to Wisconsin and Minnesota and such as 5/16-in. x 0, on air tables because, Union Pacific Coal Co., was nomi­ also vie with Illinois in the Chicago area. if water is used, it will become contam­ nated for chairman of the Coal Divi­ Future developments in marketing Illi­ inated with fine coal dust, disintegrated sion of the A.I.M.E. for the 1936-37 nois coal in the Upper Mississippi Valley, clay and other fine impurities. With wet term at the annual fall meeting of he concluded, will depend upon trends in cleaning, continued Mr. Hebley, water in the division at St. Louis, Mo., on general fuel demand, coal shipments from sufficient quantities is often difficult to ob­ O ct. 28. the Appalachian region and the trends in tain. In strippings, where water may have J. B. Morrow, preparation man­ oil and gas production and marketing. collected over many years, some of the old ager, Pittsburgh Coal Co., was While coal demand doubtless will show a excavations can be used as reservoirs and nominated for the post of vice- substantial recovery from depression levels, settling basins. Presizing the feed and president, and H. E. Nold, professor increased efficiency in utilization will mili­ putting the various sizes through the dif­ of mining engineering, Ohio State tate against a return to the peak figure of ferent jigs only once may be necessary in University, was renominated for the former years. Wage-rate advances and order that refuse and impurities which position of division secretary. price control may check further increases “slime” quickly may be in contact with the E. A. Holbrook, dean of the school in shipments from the Appalachian fields into Illinois market territory. Emphasiz­ wash water the shortest time possible. of engineering and mines, University Such a system, however, requires a much ing the sharp decline in the rate of dis­ of Pittsburgh; Edmund L. Dana, larger quantity of water per ton of coal covery of new oil pools in the past four ’ mining engineer, Haddock Mining than when an unsized feed is treated. years, Mr. Voskuil expressed the opinion Co., and Otto Herres, Jr., vice- If the water in the settling equipment that fuel-oil competition “is likely to be­ president, United States Fuel Co., is rendered alkaline—with a pH value of come less critical as the problem of find­ about 11—by the addition of caustic soda were the choice of the nominating ing a new supply equal to the annual de­ and starch, the thickened sludge will be committee for membership on the mand becomes more costly.” Natural gas, deposited rapidly. This treatment permits executive committee of the division. on the other hand, promises to be a dis­ the use of smaller settling equipment and The candidates named will be turbing factor for some years. Discus­ yields a product less coated with coal dust voted on by letter ballot. sion of Mr. Voskuil’s paper was deferred

December, 1935 — COAL AGE 545 until the annual meeting of the A.I.M.E. Truscc ‘eel . Co. P a u l R. J o h n s t o N in New York next February. succee- Ir. Working as district sales Cyclothems—groupings of strata re­ manaa ■~t Cincinnati, Ohio. C h a r l e s peated again and again in the same order W. EAVfj formerly of the Birmingham —occur in the coal measures of the Penn­ office has been named assistant manager sylvania period,. stated C. M. Young, pro­ of sales in Republic’s pipe division, suc­ fessor of mining engineering, University ceeding George E. Clifford, recently ap­ of Kansas, in a paper on the Pennsylvania pointed district sales manager at Los An coals of Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Okla­ geles, Calif. C. A. C h e r r y has been homa and Arkansas. Quoting Wanless appointed district sales manager a and Weber ( “Correlation and Extent of falo, N . Y „ replacing T h o m a s R . D a v i e s , Pennsylvanian Cyclothems,” Bulletin, Geo­ who has been transferred to the a oy logical Society of America, Vol. 43, p. steel division in Massillon. Ohio, as specia 1004), he divided these cyclothems, num­ representative. bering them from the lowest strata up­ F r e d M a t h e i s , for many years in charge ward, as follow s: Continental sediments, of department routine in the mechanical (1) sandstone unconformable on lower rubber goods division of the Thermoid beds, (2) sandy shale, (3) limestone with­ Rubber Co., Trenton, N. J., has been out Marine fossils, (4) underclay, (5) elected assistant vice-president and will coal; marine sediments, (6) black sheety manage the office of that division, vice shale with large concretions, (7) lime­ Lloyd Leaver. S. H . L y o n s has been ap­ stone with marine fossils, and (8) shale pointed Eastern manager of the sales de­ with “ironstone” nodules and bands. The partment of the same division. repetition of such groups of rocks, he said, indicates subsidence followed by deposition The late Horace Hammond C o m b u s t i o n E n g i n e e r i n g C o ., I n c ., of sandstone, then shale and limestone, New York City, announces that Otto de then re-elevation and so on up to the final Lorenzi has been appointed assistant gen­ shale that emerged to be eroded until it in ham and became associated with Col. T. eral sales manager. Wilson Machinery turn was submerged and covered with sand­ G. Bush, president, Alabama Coal & Iron & Supply Co., Inc., Lexington, K y .; W il­ stone. Co. In 1905 he was appointed assistant liam Franklin, Buffalo, N. Y., and In­ to the president and general sales man­ dustrial Combustion Co., Philadelphia, Pa., How Old Are Southwestern Coals? ager of the Alabama Consolidated Coal have been appointed representatives of the Coals of the Western Interior Province, & Iron Co., serving in that capacity for industrial stoker division. continued Dr. Young, might be of the several years. In 1918 he helped organize same period as coals in other provinces or the Birmingham Coal & By-Products Co., in other parts of the same province, but it which was merged two years later with does not follow that they were deposited the Imperial and Majestic coal companies Mine Fatality Rate Declines under the name of the Alabama By-Prod­ in continuous coal beds, though the areal Coal-mine accidents caused the deaths of ucts Corporation. The Pratt Consolidated extent of some beds is truly remarkable. 78 bituminous and 12 anthracite miners Coal Co. and the Globe Coal Co. were The Williams coal of Missouri, which is in October, according to reports furnished acquired in 1925, giving the company con­ the Whitebreast of Iowa, is probably the the U. S. Bureau of Mines by State mine same as the No. 2 seam in Illinois. The trol of 110,000 acres in the Warrior coal fields. inspectors. With a production of 36,697,- Mystic coal, which in Iowa extends over 000 tons, the bituminous death rate in an area of at least 275,000 acres except In February, 1932, Mr. Hammond was October was 2.13 per million tons, com­ where removed by old erosion channels, is elected president of the Alabama By-Prod­ pared with 2.85 in the preceding month, notable both for its consistent thickness, ucts Corporation, which is the largest com­ when 24,944,000 tons was mined, and 2.35 which does not vary more than a few mercial coal producer in the State and the in October, 1934, in mining 32,807,000 tons. inches either way from 30 in., and for the largest operator of coke ovens on a strictly The anthracite fatality rate in October persistence of a clay parting | to 2 in. commercial basis in the South. was 2.81, based on an output of 4,271,000 thick in the middle portion of the bed. tons, as against 5.27 in the preceding One can hardly doubt, observed Dr. Young, that this parting “is our old friend the month, when 4,172,000 tons was produced, Industrial N otes and 5.50 in October, 1934, when produc­ ‘blue band’ of Illinois No. 6 coal.” The meeting closed with an informal tion was 4,729,000 tons. For the two in­ A r t h u r A. A r a n s o n has been appointed dustries combined, the death rate in Octo­ banquet at which Howard N. Eavenson, assistant to the president of the Crucible past president, was toastmaster and talks ber was 2.20, compared with 3.19 in the Steel Co. of America, effective Nov. 1. preceding month and 2.60 in October, 1934. were made by H. A. Buehler, president; Previous to accepting the new post, Mr. John T. Ryan, retiring chairman of the Aranson had been associated for 30 years Coal Division; E. H. Robie, assistant sec­ with the International Harvester Co. retary, A.I.M.E.; Eugene McAuliffe; and K. H. McNeill, agent, Fife Coal Co., H a r r is -G r e e n C o ., Farmers Bank Build­ Mechanical Stoker Sales Mount ing, Pittsburgh, Pa., has been appointed Kelty, Scotland. The next day, a bus tour Sales of mechanical stokers in October, district sales agent in western Pennsyl­ of the southern Illinois coal field was made, 1935, totaled 10,038, of which 8,777 were vania, eastern Ohio and W est Virginia by with stops at the New Orient mine of Chi­ small residential-size units, according to R o l l e r -S m i t h C o ., New York, manufac­ cago, Wilmington & Franklin Coal Co.; statistics furnished the U. S. Bureau of turer of electric measuring and protective Fidelity mine of the United Electric Coal the Census by 108 manufacturers. This apparatus. Cos., Pyramid mine of Binkley Coal Co., compares with sales of 9,919 units in the Zeigler mines of Bell & Zoller Coal & L i n c o l n E l e c t r ic C o ., Cleveland, Ohio, preceding month and 6,004 in October, Mining Co., and the low-temperature car­ has opened offices at 923 South Washing­ 1934. Figures for the first ten months of bonization plant of the Radiant Fuel Cor­ ton St., Peoria, 111., under the direction 1935 show that 39,262 units of all types poration at West Frankfort. of W. I. Miskee, and in Memphis, Tenn., and sizes were sold, compared with 22,739 under the direction of O. B. Farrell. in the corresponding period of 1934. Sales Executive offices o f L i n k -B e l t Co., for by classes in the first ten months of this Horace Hammond Is Dead many years located at 910 South Michigan year were as follows: residential (under Ave., Chicago, have been moved to the 100 lb. of coal per hour), 33,761; apart­ Horace Hammond, president of the Ala­ Bell Building, 307 North Michigan Ave. ment house and small commercial heat­ bama By-Products Corporation, died Nov. ing jobs (100 to 200 lb. per hour), 2,522; 7 at a Birmingham (Ala.) hospital after R o b e r t J. W o r k in g has been appointed general heating and small high-pressure a long illness. He was 58 years old. district sales manager at Birmingham, steam plants (200 to 300 lb. per hour), Born in Shelby County, he became clerk Ala., for the R e p u b l i c S t e e l C o r p o r a t io n ^ 1,075; large commercial and high-pres. of the Probate Court there at the age of succeeding Kenneth D. Mann, who resigned sure steam plants (over 300 lb. per hour) 16. Five years later he went to Birming- to become executive vice-president of the 1,904.

