1891

BOARD OF EXAMINATION. COLLIERY MANAGERS.

The board for the appointment of examiners for granting certificates of competency to colliery managers is composed as follows :—

The constitution of the Board is the same as in the previous year with the exception of the change necessitated by the decease of the late Mr. Willis.

Mr. George Baker Forster, who from the formation of the Board has acted as an examiner, felt it necessary to retire from that important position, and he has been succeeded by Mr. J. G. Weeks. Mr. Forster’s resignation was accepted by the Board with much regret.

The examiners now are,—

An examination was held at the College of Science, Newcastle-on-Tyne, on the 8th and 9th of January, when there were 18 candidates for first-class certificates, of whom nine were successful, and of the 75 candidates who presented themselves for examination for second class certificates 37 satisfied the examiners.

The Board having considered it desirable that the questions should be made public, a copy of the same is appended hereto.

The working out of all questions must be fully shown. No answer giving simply the result will be accepted.

1. Add—

Subtract—

Multiply—

Divide 1,346,594 by 837.3.

Find— 2/3 of 3/7 of 5/8 of a ton, and give results in cwts. and decimals.

2. If a pumping engine, with a 16 in. set 4 ft. stroke, going 5 strokes a minute and 24 hours a day, can clear a mine of water in 3 days, in how many days will an engine working an 18 in. set 5 ft. stroke, going 6 strokes a minute and 11 hours a day, do the same work?

3. Describe the best method of timbering in board and wall, whole and broken, and also in long wall. What other means of securing the roof is available in long wall? Give a description of it.

4. Describe the method of measuring air with an anemometer and with powder smoke. Which is the best? How many cubic feet of air is there in a current having a velocity of 127 ft. a minute in a drift 6 ft. 2 in. high by 7 ft. 6 in. wide?

5. Give a sketch of a panel of workings—

(1.) Board and pillar,

(2.) Long wall,

showing how the air is taken round the face. All stoppings, crossings, regulators, and doors to be shown.

6. Describe the fittings of a boiler. How does impure water affect the safety of the boiler?

7. Give a list of the various officers, men, and boys in a colliery, and the duties of each.

8. What are the different kinds of explosives used in coal mining? Give a description of drilling a shot-hole and putting in the explosive. What should be done if coal dust or gas is present in a place where a shot is required?

9. What are the regulations of the Mines Act as to —

Hours of boys above and below ground,

Fencing of machinery,

Precautions in approaching old workings.

1. Name the two gases generally met with in coal mines. How are they detected, and what are the results of their presence in the workings? If the main returns of a pit, ventilated by a furnace, become foul, what means should be adopted to avoid an explosion and to clear the returns of gas.

2. Explain the theory of the ventilation of mines. What are the advantages of large airways ? What is meant by splitting the air, and how does it affect the general ventilation of a mine?

3. Whence arises the danger in using the Davy or Clanny lamp unprotected? Describe some form of safe lamp you are acquainted with. What is the most explosive mixture of gas and air, and the mixture containing the least proportion of gas which will explode?

4. Describe the various methods of measuring the air in a mine. In a drift 9 ft. wide and 6 ft. 9 in. high, the quantity of air passing is 28,000 cubic feet per minute, what is the velocity of the current ?

5. A colliery with a hundred hewers in a shift is ventilated by a current of 150,000 cubic feet of air per minute. Draw a sketch of board and pillar and long wall working for it, showing number of workmen in each district, the course of air splits, stoppings, crossings, doors, and regulators for it, and give proper dimensions for return airways, also quantity of air in each split?

6. Describe, with sketches, the various sorts of dams used to stop water in mines. What danger is to be apprehended, when a fiery colliery having workings to the rise, and which has been drowned out, is being cleared of water by pumping?

7. Describe a Guibal and a Waddle fan, and give the advantages of each.

8. Describe the best methods of timbering, walling, and tubbing a shaft, giving sketches and dimensions of the materials you would use for a 12 ft. pit.

9. Describe the method of surveying with an ordinary compass and theodolite with the advantages and disadvantages of each system. Plot the following survey

Describe the method of levelling with a spirit level, and show how a levelling book is kept.

10. Underground haulage. Describe fully, with sketches, any system of haulage with which you are acquainted.

Source:

Mines Inspectors Report for 1891 (C 6625) for the Newcastle District (No. 3) by J. L. Hedley, H.M. Inspector of Mines, copy held in the Scottish Mining Museum, Newtongrange, Midlothian.