The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-05-11 00:00:00

SOUTH SAFFOR,)SHIRE INSTITU PE OF

MINING ENGINEERS.

On Monday evening :"-an ordinary monthly meeting of
he S)uth Staffordshire and East Worcestershiro Insti.
Atte of Mining Engineers was held in the Geologcal
tfuseum, Dudley, Mr. W. North presiding. There were
:Lao present among others—Messrs. H. Johnson (vice.
president), W. B. Collis, Cole, FeHowes, Rgers,
deacham, Latham, Marten, Bagshaw, J. Hughes, Hay-
ward, &c., &c.—During the reading of the minutes of
tne previous Council meeting it was shown that the
drat excursion was to be to the Hamstead sinking and
i,he second to the Cannock and Huntington sinking.—
'sir. Thomas Webster, assistant colliery manager,
Tivi-
was unanimously elected a member.—Mr,
Williatrs, the teacher of the chemistry class in connec.
ton with the IL ttute, read a paper .on spontaneous I
combustion, illustr .ted by experiment. The author
,poke of the interest of the subject to mining engineers,
end said that spontaneous combustion was liable to
occur wherever substf ices having chemieal ability for
each other were brou:,slit together. Oxygen played a
most important part wherever ca, ,sonaceous substances
were exposed to its action. A piece of carbon exposed to
the air absorbed the atmosph,ria gases. In coal winding
large quantities were ground quite fine, and this, like
carbon was capable of great absorption. Atmospheric
moisture brought the coal and the oxygen into intimate
contact, and instantaneous sombust;.on occurred. The
best method of preventing spontaneous combustion was
to keep the temperature as low as possible, as elevation
of temperature assisted chemical action, and to prevent
th 4 accumulation of finely divided coal.—A hearty vote
of thanks was passed to Mr. Williams upon the motion
of the President, seconded by Mr. Collis, and supported
by Mr. Henry Johnson.—Mr. Daniel Jones, F.G.S.,
read a paper on the " Spirorbis Limestone," containing
spirorbis carbonarius found in sinking the trial shaft at
sandwell Park, and more recently discovered at the
ilamstead new sinking. The paper was a joint one from
the pens of Mr. Daniel Jones, F.G.S., and Mr. Henry
Johnson, As the subject was a novel one in South
Staflordshire a paper was deemed to be of value. The
limestone only occurred in the upper coal measures,
and was called after the fossil named above. Sir
Roderick Murchison first called attention to the remark-
able stratum, but he called it from internal evidence
freshwater limestone," and by that name the stratum
was frequently known,; although erroneously, for the
fossil was now well recognised as a marine one. The
paper then went on to show different sections in different
parts of the country where the limestone had been
found. Mr. Jones, one of the authors of the paper, had
'ound the limestone frequently, and in a paper read in I
1870 he wrote that it was probably existing in the
South Staffordsbire eoalfield, but in such slight
quantities as to have escaped the notice of the sinkers.
A.t Sandwell the limestone was found at 123 yards deep,
and the tbiek coal 418 yards. At Hamstead the lime-
at one was :ound at 186 yards, and was 14 inches thick.
fhe differeace in depth was probably due to the inclined
ground and the respective levels of the pit tops. They
did not affirm that the limestone was continuou-a
throughout the country, but it extended over Very largo
tracts, and afforded the mining engineer an excellent
ground to go upon. But although contiuuuua itself, it
did not follow that the strata above or below were dis-
tributed with equal certainty. The question of finding
coal below would have to depend on ,he known charac-
ter of the district, for limestone had been found in a
district where the fields were marginal to a great coal
basin, and consequently of less depth for holding car-
')oniferous deposits. In conclusion, the paper advised
that in sinking pits, through the upper coal measures,
the limestone should always be looked for.—A
vote of thanks was passed to Mr. Jones and to Mr.
Johnson, who also exhibited a section of the Sandwell
sinking, and presented a piece of limestone to each mem-
ber.