546 COAL AGE — Vol.40,No.l2 commerce are themselves interstate com­ Government Winsr st Guffey-Act Skirmishes merce. Prices have been subject to wide fluctuations, and threats of stoppages, with attendant interference with commerce in But N ew Attacks on Law Multiply coal and commerce in general, have been frequent. These are the conditions facing the industry, and “the question _ is, Has N ITIA L SKIRM ISHES in the legal over repeated objections by counsel for the plaintiff,. presented an array of _ wit­ Congress the right to regulate interstate attack upon the constitutionality of the commerce in coal because of these condi- IBituminous Coal Conservation Act of 1935 nesses and exhibits to establish the inter­ were won by the government defenders of state character of the bituminous industry, tions?” labor conditions, the effects of disparate “It seems to me,” said Justice Adkins, the Guffey-Snyder law last month. The “that there is a real analogy between the right of Congress to enact regulatory wage rates on competitive marketing and how strikes had interfered with the free right of a State to regulate a local com­ measures was upheld in a sweeping deci­ merce and the right of Congress to regu­ sion handed down Nov. 14 by Judge Elwood flow of commerce. F. G. Tryon, U. S. Bureau of Mines, was the first govern­ late the national commerce.” Decisions Hamilton, U. S. District Court for the in several States have held that coal is Western District of Kentucky. In an ment witness. He was followed by Charles O’Neill, president, Eastern Bituminous affected with a public interest and, there­ oral opinion given at the close of a late fore, comes within the regulatory power of night session Nov. 27, Justice Jesse Ad­ Coal Association ; H. L. Findlay, vice- president, Youghiogheny & Ohio Coal Co. ; the States. As to how far this power can kins, Supreme Court of the District of extend, Justice Adkins cited the opinion Columbia, upheld the price-control pro­ George W. Reed, vice-president, Peabody in the Nehbia Milk case, which he analyzed visions of the statute, but declared the Coal Co. ; C. W. Watson, trustee, Elk Horn Coai Corporation ; E. C. Mahan, to show the similarity in conditions in labor sections invalid under the ruling of that industry to those in the bituminous the Supreme Court of the United States president, Southern Coal & Coke Co.; W. P. Tams, Jr., president, Gulf Smokeless coal industry, as brought out by the find­ in the Schechter case. ings of facts. In that case, the court New attacks against the statute have Coal Co.; W. A. Richards, president, Sov­ ereign Pocahontas Co. ; Philip Murray, in­ concludes that the legislature need not been launched with increasing frequency stop at acts which will indirectly affect since the National Bituminous Coal Com­ ternational vice-president, United Mine Workers; Isador Lubin, commissioner of the price, but that if, in the opinion of the mission promulgated its code and set the legislature, the particular industry so af­ wheels in motion for district organization labor statistics; F. E. Berquist, N RA; George H. Ashley, Pennsylvania State fects the vital economic life of the State of the soft-coal industry ( Coal Age, as to make price-fixing necessary, ^then the November, 1935, p. 475). Up to the end geologist, and several social workers. Mr. legislature has the right to do it.” of November, 18 separate actions involv­ Carter was the principal witness for the Price-fixing provisions of the Guffey- ing 63 companies seeking relief from the plaintiff’s side. Snyder act also are valid from the stand­ imposition of the tax'and asking that the No Labor Standards Set points of delegation of authority and the law be declared unconstitutional had been establishment of standards by Congress. reported. Several additional suits were In rejecting the labor features of the act, Justice Adkins, however, refused to agree filed early this month. A temporary re­ Justice Adkins held that since Congress that under Sec. (a) of Part II (Market­ straining order was issued by the federal had set up no standards to govern the ad­ ing) “stabilization of wages and working court at Kansas City staying the imposi­ ministration of paragraph (g), Part III, conditions. and maximum hours of labor is tion of the tax against a number of South­ Sec. 4 (which provides that when two- western producers pending a hearing set thirds of the employers and a majority of inextricably tied in to the fixing of prices.” While admitting that Congress had in mind for Dec. 9. the employees have agreed upon hours and wages such agreements shall be binding the stabilization of the industry in addition Opponents Challenge Constitutionality on all producers), the provision is invalid to the regulation of commerce, Justice Ad­ Most of the companies attacking the under the decisions in the Schechter and kins pointed out that he had already ruled that the latter was within the power _ of act challenge its constitutionality, charging Oklahoma Refining Co. cases. Moreover, Congress and declared his understanding that it violates the Fifth and Tenth amend­ the former decision specifically held that that the law provided that the expression ments, unlawfully attempts to delegate leg­ such power could not be delegated to of any other purpose did not invalidate the islative power and is in conflict with the private individuals and that wages paid statute. Since the price-fixing portion of commerce clause in attempting to regulate in local commerce do not have a direct intrastate commerce. The Pittsburgh Coal influence in interstate commerce and, there­ the statute is held valid, “it follows that Co. also alleged that compliance with the fore, do not come under the control of the tax is valid.” act would deprive it of competitive busi­ Congress. Hamilton Sustains Statute ness advantages it now enjoys by owner­ Although conceding that the right of The Guffey act was adjudged constitu­ ship and operation of its private water Congress to fix prices is shadowed by some tional by Judge Elwood Hamilton, in fed­ and rail transportation facilities and that doubt, “it seems to me,” said Justice Ad­ eral District Court at Louisville, Ky., Nov. it would lose many of its lawful existing kins, “that the power is within the power contracts, at prices named therein, which the delegated to Congress by the commerce 14, in the suit of the R. C. Tway Coal “act and code purport to render invalid clause and it is my duty to sustain it in this Co. and eighteen other companies in the and unenforceable.” Several Kentucky particular case.” Bituminous coal, he Harlan field of Kentucky which challenged companies set up as a plea for non-com­ pointed out, is found in 26 States and the validity of the act. The decision also applied to two other cases, wherein C. H. pliance that if they accepted the code they shipped to practically all. Coal from one would violate the federal anti-trust laws. State competes with coal mined in other Clark, a stockholder and director of the Tway company, sued to compel the com­ The Adkins decision came at the end States; about 50 per cent of the output of two days’ final arguments in proceed­ moves across State lines and about 25 per pany to comply with the act, and the Nor- ings instituted by James W. Carter, presi­ cent is used by interstate carriers. It also torn Coal Mining Co., in receivership, dent, Carter Coal Co., to prevent that is agreed that sales of coal in interstate sought the advice of the court as to company from accepting the code and the whether it should join the code. government from collecting the 15 per Declaring that Congress has power to cent tax ( Coal A ge, ’October, 1935, p. regulate wages and prices in any indus­ 429). The court on Oct. 30 declined to Coming Meetings try which it may decide bears on inter­ enjoin the internal revenue agents, but did state commerce, Judge Hamilton held that issue an injunction pendente litc against ® Southern Tennessee Coal Producers’ As­ the courts were without power to review the coal company. At the same time, how­ sociation : annual meeting, Jan. 16, 1936, such a conclusion if supported by facts. ever, Mr. Carter was required to post a Chattanooga, Tenn. Considering the objects to be accomplished bond for $15,000 to indemnify the com­ in adoption of the Constitution, he said, • Fourth International Heating and Ven­ pany for any loss it might suffer as a non­ it is clear that “the people of the States tilating Exposition: Jan. 27-31, Interna­ code member. Immediate action on appeal intended to surrender all the rights they tional Amphitheater, Chicago. from this decision was refused by the Su­ had to promote the general welfare that preme Court of the United States. • American Institute of Mining and Metal­ could not be done by the States acting In the trial of the cause on its merits, lurgical Engineers: annual meeting, Feb. independently. . . . The facts clearly prove which lasted ten days, the government, 17-20, 29 W est 39th St., New York City. that the States acting alone are unable to

December, 1935 — COAL AGE 547 bituminous coal mining “is a business af­ INSURGENT ANTHRACITE UNION rehabilitate the bituminous coal industry fecting interstate commerce, the Congress as it affects the people generally, the cap­ IS DISBANDED has the power to levy the taxes solely tor ital invested in the business, and the wage the purpose of regulating and controlling A l o n g s t e p toward lasting peace in earners employed therein. Joint action of the anthracite field of Pennsylvania the industry. To the extent of H per cent the States is imperative.” took place on Oct. 26, when the on the sale price per ton the tax is uni­ In dismissing the suit and directing the United Anthracite Miners of Penn­ form as to all of those within the class, companies to comply with the provisions sylvania, insurgent union, disbanded. and the classification fair and equitable. of the act, the court granted a stay against This development leaves the United Thirteen and one-half per cent of the the 13J per cent penalty imposed for non- Mine Workers, headed by John L. sale price per ton is a penalty, although compliance with the act, pending determin­ Lewis, the sole union organization called a tax.” .. ation of an appeal by the companies. They of mine workers in the hard-coal In concluding his opinion, Judge Hamil­ were directed to pay to the court the \\ region. ton said: “If we cling to the doctrine per cent tax levied on complying compa­ The decision to disband was made of States’ rights in the matter of com­ nies, plus 1 per cent of the latter amount known in a letter from the executive merce as it existed in the early days of as costs, until the constitutionality issue board of U.A.M. to James A. Gor­ the Republic, a palsied hand holds the is settled. man, umpire, Anthracite Board of power and decay will set in in our nation “I have assumed that this court is with­ Conciliation, in which it was stated before its time. If commerce is to be out power to hear evidence or find facts that the move was due to dwindling regulated and controlled, it must be by upon the constitutionality of the Congres­ membership and lack of finances. the national government, because the States sional act here in question,” said Judge The two years’ existence of the rival lack the power to make effective their Hamilton. “Every inquiry into a legisla­ union was marked by open warfare own regulations/’ tive act is approached with the presumption which brought death and injury to that the Congress observed the Constitu­ many as well as loss of millions of tion, and when the validity of an act de­ dollars in property damage. pends upon the existence of certain facts, New Preparation Facilities the legislative determination will be con­ A r k w r i g h t C o a l Co., Mona mine, Mor­ clusive on the courts, unless the contrary is ★ ★ gantown, W. Va.; reconstruction of tipple shown by facts which the court may judi­ exercise, and a part the States, under such to increase capacity to 350 tons per hour cially notice.” and number of sizes loaded to four com­ As indicative that bituminous coal min­ circumstances the federal power becomes supreme. . . . To say that the production pleted under direction of Fairmont Ma­ ing is affected with public interest, the chinery Co., which supplied new shaker court pointed out that, with the exception of products distributed on a national scale can be effectively controlled by the States screen, loading boom, domestic coal load­ of agriculture, it employs more men than ing facilities, mixing conveyors and auxili­ any other single industry in the United is both constitutionally and economically absurd. To deny power in such a field to ary equipment. States. Disorders in the industry, he said, Drifted A nthracite Coal C o., B o w - have vitally affected interstate steam trans­ the national government is tantamount to saying there shall be no legislation con­ manstown, Pa.; installation of two Deister- portation, and their repercussions have Overstrom Diagonal-Deck coal-washing cerning them.” been felt in other industries, since coal is tables, supplied by the Deister Concen­ used not only for the production of power The court cited as a need for conserva­ tion the fact that “our supply of bituminous trator Co., completed in November. The but its byproducts are utilized in the installation will clean minus f-in. mate­ manufacture of many articles that are coal is not inexhaustible. The use of it and its byproducts becomes more impor­ rial. Capacity is 12 tons of feed per hour absolutely essential to the comfort and con­ per table. venience of the American people. Dis­ tant daily in our lives. W e are rapidly exhausting the more accessible deposits of J a m i s o n C o a l & C o k e C o ., Mine No. tress shipments and “pyramiding” were 9, Farmington, W. Va.: contract closed cited as unsettling influences brought about the mineral, and the future of mining means diminishing returns and higher with Fairmont Machinery Co. for complete by overexpansion and subsequent frozen pea screening and coal-crushing plant with assets. prices. . . . The framers of the Consti­ tution did not intend for the government facilities for remixing and recirculating; Wisdom of Congress N ot in Issue to wait until its natural resources were capacity, 400 tons per hour. J a m i s o n C o a l & C o k e C o ., Mine No. Hearings before Congress, said the court, practically exhausted before taking any 20, Pleasant Unity, Pa.; contract closed are some evidence of its declaration that steps to conserve them.” with Fairmont Machinery Co. for com­ the bituminous coal industry affects inter­ In refutation of the contention that the state commerce, “and, this being true, the act violated the Fifth Amendment, the plete new shaker screen, loading boom court is without power to substitute a court said that in view of the fact that equipment and coal-crushing facilities; different judgment for that of Congress, the interstate commerce clause of the Con- capacity, 300 tons per hour. regardless of its opinion as to the wisdom stiution is applicable, and the coal industry M o f f a t C o a l Co., Minooka, P a .; con­ of the legislation.” As the basis for the is affected with public interest, Con­ tract closed with Koppers-Rheolaveur Co. conclusion in Sec. 1 of the Guffey act that gress has power to make reasonable regu­ for two 8-ft. diameter Menzies cones; ca­ the production and distribution of bitu­ lations relating to wages, production and pacity, 50 tons per hour each. minous coal bear upon and directly affect marketing. “The prevention of price P a g e P o c a h o n t a s C o a l C o ., GruMy, interstate commerce and render regulation cutting in the sale of bituminous coal in Va.; contract closed with Jeffrey Mfg. thereof necessary for its protection, the interstate commerce below the average mini­ Co. for dump hopper, mine-run conveyor court said: “When the coal operator con­ mum cost of production in the several dis­ and five-track tipple equipped with primary tracts his coal in advance of- production, tricts is a matter on which Congress has and secondary screens; egg, stove and nut to be transported in interstate commerce, the power to legislate.” He also said it picking tables and loading booms ; mixing, and the miner begins to dig the coal and had the power to provide for the regulation recirculating and auxiliary conveyors; car lift it to the surface of the earth, there of wages and hours, and denied that the retarders and 36x45 single-roll crusher; to be put in the car on the loading tracks administrative provisions of the act dele­ capacity, 400 tons per hour. and a part of it to be used to move the gated legislative power. R a l e i g h C o a l & C o ic e C o .. Raleigh, W. locomotive that carries the coal, it would Since judicial review of all administra­ V a.: contract closed with Jeffrey Mfg. Co. seem reasonable that under the power to tive orders and decisions is accorded under for coal-washing plant for 3xlJ-in. coal, regulate commerce the Congress would Sec. 6 (B ) of the act, the court ruled including three-compartment Baum-type have power to legislate concerning the in­ that there is no denial of judicial process jig; water-clarifying tank and fine-coal dustry at the beginning of the movement and the exercise of arbitrary power is not recovery conveyors, dewatering screens, vi­ that was to continue uninterrupted until lodged in any person charged with the brating screens, conveyors and belt-type ultimate delivery to a consumer or pur­ administration of the act. loading boom; capacity, 150 tons per hour. chaser. Unless this be so, Congressional Ruling that the tax provisions of the S t . C l a ir C o a l Co., St. Clair, Pa.; con­ power to regulate commerce is confined act are not an unconstitutional exercise tract closed with Deister Concentrator exclusively to the vehicle that moves the of taxing power, the court pointed out Co. for four Deister-Overstrom Diagonal- product. . . . that taxation has been used for many pur­ Deck coal-washing tables for 3/16x3/64-in. “If the act covers a joint field, a part poses other than the raising of revenue material. Capacity is 8 tons of cleaned of which the federal government could since the Constitution was adopted. As coal per table per hour.

548 COAL AGE — Vol.40, No.12 11,000 men, carries the same provisions Miners Resume W ork in Many Fields in regard to working hours and wage ad­ vances as the Appalachian agreement. Though the Progressives continue to As New Pacts Are Signed contest the supremacy of the Lewis organ­ ization in Illinois, the United Mine Work­ ers Journal reports a steady defection of LTHOUGH outbursts of violence and County', Kentucky', former employees be­ the insurgents seeking membership in the _ bloodshed in Alabama and in western gan to return to work Nov. 18 on a $7 old union. A victory in a recent skirmish daily minimum scale, although no contract AKentucky marked labor developments dur­ by the Progressives was short-lived. Late was signed. Despite the company1 s re­ ing the last month, there was notable prog­ in October, Federal Judge Wham declined fusal to recognize the union, V an A. Bitt­ ress in resumption of operations at mines to grant an injunction to the United Elec­ ner, district union president, is said to rendered idle by deadlocks over wage ad­ tric Coal Cos. restraining the Progressives have advised the men to report for work, vances based on the new Appalachian agree­ from interfering with the company s op­ since the wages are higher than the scale. ment. New contracts with the United Mine erations at Freeburg, but on O ct 28 the Operations in western Kentucky, which Workers have been signed in Alabama, the U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed continue on a non-union basis, the mines Southern Appalachian field, southern Ten­ that decision, directing Judge Wham to is­ working five days a week, wrere disturbed nessee, southern Colorado and northern sue the injunction. The appellate court by gun play on Oct. 29. More than 600 New Mexico and Indiana. Nevertheless, took under advisement on Nov. IS a peti­ union sympathizers who marched on the the miners’ union has levied an assess­ tion of the Progressives for a rehearing. Williams Coal Co. mine at Mannington ment of $1 per month per member ior In announcing an assessment of $1 per were met with gas bombs, pistol shots November and December as “insurance” month per member for November and and submachine-gun bullets when they re­ against endangering benefits already won December, an “official circular” in the fused to halt Ten of the marchers were and as a provision for any “emergency” United Mine Workers Journal of Nov. 1 wounded by shots or gas burns, two of that might arise. emphasized the need of funds in carrying them seriously. The Western Kentucky A compromise agreement ended the on its fight in western Kentucky and Operators’ Association has renounced eight weeks’ stalemate affecting 17,000 urged the need of provision for any emer­ further negotiations with the U.M.W., but men in Alabama. Under the terms of the gency that might arise” in the anthracite E. J. Morgan, district union president, new contract, effected Nov. 17 and running field. “In addition to these factors,” the retorted that he had assurances from the until March 31, 1937, day and monthly circular stated, “we expect that we will miners that they would not return to work men receive an increase of 20c per day; be compelled to carry an appeal to the until their demands were met. tonnage rates are advanced 4Jc. and dead- U. S. Supreme Court on the Guffey-Sny- An agreement between southern Colo­ work rates are raised 5 per cent. The der Law, now being contested in the courts.” rado and northern New Mexico operators agreement was reached largely through A new scale was agreed upon Nov. 2 and the U.M.W. was signed late in Octo­ the instrumentality of Governor Graves, by Indiana shaft-mine operators and ber. The contract, which affects about who entered the negotiations following a U.M.W. officials, after three weeks of shooting affray near the Acmar and Mar­ negotiation. It provides for wage in­ creases in conformity with the new Ap­ garet mines of the Alabama F uel & Iron ★ ★ Co. on Oct. 28. Resentment against non­ palachian agreement. The agreement will union operation of these mines took shape be submitted to a wage-scale convention in a march by union miners, who are al­ ANTHRACITE MINERS DEMAND for ratification. A new stripping scale is leged to have been greeted with rifle and SHORT WEEK AND PAY RISE in process of negotiation. machine-gun fire and dynamite blasts. One The joint committee of 56 operator and of the marchers was killed and six others A s i x - h o u r d a y and five-day week, U. M. W. representatives provided for in “with a substantial increase in the were wounded. the Appalachian agreement to deal with The Southern Appalachian Coal Opera­ w'age scales affecting all rates, and differentials between districts and within tors’ Association signed a contract with a two-year agreement to expire districts met in Washington, D. C., Nov. the U.M.W. on Oct. 31 granting wage March 31, 1938, will be demanded 6, but took no definite action on any of advances commensurate with the Appala­ by anthracite miners in the new the differentials. A number of subcommit­ chian agreement. About 9,000 men in east­ wage contract to replace the five- tees were appointed, however, each to ern Tennessee and eastern Kentucky, who year agreement which expires next make a study of the complaints in one had been idle nearly six weeks, returned March 31. These are part of 27 particular district. The subcommittees to work at the new scale. \ \ illiam Turn- specific demands presented by the will all make a report, with recommenda­ blazer, district union president, said that scale committee and approved at the tions, to the full committee of 56 at a meet­ all but three southeastern Kentucky op­ tri-district anthracite convention of ing in Washington on Jan. 6. erators signed up. The contract is effec­ the United Mine Workers on Dec. 6 at Washington, D. C. Other de­ tive until March 31, 1937. although the duration of the pact as originally proposed mands include equalization of work­ was the stumbling block to an earlier ing time to curb bootleg mining; agreement. Less than two weeks previous, creation of a system of seniority to prevent discrimination; abolition of Personal N otes more than 5,000 miners in southern Ten- the individual or special contract nessee resumed work under an agreement system ; complete instead of partial with the Southern Tennessee Coal Pro­ D r. F oster J. Cu r t is, Salt Lake City check-off of union dues; elimination ducers’ Association embodying the same (Utah) physician, has been elected presi­ of such practices as charging for dent of the MacLean Coal Co., producing relative wage increases. air for drills and safety' appliances; Following announcement of the com­ firm of that city, succeeding the late abolition of physical examination of Charles F. Worley, who died suddenly promise agreement in Alabama, the South­ employees when rehiring after a lay­ ern Appalachian Coal Operators Associa­ Oct. 18 following a heart attack. Dr. off; time and a half for overtime Foster had been a business associate of tion initiated efforts to bring about a and double time for Sudays and Mr. Worley, who was general manager of downward revision of wages to match holidays. . the company as well as president, for many those of the Alabama district. L. C. Gun­ John L. Lewis, U.M.W. president, years. The new general manager is ter, executive vice-president of the asso" told the convention that, if possible, L aw rence C. M cF a rla n e, heretofore sec­ ciation, pointed out that the contract signed there would be no resort to a trike retary of the company, who also was in his district, though effective until March to enforce the demands. This state­ elected vice-president. The father of Dr. 31, 1937, stipulated that “should a more ment was made in response to an Curtis, the new president, was a Salt Lake favorable wage contract be negotiated by attempt by a delegate to bind the City coal producer. the U.M.W. in any other district, then convention to a walk-out if all the this district shall receive full benefit ot demands were not granted. “Such S. J. D ic k e n so n , general manager, such more favorable contract.” Hazara an ultimatum would have disastrous Mary Helen Coal Corporation, was elected (Kentucky) operators also have notified effects on efforts to negotiate a con­ president of the Harlan County Coal Op­ the U. M. W. that they expect similar tract,” said Mr. Lewis. “W e don’t erators’ Association at the annual meeting, treatment. _ . want a strike if we can avoid it. late in November. C h arles G u t h r ie , A t the Fordson Coal Co. mines in Pike 549 December, 1935 — COAL AGE vice-president, Harlan Fuel Co., was named eroy, Ohio,-,.. , of 21 years’ service in that vice-president, and G eorge S. W ard, sec- postion. He became superintendent of retary-treasurer. Holden No. 22 mine of the Island Creek Coal Co., on Nov. 1. B arton R. G ebhart, assistant to the president, Appalachian Coals, Inc., has been appointed vice-president in charge of sales of the Chicago, Wilmington & Frank­ Financial Reports lin Coal Co., Chicago, effective Nov. 16. Cannelton Coal & Coke Co.—Net income Prior to becoming assistant to Mr. Hun­ for year ended June 30, $10,570 after de­ tress, about a year and a half ago, Mr. preciation, depletion, interest and other Gebhart was secretary of the Illinois Coal charges, compared with income of $29,- Bureau and subsequently secretary of the 732 in the preceding year. Illinois N R A coal code authority. Colorado Fuel & Iron Co. and subsidi­ R obert C. H ill was elected chairman of aries—Net income for quarter ended Sept. the board and president of the Consoli­ 30, $10,235 after depreciation, expenses, dation Coal Co. coincident with the reor­ interest and other deductions, compared ganization of the company, announced dur­ with net income of $47,527 in preceding ing the last week of November. J. N oble quarter and loss of $446,836 in third quarter S nider was named executive vice-presi­ of 1934. dent and H. H. S noderly was chosen vice- Crow’s Nest Pass Coal Co., Ltd.-—Net president in charge of corporate affairs. income for quarter ended Sept. 30, $46,641 after depreciation and depletion but before C alvin H olmes, president, Holmes- taxes. Net income for first nine months Darst Coal Corporation, Cincinnati, Ohio, of year, $138,823 before taxes. has been elected president of the Harvey Barton R. Gebhart Coal Corporation, Knoxville, Tenn., suc­ Hazle Brook Coal Co.—Net loss for ceeding Col. C. H. Harvey, who died re­ seven months ended July 31, $87,099 after expenses, interest and other charges. cently. M errill A rnold, president, Fidel­ ity Bankers Trust Co., Knoxville, suc­ ceased. E r sk in e R a m sa y was reelected Island Creek Coal Co. and subsidiaries ceeds Mr. Holmes as vice-president. chairman of the board. -—Net income for three months ended Sept. 30, $168,791 after depreciation, taxes and R a l ph H. K node, president, Stonega E m m ett S. P ugh has been elected presi­ other charges, compared with $305,070 in Coke & Coal Co., has been elected a mem­ dent of the Raven Red Ash Coal Co., Red third quarter of 1934. Net income for ber of the board of directors of Appala­ Ash, Va., vice J. B. Clifton resigned. nine months ended Sept. 30, $762,232, as chian Coals, Inc., to succeed R. E'. Tag­ Mr. Pugh’s business career began as against $1,188,216 a year ago. stenographer and clerk for the Tidewater gart. Lehigh Coal & Navigation Co.—Consoli­ Coal & Coke Co., Vivian, W. Va., and he dated net income for twelve months ended R. S. M arsh a ll, formerly vice-presi­ has devoted much time to public accounting Sept. 30, $367,220 after interest, depre­ dent and general manager of the Sloss and tax work for coal companies. Sheffield Steel & Iron Co., has been elected ciation, depletion and reserves and includ­ secretary-treasurer of the Woodward Iron K irk R e n n e r , of Connellsville, Pa., has ing company’s proportion of undistributed Co., Woodward, Ala., succeeding Herbert been elected president of the United Po­ earnings and losses of subsidiaries whose Smith, resigned. cahontas Coal Co., operating in McDowell stock is either owned or controlled. This and Wyoming counties, West Virginia. He compares with income of $1,630,036 in D. D. M u ir , J r., vice-president and gen­ succeeds the late George W. Kilpatrick. twelve months ended Sept. 30, 1934. eral manager of the United States Fuel Co., Salt Lake City, Utah, has been elected F r a n k S. S cott, formerly on the fuel Lehigh Valley Coal Corporation—Net profit for nine months ended Sept. 30, president of that company. O tto H erres, engineering staff of Appalachian Coals, for the last ten years assistant general Inc., has been engaged by the New River $297,080 after interest, depreciation, deple­ manager of the company and president of Coal Co., Charleston, W. Va., to direct its tion, federal taxes and other charges, as Utah Coal Producers’ Association, has been fuel engineering service. A graduate compared with $244,339 for the correspond­ promoted to vice-president and general mechanical engineer, Mr. Scott has done ing period of last year. manager. O. J. E ggleston also has been extensive field and “clinical” work for ACI. Pennsylvania Coal & Coke Corporation and subsidiaries—Loss for quarter ended elected a vice-president. A. E. S ilcott has been elected secre­ Sept. 30, $94,289 after ordinary taxes, de­ tary of the Hazard Coal Operators’ Asso­ D r. A. L. M urray, surgeon for the U. preciation and depletion but before federal ciation, vice C. B. Rose, resigned. S. Bureau of Mines in Salt Lake City, taxes, compared with loss of $9,577 in the Utah, from 1919 to 1933, has been ap­ C harles N. T em pleton, president, Tem­ third quarter of 1934. For the nine months pointed surgeon at the Pittsburgh (Pa.) pleton Coal Co., was elected president of ended Sept. 30, profit computed from quar­ branch of the Bureau. Dr. Murray served the Indiana Coal Operators’ Association terly reports was $11,237, contrasted with as a captain in the Army Medical Corps in at its annual meeting, in Terre Haute. He loss of $56,523 a year ago. the World War. succeeds H. M. Ferguson. H arvey Cart­ Pittsburgh Terminal Coal Corporation N. H. O rr, lately with the American wright was reelected secretary-treasurer —Net loss for quarter ended Sept. 30, Iron and Steel Institute, has been ap­ and commissioner for the eighth time. B. $139,043 after depreciation, depletion and pointed general manager of sales of the H. S c h u ll, general manager, Binkley other charges, compared with loss of $37,- Colorado Fuel & Iron Co., with headquar­ Mining Co., was named vice-president. 554 in third quarter of 1934. Net loss for ters in Denver, Colo. The company’s sales, Jo h n L. T ierney was elected president nine months ended Sept. 30, $342,864 after which formerly were separated into three of the Powhatan Coal & Coke Co., Pow­ same deductions, against $209,176 loss in classes, are to be consolidated. hatan, W . Va., late in October, vice E. C. first three quarters of 1934. Pittston Co.—Consolidated net loss for W. G. P olk, president, Tennessee Jelli- Luther, deceased. Mr. Tierney, who had co Coal Co., was chosen president of the been treasurer and general manager of nine months ended Sept. 30, $1,848,844 Southern Appalachian Coal Operators’ A s­ the company since 1925, was formerly con­ after provision for doubtful notes and ac­ sociation at its November meeting. J. B. nected with the Sharon Coal & Coke Co., counts receivable, interest, depreciation, G atliff, president, Gatliff Coal Co., was Sharonville, Ky., and still holds director­ depletion, amortization, federal taxes, loss made first vice-president, and H. K. Cook, ships in a number of other producing com­ on sale and demolition of property, min­ Diamond Coal Mining Co., second vice- panies. ority interest and other charges, compared with net loss of $615,783 a year before. president. J. B. W arriner, president, Lehigh Navigation Coal Co., has been elected a Pond Creek Pocahontas Co.—Net profit J. W . P orter, since 1926 vice-president for nine months ended Sept. 30, $246,119 in charge of sales of the Alabama By- director of the Consolidation Coal Co., recently reorganized. after depreciation, depletion, taxes and Products Corporation, Birmingham, Ala., other charges, against $347,867 for the was elected president of the company Nov. R. T. W est has resigned as superin­ first three quarters of 1934. 12, succeeding Horace Hammond, de- tendent of the Lost Run Coal Co., Pom­ Truax-Traer Coal Co. and subsidiaries

550 COAL AGE — Vol.40. N o.l2 Ior three months led Oct. 31, excluding discount on debentures bought Coal Conservation Act Begins to Function; to r sinking-fund requirements, after all <*?rges, 536,250, based on interim figures Classification and Sizes Considered subject to audit as shown by the books ot the company, and its subsidiaries, ex­ ASH ING TO N, D. C., Dec. 9— District 3—R. A. Courtney, Pine Bluff cept for provision for federal income tax, Coal Co. ; D. T. Buckley, New England Coal which is computed on the basis of tax re­ Organization of all but one (North & Coke Co. turns fo r previous years rather than on Wand South Dakota) of the 23 district District 4—Ezra Van Horn, executive vice-president, Ohio Coal Control Associa­ income according to the books. In the boards provided for in the Bituminous tion ; William Emery, Jr., president, Cam­ corresponding period of last year the Coal Conservation Act of 1935 having bridge Collieries Co. been completed, an industry advisory board District 5—George C. Eastwood, vice- profit was $80,992. president, Consolidated Coal Co. U nited Electric Coal Cos.—Met loss for chosen and the problem of coal classifica­ District 6— E. G. Mathiott, vice-president, tion and number of sizes having been Valley Camp Coal Co. ; R. L. Berry, vice- quarter ended Oct. 31, $8,575 after depre­ president, Wheeling Valley Coal Corpora­ ciation, depletion, interest, federal taxes taken up by the National Bituminous Coal tion. and other charges, against $14,782 loss in Commission, the machinery of the new law District 7—W. A. Richards, president, has begun to function. At the first pub­ Pemberton Coal & Coke Co. ; O. M. Deyerle, O ctober quarter of 1934. president, Flat Top Fuel Co. V irginia Iron. Coal & Coke Co.—Net lic hearing held by the commission, on District 10—J. R. Henderson, executive Nov. 21-22, consideration was given to secretary, District 10 Producers’ Board ; loss for third quarter. 536,283. contrasted E. F. Stevens, general manager, Union with net profit of $141 for third quarter the feasibility of prescribing uniform meth­ Colliery Co. of 1934. ods of classification and limiting the num­ District 11—Jonas Waffle, managing di­ ber of sizes for Minimum-Price Area No. rector, Coal Trade Association of Indiana ; W est \ irginia Coal & Coke Corporation B. E. Lundblad, vice-president, Central 1. According to latest available information, — N et loss for third quarter, $21,803 after Indiana Coal Co. 3.600 soft-coal producing companies in all D istrict 12— M. G. Voungquist, secretary, all charges and provision for federal in­ Iowa Coal Trade Association ; K. C. Carney, districts have accepted the code. Accept­ come tax, compared with net profit of $44,- Scandia Coal Co. ances on a tonnage basis on Nov. 22 totaled District 13—H. S. Salmon, president, 981 for the like period in the preceding Alabama Coals, Inc. ; David Roberts, Jr., approximately 253,000,000 tons, or slightly president, Brilliant Coal Co. more than 70 per cent of 1934 output. Four District 14—R. A Young, president, R. A. Young & Son; J. F. Lake, vice-president, more general orders also have been issued Charleston Coal Co. by the commission, as follows : District 15—F. M. Eviston, vice-president, A.M.C. to Meet in January General Order No. 5, issued Oct. 24, M cAlester F u el Co. District 16—R. W. Shumway, Denver, The annual meeting of the American names the United Mine Workers as repre­ Colo. ; J. P. Peabody, president. Rocky Mining Congress will be held in New senting the preponderant number of em­ Mountain Fuel Co. ployees in the bituminous coal industry and District 18—V. R. McKnight, Defiance York about the middle of January, instead Coal Co. ; Dan P. Harris, Jr., Albuquerque, of in December, as in previous years. designated the district president in each N. M. of the 23 districts as the representative of District 19—T. J. O’Brien, president, Planned as a business and policy session, Kemmerer Coal Co. ; L. T. Dee, vice-presi­ the forthcoming meeting will be devoted the employees on the district board. Their dent, Lion Coal Co. to the presentation of reports, with dis­ names are included in the list of board District 22—Albert Gately, Republic Coal members shown on the following pages. Co. cussion; appointment of a resolutions com­ District 23—D. R. Swem, Northwestern mittee, with action upon resolutions sub­ General Order No. 6, released Nov. 7, de­ Improvement Co. ; George Watkin Evans, mitted; election of five directors, and a ferred the reporting of spot orders to dis­ general manager, Fords Prairie Coal Co. trict boards and other agencies and the meeting of the full board to elect officers Announcement of their intention not to for the coming year. filing of copies of coal sales contracts, invoices, credit memoranda and other in­ sign the code by the Pittsburgh Coal Co., formation required by the Guffey act un­ Consolidation Coal Co., Pocahontas Fuel til the commission shall have prescribed Co., Berwind-White Coal Mining Co. and Fairpoint Hits New High rules and regulations for maintaining the the Island Creek Coal Co. on Oct. 24 confidential character of such information. brought a sharp retort from Chairman All tonnage records for Fairpoint No. 9 Hosford of the commission. Organiza­ mine of the Hanna Coal Co., Fairpoint, Rules on Statistical Bureaus tion of district boards would proceed and every provision of the law would be vig­ Ohio, were exceeded in October, when Establishment of a statistical .bureau by orously enforced, said Mr. Hosford. “It 62,636 tons of cleaned coal was produced. each district board is provided for by Gen­ will be the duty of the commission in ap­ This was several thousand tons more than eral Order No. 7, promulgated Nov. 22. proving and promulgating regulations and the best previous record. Each bureau is directed to receive, file, minimum prices under the act,” the chair­ Coal was run over the new all-steel tip­ analyze, collate and preserve the confiden­ man stated, “to safeguard the interests ple at Piney Fork No. 2 mine of the com­ tial character of all information required of those producers who in recognition of pany for the first time early in November. by the coal control act. General Order sound public policy are accepting the code The newr structure, which was to be com­ No. 8, issued Nov. 23, prescribe rules for and preparing to conduct their business pleted in a few weeks, has a capacity of qualification of district board directors and in conformity with the act and the regula­ 4,000 tons per day and will accommodate employees and statistical bureau workers. tions of the commission.” four railroad cars at one time, turning Rules of procedure in presenting com­ out four different sizes of coal. plaints, protests and petitions for relief Would Bar Non-Code Mines before the commission, released Nov. 23, The commission announced on Oct. 29 outline in detail the manner of holding that careful study was being made of pro­ hearings, reviews and the nature of evi­ visions of the Guffey act dealing with coal dence that may be accepted or admitted. Appalachian Coals to Continue purchases made by government depart­ Complete specifications governing the form ments or agencies and with contracts made Appalachian Coals, Inc., will continue as of applications, complaints, answers, peti­ an active organization. At a meeting of by such departments and agencies with tions, briefs, etc., are covered. contractors for public works or service. In stockholders held in Cincinnati, Ohio, on In response to a request by the commis­ the opinion of counsel for the commission, O ct. 30 it w as voted to continue in modi­ sion that each district board submit the it was said, Sec. 14 of the act made it fied form, functioning along all but pricing names of three candidates from which one mandatory that in such cases purchases of lines. B y Dec. 7, producers representing member and an alternate would be chosen bituminous coal be made only from pro­ m ore th an 28,000.000 tons had approved a to form an industry advisory committee, ducers who are members of the code. This modified form of contract, which will be­ most of the boards presented names, from ruling, it was pointed out, would apply come effective June 1. Five new com­ which the following were chosen (the sec­ to railroads carrying mail. This provi­ panies have subscribed to the new plan, ond name in each instance is the al­ sional opinion became a definite ruling on as fo llo w s: Autocrat Elkhom Coal Co. and ternate) : Nov. 16, when the commission declared, in N ew Jellico Coal Co., of which C. G. Hall District 1—Charles O’Neill, president, a letter to the Acting Director of Pro­ is president; Elk Creek Mining Co., Rudy Eastern Bituminous Coal Association ; L. G. Ball, vice-president, J. H. Weaver & Co. curement, Treasury Department, that in Draughn, president; Tennessee Jellico Coal District 2—Ralph E. Jamison, Jamison determining the origin of coal purchased Q0 \V. G. Polk, president; and H. T. Coal“ & Coke Co.; H. L. Findlay, vice- by the government where a dealer or mid­ W ilson Coal Co., H. T . Wilson, president president, Youghiogheny & Ohio Coal Co.

December, 1935 — COAL AGE 551 dleman is the contractor, the government’s of establishing a maximum number of size Physical characteristics, use and con­ contracting officer must require evidence groups and standard methods of classifica­ sumer preference all must be considered in that all coal delivered under the contract tion for Minimum-Price Area No. 1. Ar­ classification as a basis for price making, has been produced at a mine complying bitrary methods are farthest from the com­ insisted several witnesses. And these fac­ with the code. The letter pointed out mission’s thoughts ; at every step it planned tors cannot always be definitely measured that the term “contractor” as used in Sec. to seek counsel of the industry and to ap­ in the way the chemical constituents may 14 also applies to subcontractors. peal for the submerging of selfish individual be determined by analysis. After all, re­ Mr. Hosford issued a statement Nov. interests for the general good, as far as marked H. L. Findlay, vice-president, 19 assuring consumers that they have no that may be “humanly possible.” But, if Youghiogheny & Ohio Coal Co., it is the reason to fear higher coal prices by rea­ such cooperation is not forthcoming, was consumer who really fixes the classification son of enforcement of the Guffey act. the blunt warning, the commission will not by his purchases. The problem, according The law vests authority in the commission, hesitate to exercise its powers under the to Charles A. Owen, president, Imperial he said, to “establish minimum and maxi­ law and take positive action. “W e may be Coal Corporation, differs little from that mum prices for coal in order to protect \ 7 \ per cent wrong in what we do under which confronted the code authorities un­ the consumer against unreasonably high those circumstances,” he added, “but that der NRA. The start must be made in prices. . . . While it is not anticipated will be better than no answer.” each district, followed by coordination be­ that the establishment of maximum prices tween different districts based upon agree­ will be necessary, the powers of the com­ Suggests Eight Size Groups ment as to comparable base coals. mission in this respect are specific. In On behalf of the producers’ advisory Determination of a yardstick for com­ petitive relationships, observed Commis­ addition, the commission has authority, committee, Charles O’Neill, chairman, said sioner Tetlow, is the real problem—not upon substantial complaint that bituminous that it had been suggested that the maxi­ prices are excessive to consumers, to hear mum number of size groups should not classification. The commission must con­ such complaint or initiate an investiga­ exceed eight. Spokesmen for the North­ sider these relationships in adjusting prices. tion.” The commission, he said, will make ern fields generally were ready to accept Unless there is some basis for agreement every effort to end the practice of selling this limitation; Illinois thought it could in advance, price fixing will only raise the slack sizes at prices below actual cost of go along on a maximum of nine, but In­ question anew. Moreover, he continued, production. diana insisted that the number for that any formula evolved must be guided by Reviewing the activities of the commis­ State should not be less than eleven. Both experience. He did not believe that any sion, Mr. Hosford announced on Nov. 23 the Southern high-volatile fields and west­ district would be willing to adopt a posi­ that “from the standpoint of tonnage rep­ ern Kentucky were sympathetic toward tion until it knew what competitive dis­ resented by producers assenting to the code, the Indiana position. Because Southern tricts planned. Grouping of competitive and the cooperation of all elements of the low-volatile coal moved both east and west, districts, he thought, might simplify the industry, as well as commission activities, W. A. Richards, spokesman for that area, problem. Mr. Owens, however, would not it may be said that the first 60 days of felt that it might be necessary to have two agree that a combination of several dis­ actual operation of the bituminous coal different groupings. Central Pennsylvania, tricts in Minimum-Price Area No. 1 code has been most promising. And the with little domestic business, could work would help because “you can’t get any outlook for stabilization of the coal in­ with four groups, said Mr. O’Neill; while over-all formula.” dustry is encouraging.” it did not object to a greater number in District Board Membership To Investigate Living Conditions other districts, it argued that when those districts shipped into territory largely The personnel of the district boards set Investigation of conditions among mine served by central Pennsylvania coals, the up under the act is as follow s: workers with the object of rehabilitating competing districts should be subject to District 1 (Eastern Pennsylvania)—- Charles O'Neill (acting chairman), presi­ those displaced from employment and re­ the same limitations as central Pennsyl­ dent, Eastern Bituminous Coal Association ; lieving those partially employed, will be vania with respect to the number of sizes. James H. Allport, president, Rock Hill Coal given early attention by the commission, Co. ; L. G. B all, vice-president, J. H. Since the size groups also would estab­ Weaver & Co.; James Caseley, president, according to an announcement Dec. 5 by lish price groups, some of the witnesses Buffalo & Susquehanna Coal & Coke Co. ; Commissioner Tetlow. The commission is expressed apprehension lest the groupings Heath S. Clark, president, Rochester & Pittsburgh Coal Co.; G. Dawson Coleman, empowered by the Guffey act, he pointed would destroy the markets for certain president, Ebensburg Coal Co. ; James A. out, to transmit its findings and recom­ smaller sizes. If, for example, 3-in. lump Connelly, Jr., sales manager, Barnes & mendations to the proper government Tucker Co. ; John D. Dickson, president, is in the same size group as 4- and 6-in. Shawmut Mining Co. ; A. F. Kempe, sales agency for relief, rehabilitation and sub­ lump, they .argued, consumers will not buy manager, Logan Coal Co. ; Telford Lewis, sistence homesteads. “The Bituminous the smaller size. Under the NRA set-up, president, Jasahill Coal Mining Co. ; Charles A. Owen, president, Imperial Coal Corpora­ Coal Act,” he said, “is in many respects said Hugh B. Lee, chairman of the Indiana tion ; Mark W. Potter, president, Pennsyl­ a new bill of rights for workers in bitu­ district board, Indiana mine prices on 60 vania Coal & Coke Corporation; D. T. minous mines. It means that in addition Price, general manager, Lochrie-Price sizes were combined into 24 groups. Bar­ Coal Co. ; Arthur B. Stewart, president, to efforts to stabilize the industry, which ring certain individual exceptions, however, Davis Coal & Coke Co. ; J. W. Wetter, vice- in itself will be helpful to workers, the all of these prices were definitely related president, Madeira, Hill & Co. ; R. W. Wig- ton, secretary-treasurer, Morrisdale Coal federal government will extend to miners to base prices on 6-in. lump and 2-in. Co. ; James Mark, employee representative. the direct assistance being given to others screenings. Some such basing system, he District 2 (Western Pennsylvania)—R. who have been the victims of economic R. Bowie, Pine Township Coal Co. ; A. R. thought, might be applied now. Budd, vice-president, Hillman Coal & Coke changes.” . Only two of the eleven districts of Mini­ Co. ; Frank Coleman, mining engineer, An investigation of the effect of the im­ mum-Price Area No. 1 represented at the Westmoreland Mining Co. ; O. E. Eberly, Old Home Fuel Co. ; H. L. Findlay, vice- portation and exportation of bituminous hearings would concede that it was pos­ president, Youghiogheny & Ohio Coal Co. ; coal on the domestic market will be made sible to arrive at any fixed, uniform basis F. R. Harper, Thomas Harper Coal Co. ; under the direction of Commissioner Acret. R. E. Jamison, sales manager, Jamison for classification. Northern West V ir­ Coal & Coke Co. ; R. H. Knode, vice-presi­ The inquiry, which is authorized by Sec. ginia and Ohio were ready to indorse the dent, W estm oreland Coal Co. ; O. C. Larsen 16 of the coal control act, will proceed formula devised by the Technical Board secretary-treasurer, North American Coal Co. ; George H. Love, president, Union Col­ as rapidly as possible, it was announced of Division I of the N R A code, but this lieries Co. ; John B. Moore, vice-president, on Dec. 6. Commissioner Acret said “it basis was sharply assailed by other dis­ Reliance Coal Mining Co. ; A. K. Renwick, is the purpose of the commission to study Ligomer, P a.; R. E. Sprenkle, general man­ tricts. This formula,- explained C. J. Pot­ ager, Butler Consolidated Coal & Coke Co.: conditions in foreign markets and to de­ ter, Continental Coal Corporation, speak­ J. T. M. Stoneroad, president, Carnegie Coal termine the effect on our home markets of ing for District 3, was based primarily Co. ; C. S. B. W ard, president, P leasan t Valley Mining Co. ; Robert Wood, assistant importations, with the purpose of recover­ upon the ash, B.t.u., sulphur and fusion- to president, W. J. Rainey, Inc. ; Patrick ing markets which have been lost during temperature factors, evaluated for coal Fagan, employee representative. recent years and finding new outlets for District 3 (Northern West Virginia)— burned on underfeed stokers. In so far W C. Dobbie (chairman), general super­ coal produced in the United States.” as Indiana considers a formula, declared intendent, Jamison Coal & Coke Co. ; T. J. One of the principal tasks confronting O. L. Scales for that State, it is based Ashcraft (secretary), assistant secretary, Northern West Virginia Subdivisional Coal the commission is to protect the coal in­ on the theory that coal has no value ex­ Association : A. C. Beeson, Four Stat-s Coal dustry from itself, declared Chairman Hos­ cept as it may be used in a given plant. Co. ; S. D. Brady, Jr., president, Osag^ Coal ford in opening the first public hearings Co. ; D. T. Buckley. Koppers Coal & Trans­ “If the Technical Board formula were to portation Co. ; Ralph Courtney, president, of the commission, held at the Carlton Ho­ be applied literally,” he said, “it would Courtney Coal Co. ; George D. Curtin, vice- tel, Nov. 21-22, to consider the propriety wreck the coal industry.” president, Pardee & Curtin Lumber Co. ; William Findlay, general superintendent, 552 COAL AGE — Vol.40, No.12 vice-president, Sahara Coal Co.; Ray Ed- mundson, employee representative. District 11 (Indiana)—H. B. Lee, chair­ man), vice-president, Maumee Collieries Co.; B. E. Lundblad (vice-chairman), vice- president, Central Indiana Coal Co.; Jonas Waffle (managing director), managing di­ rector, Coal Trade Association of Indiana; William R. Bootz, secretary, Crescent Coal Co. ; George A. Enos, president, Enos Coal Mining Co. ; Arch V. Grossman, vice-presi­ dent, United Collieries, Inc.; C. G. Hall, vice-president, Walter Bledsoe & Co.; George J. Leahy, vice-president, Republic Coal & Coke Co.; R. H. May, sales man­ ager, Sunlight Coal Co. ; Earl Oliphant, general manager, Standard Coal Co. ; John Shirkie, president, West Clinton Coal Co. ; H. P. Smith, president, Shelbourne Mining Co.; R. E. Snoberger, president, Binkley Coal Co., Inc. ; M. M. Soule, vice-president, Coal Sales Corporation; C. N. Templeton, president, Templeton Coal Co. ; William J. Tipton, president, Tipton Coal Co.; W. M. Zeller, Jr., president, Knox Consolidated Coal Corporation; Frank Barnhart, em­ ployee representative. District 12 (Iowa)—William Abram, Col­ fax Coal Co.; K. C. Carney, sales manager, Scandia Coal Co.; S. V. Carpenter, vice- president, Sunshine Coal Co.; John G. Evans, president, Smoky Hollow Coal Co.; A. E. Hollingsworth, president, Central Iowa Fuel Co. ; Robert E. Dee, president, Consolidated Indiana Coal Co.; W. D. Johnson, presi­ dent, Boone Coal Co.; M. B. McConville, secretary, McConville Coal Co.; W. O. Moore attorney, representing City Fuel Co.; (ç) Harris & uwuxg E. O. Moss, president, Liberty Coal Co.; Bituminous Coal Commission gets down to business Joe Muelhaupt, president, Central Service Co. ; B. J. Powers, general manager, Dallas r,Pft to right, seated: Walter H. Maloney, C. F. Hosford, Jr. (chairman), and George F. Fuel Co.; John H. Ramsay, general man­ Acret ; standing : C. E. Smith and Percy Tetlow. ager, Economy Coal Co. ; Jacob Ritter, vice- president, Old King Coal Co. ; John D. Bell, general manager, Imperial Smokeless Shuler, president, Shuler Coal Co.; W. W. Simpson Creek Collieries Co. ; T. E. John­ Wilson, purchasing agent, Norwood-White son, vice-president, Hutchinson Coal Sales, Coal Co. ; R. E. Brockman, general man­ ager, Atlantic Smokeless Coal Co. ; O. M. Coal Co. ; Frank Wilson, employee repre­ Inc! ; T. J. Johnson, president, Guston Run sentative. Mining Co.; Harry B. Martin, general man­ Leyerle, president, Flat Top Fuel Co. ; H. ager, Miller-Todd Coal Co. ; C. J. Potter, D Everett, vice-president, Smokless Fuel District 13 (Southeastern)—Herbert S. Continental Coal Co. ; Sam uel Pursglove, Co. ; H. C. Faust, general manager, United Salmon (chairman), president, Alabama general manager, Purgslove Coal Mining Pocahontas Coal Co. ; J. A. Hunt, general Coals, Inc.; D. A. Thomas (vice chairman), Co.; Charles W. Ream , president, Stanley superintendent, Lillybrook Coal Co. ; R. H. president, Montevallo Coal Mining Co. ; Coal Co. ; E. H. Reppert, president, Reppert Morris, general manager, Gauley Mountain N. E. Cross (secretary-treasurer), secretary, Coal Co.; H. W. Showalter, president, Mon- Coal Co. ; S. S. Nichols, vice-president, Alabama Coals, Inc.; W. Carson Adams, ongahela R ail & R iver Coal Corporation ; New River Co.; G. H. Nowlin, Jr., presi­ vice-president, Porter Coal Co. ; C. S. Bis- A. Lisle’White, general superintendent, Vir- dent, Premier Pocahontas Collieries Co. ; sell, president, Black Diamond Coal Mining ginia-Maryland Coal Corporation; Frank W A. Richards, president, Pemberton Coal Co. ; H. T. DeBardeleben, president, De- Miley, employee representative. & Coke Co. ; Holley Stover, Holley Stover Bardeleben Coal Corporation ; E. L. Hamp­ & Co • W. P. Tams, Jr., president, Gulf ton, president, Tennessee Consolidated Coal District 4 (Ohio)—Ezra Van Horn (chair­ Smokeless Coal Co. ; William Blizzard, em­ Co. ; P. H. Haskell, Jr., vice-president, man), executive vice-president, Ohio Coal ployee representative. A B C Coal & Coke Co.; A. R. Long, presi­ Control A sso c ia tio n ; E. H. D avis (vice District 8 (Southern No. 2)—Irvin Davis dent, Brookside-Pratt Mining Co. ; C. N. chairman), chairman of board, New York (chairman), president, Hatfield-Campbell Milam, owner, Acton Basin Coal Co.; John Coal Co.; Whitney Warner (secretary), Creek Coal Co. ; N. D. Bachman (vice chair­ E. Patton, president, Sewanee Fuel & Iron president, W arner C ollieries Co. ; E. S. W il­ man), Peabody Coal Co.; Hugh Buford Co. ; George F. Peter, president, Southern lard (treasurer), general manager, United (secretary), president, Knott Coal Corpora­ Coal & Coke Co. ; David Roberts, Jr., presi­ States Coal Co. ; F. N. Barnes, president, tion ■ S. B. Hosmer (treasurer), president, dent, Brilliant Coal Co. ; B. F. Roden, presi­ Barnes Coal & Mining Co. ; William Emery, Elkhorn Collieries Corporation ; N G. Al­ dent. Roden Coal Co.; H. J. Weeks, general Jr., president, Cambridge Collieries Co.; ford, purchasing agent, Clover Splint Coal manager, Durham Land Co.; William Clifford Hawk, secretary, Long H ollow Coal Co. • G. H. Esser, Norton, Va. ; H. E. Jones, Mitch, employee representative. Co.; D. P. Loomis, general manager, Ohio president, Logan County Coal Corporation , Block Coal Co. ; John H. Miles, vice-presi­ R. H. Kelly, president, Four Seam Coal District 14 (Arkansas-Oklahoma)—J. F. dent, Akron Coal Co. ; W alter L. Robison, Corporation; W. R. Kernohan, president, Lake (chairman), vice-president, Charles­ president, Youghiogheny & Ohio Coal Co. ; Glen Alum Fuel Ço. ; E. C. Mahan, Presi­ ton Coal Co.; Earl Cobh (vice chairman), H. B. Salkeld, president, Tasa Coal Co. ; dent, Southern Mining Co. ; H. A. McAllis president, Southwestern Coal Co. ; B. H. George K. Smith, president, Sunday Creek ter, president, McCall Coal Co. , C. M. Bedweii (secretary-treasurer), vice-presi­ Coal C o.; John Owens, em ployee repre­ Moore, general manager, Moore Coal Co. , dent, Bedwell Coal Co. ; M. D. Bedweii, sentative. D H. Morton, president, Winifrede Col­ president, Bedwell Coal Co. ; Robert Boyd, District 5 (Michigan)—George C. East­ lieries Co.; G. A. Reese, president, CUnch- Jr., president, Boyd Excelsior Fuel Co. ; wood (ch airm an ), vice-president and Seu- A. D. Clark, vice-president, Tahona Coal field Fuel Co.; C. W. Watson, trustee, Elk Co. ; George Colville, Jr., superintendent, eral manager, Consolidated Coal Co.; H. Horn Coal Corporation ; L. E. Woods, Pres­ Jewell Mining Co.; Heber Denman, presi­ W. Bean (vice-chairman), general sales ident Crystal Block Coal & Coke Co. , dent, Paris Purity Coal Co. ; W. B. Hillery, manager, Robert Gage Coal Co.; r rea. Samuel Caddy, employee representative. general superintendent, Covington Coal Co. ; Heinemann (secretary-treasurer), P*TS1' District 9 (Western Kentucky) — S S. W. J. Prendergrass, president. Acme Semi- dent, St. Charles Garfield Coal Co.; Alex Lanier Jr. (chairman), co-receiver, Norton Anthracite. Coal Co.; B. C. Reed, president, Jeffrey, president, Chippewa Coal Co., Coal Mining Co.; W. W. Bridges (tempo­ Dixie Fuel Co. ; Earl Wells, vice-president, William Jones, president, Monitor Coal rary vice chairman), receiver. Black Eia‘ Starr Coal Co. ; R. W. Winn, vice-president, Co.; John Milano, president, Aurora Coal mond Coal & Mining Co.; S. L. Jewell New Shockley Coal Co.; H. W. Young, vice- Co.; Ernest Stevenson, employee repre­ (temporary secretary), vice-president, Trio president, R. A. Young & Son ; David Fow­ sentative. Coal Co • E. J. Hartenfield, president, ler, employee representative. District 6 (West Virginia Panhandle) — Green River Valley Coal Co. ; E. J. Morgan, Arthur W. Dean (secretary), Presld®"*’ employee representative. District 15 (Southwestern)—J. C. Reid West Virginia-Pittsburgh Coal Co., Mrs. (chairman), secretary, Oklahoma Coal Mar­ Fern S. Arnold, president, J. J. Arnold Co. . District 10 (Illinois)— George W. Reed keting Co.; W. E. Blucher (secretary- (chairman), vice-president, Peabody Coal treasurer), secretary, Southwest Coal Bu­ R. L. Berry, vice-president, Wheeling Val- Co Hubert E. Howard (vice chairman), ley Coal Corporation ; George D.( Calawe , reau ; Ira Clemens, president, Commercial president, Binkley Mining C? ; G. D.Cowin Fuel Co. ; R. S. Leavitt, Robinsdn Coal Co. ; president. Retail Coal Producers Associa­ (secretary-treasurer), president Sell & tion of Brook County: W B. Casey, presi J. C. Reighard, 01’ Elliott Coal Producers’ Zoller Coal & Mining Co., D. W. Beggs, Association; W. E. Widmer, president, dent, City Coal Co. ; Frank Costanzo, Pre-' General manager, Macon County Coal Co. Elmira Coal Co. ; J. R. Wilson, secretary, ident, Costanzo Coal Mining Co. , K; • D W. Buchanan, president, Old Ben Coal McAlester-Wilburton Coal Operators’ Asso­ Cotts, president, Standard Mining Co., • Corporation ; W. F. Davis, president, St. ciation ; George J. L. Wuiff. president, G. Mathiott, vice-president Valley Carnp Louis & O’Fallon Coal Co. ; George B Har­ Western Coal & Mining Co. ; David H. W at­ Coal Co. ; W. D. McKeefrey, president, rington president, Chicago, Wilmington & McKeefrey Coal Co. of West Vmgmia M.-J- nngioii, p w j jenjclns> presi­ kins, employee representative. McQuade, president. Moundsville¡Coal Co dent Consolidated Coal Co of St Louis ; District 16 (Northern Colorado)—J. P. John W. Sands, president, Hltehman Coa cent, co ler vice-president, .Franklin Peabody (chairman), president, Rocky & Coke Co. ; William Taylor vlf®;PrS‘'ld|" e’ Coal Co. ■ L. F. Lumaghi, Jr., pres- Mountain Fuel Co. ; P. H. Powers (vice Valley Camp Coal .Co. ; George Savage, vi T umaghi Coal Co.; Robert H. May, chairman), president. Shamrock Coal Co.; employee representative. sties manager, Northern Illinois Coal Cor­ W. S. Iliff (vice chairman), vice-president. D istrict 7 (Southern No. 1)— P- M. Sny­ poration C J. Sandoe, vice-president Perry National Fuel Co. ; David Allan, general der (chairman), president, Castner, Curran Cnal Co ’ Glenn A. Shafer, president Pana manager, David Allan; James Brennan, & Bullitt; John L.. S te inbugler (vice-cha Cot Co • Louis Ware, president, United president, Imperial Coal Co. : H. B. Cran­ man), president, William C. Atwate , 44? Coal Cos • A L. Wilcoxson, presi­ dall, secretary, Clayton Coal Co. ; Buddy William G. Caperton / s e e r eta ry-treasure^, dent Sangamon Coal Co. : H enry C. W oods, Early, owner, Buddy Coal Co.; H. F. president. Scotia Coal & Coke ■ , ,1935— COAL AGE Nash, president, Leyden Lignite Co.; P. M. P eltier,, president, Bear River Coal Co. ; Floyd R. Pool, vice-president, McNeil Coal Corporation; W. E. Russell, president, W. E. Russell Coal Co. ; Carson W. Smith, president, Consolidated Coal & Coke Co.; Frank Thurman, secretary-treasurer, Black Diamond Fuel Co.; W. D. Wade, treasurer, Pikes Peak Fuel Co.; George Watson, pro­ prietor, Domestic Coal Co.; F,.xnk Yakes, president, Louisville-Lafayette Coal Co.; O. F. Nigro, employee representative. District 17 (Southern Colorado)—Douglas Millard (president), vice-president, Colo­ rado Fuel & Iron Co.; H. E. MacDonald (vice-president), president, Victor-American Fuel Co.; Herbert Marshall (secretary- treasurer), president, Pryor Coal Mining Co.; N. C. Anderson, general manager, Huerfano Coal Co.; J. S. Bowie, general manager, Juanita Coal & Coke Co. ; H-. H. Bubb, general superintendent, American Smelting & Refining Co.; G. B. Dick, presi­ dent, Jewell Collieries Corporation; F. C. Ewing, president, Chested Butte Coal Co. ; D. L. Hansen, president, American Inde­ pendent Coal Co.; H. H. Harris, vice-presi­ dent, Hayden Brothers Coal Corporation; Moroni Heiner, president, Utah Fuel Co. ; John Kirkpatrick, president, Aztec Coal Mining Co.; J. C. Larkin, sales manager, Wide World Photos Sw astika Fuel C o .; G. C. Manly, trustee, Screening and sacking coal at a bootleg mine, Alamo Coal Co.; B. W. Snodgrass, presi­ dent, Moffat Coal Co. ; F. R. Wood, presi­ dent, Temple Fuel Co.; Frank Hefterly, employee representative. ing business interests in the northern bor­ District 18 (New Mexico))—Oscar Huber Producers Urge State to End (chairman), general superintendent, Albu­ ough of New York City, appealed by let­ querque & Cerrillos Coal Co.; G. H. Larson Bootleg Mining ter Nov. S to Governor Earle and to (secretary), Albuquerque & Cerrillos Coal Co.; C. M. Botts, attorn ey; John Hart, Mayor LaGuardia to take steps to halt owner, Hart mine; A. B. Juliana, owner, Thoroughly aroused by the losses to the “illegal and unfair competition” from boot­ Juliana mine; Robert Montgomery, em­ anthracite industry from outlaw mining, leg anthracite. The letter to Governor ployee representative. hard-coal producers climaxed a newspa­ District 19 (Wyoming)—T. J. O’Brien Earle pointed out that the under-cover (chairman),'president, Kemmerer Coal Co. ; per campaign against the evil with an shipments not only affected the regular J. E. Lee (vice chairman), general’man­ appeal to the State Attorney General at ager, Sheridan-Wyoming Coal Co.; L. T. coal business adversely but also failed to Dee, vice-president, Lion Coal Co. ; Andrew Harrisburg, Pa., on Nov. 19. Charles give to the buyer any assurance of honest Kuzara, manager, Star Coal Co.; Eugene F. Huber, coordinator of the anthracite in­ weight and good quality, and asked the. McAuliffe, president, Union Pacific Coal dustry ; Louis C. Madeira, 3d, executive Co. ; N. A. Swennson, president, Nugget Pennsylvania executive to stop the distri­ Coal Co. ; W. J. Thompson, vice-president, director of the Anthracite Institute, and bution at its source. Colony Coal Co.; R. J. Warriner, sales Walter Gordon Merritt, attorney for the manager, Owl Creek Coal Co.; James Mor­ An appeal from the Merchants’ Associa­ gan, employee representative. institute, acted as spokesmen for the dele­ tion of New York, several days later, in­ District 20 (Utah)—L. R. Weber (chair­ gation of operators in demanding action formed Governor Earle that local coal man), president, Liberty Fuel Co.; W. C. by Attorney General Margiotti against Stark (vice chairman), general manager, distributors were suffering financial loss Blue Blaze Coal Co. ; L. T. Dee, vice-presi­ bootleg mining. Operating interests in the through unfair competition from the il­ dent, Lion Coal Co. ; Moroni Heiner, presi­ party included J. B. Warriner, president, dent, Utah Fuel Co. ; Paul F. Keyser, presi­ legal producers and urged him to help dent, Independent Coal & Coke Co. ; D. D. Lehigh Navigation Coal Co.; N. D. Stev­ stop “this menace to legitimate business.” Muir, Jr., general manager, United States ens, president, Stevens Coal C o.; T. T. After a series of speeches picturing the Fuel Co.; J. B. Smith, president, Spring Toole, director of marketing, Philadelphia Canyon Coal Co. ; C. N. Sweet, general inroads of bootleg coal on legitimate trade, manager, Standard Coal Co.; John M. Ross, & Reading Coal & Iron Co., and several at Hershey, Pa., on Nov. 14, the Penn­ employee representative. attorneys. District 21 (North Dakota and South sylvania Retail Coal Merchants’ Associa­ Dakota)—No board organized. The delegation pointed out that more tion besought Governor Earle to provide D istrict 22 (M ontana)— T. C. R ussell than 1,000 outlaw pits are being worked, police action to halt what it termed “or­ (chairman), general manager, coal depart­ with an annual output of about 4,000,000 ment, Anaconda Copper Mining Co.; Wil­ ganized unlawful mining of anthracite.” liam Anderson, Anderson Coal Co.; F. V. H. tons. Although the bootleg coal is sold The Fuel Merchants’ Association of Collins, president, Bair-Collins Co.; J. M. at less than legitimately produced anthra­ Freeman, vice-president, Montana Coal & New Jersey, at their annual convention, Iron Co. ; Albert Gately, general superin­ cite, it was said that its sales totaled $32,- Nov. 22, at Asbury Park, adopted a res­ 000,000 yearly. tendent, Republic Coal Co.; H. F. Tilton, olution addressed to Governor Earle urg­ general manager, Cottonwood Coal Co.; Several days previous, the Anthracite William Riddell, employee representative. ing “the necessity for drastic action to Institute staged a personally conducted District 23 (Washington)—Charles F. safeguard property rights and to protect Larrabee (chairman), president, Roslyn tour of 38 newspaper men through the legitimate producers and distributors of Cascade Coal Co.; William Strain (vice Southern anthracite field to present a first­ chairman), owner, Strain Coal Co.; Rich­ anthracite from the product of illicit la­ ard Francis (second vice chairman), em­ hand view of bootleg operations. Much bor.” The resolution stated that the re­ ployee representative ; James Bagiev. nresi- impressed by the inroads of the invaders, dent, Bucodo Coal Mining Co.: Fred Bianco, tail coal markets in New Jersey are being the news writers spread themselves with owner, Bianco Coal Mines ; George Watkin flooded with coal deliberately stolen from Fvans. general manager. Fords Prairie feature stories in their home papers de­ Coal Co.; Harrv Mehrbach, sales manager, scribing the outlaw operations. the anthracite fields of Pennsylvania, and Bellingham Coal Mines; N. D. Moore, that the business of legitimate retail coal president, Pacific Coast Coal Co.; E. R. Meantime, letters of protest against coal Peoples, owner. West Coast Fuel Co. ; thievery and appeals to put a stop to the merchants is being severely impaired by George Rockefeller, general manager, Des the marketing of pilfered anthracite. Moines Coal & Coke Co.; John I. Springer, evil continued to pour in upon Governor vice-president. Dale Coal Co.; D. R. Swem, Earle of the Keystone State. C. Claflin manager, coal operations, Northwestern Improvement Co.: H. C. Williams, sales Young, president, National Retail Coal manager, Fords Prairie Coal Co. Merchants’ Association, wrote on Oct. 31 urging that “the necessary action be taken George R. Wood Dies to protect the interest of the miner, the George R. Wood, 47, vice-president of / Alabama Coal Tax Reduced operator and the retailer.” Much of the Coxe I rothers & Co., anthracite producers, stolen coal, he said, reaches the market and former superintendent of the Lehigh The severance tax on coal in Alabama poorly prepared and contains much foreign Valley Coal Co. at Centralia and in the has been cut from 2\c to 11c per ton by substance, including explosives. The mar­ Hazleton district, died Nov. 11 in the Uni­ Governor Graves. This action was taken ket for anthracite is rapidly shrinking, the versity of Pennsylvania Hospital, Philadel­ under authority granted by the last session letter adds, as shown by constantly reduced phia, Pa., after an illness of several weeks. of the State Legislature. Under the pro­ production, and condoning theft of the A graduate of Lehigh University, Mr. visions of the law, the Governor has power product will result in further curtailment Wood began his mining career in Ken­ to reduce or increase the tax, as he may of outpu Aoss^of revenue. tucky immediately after leaving college, deem advisable. The of Trade, represent- later returning to the anthracite field.

554 COAL AGE — Vol.40, No.12