Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1864-11-10
Mining by Machinery.

Great as has been the progress made IN late
years in machinery for reducing and treating
| the silver ores, it is only very recently that
attention has been given to the working oil
| the mines themselves, BY mechanical means.
| 1t is at this point of mining that the heavy
cost and labor are expended, vastly more
than on the ores after they are out. 10 work
| the ores is comparatively an easy matter
10 prepare the mine, protect it properly and
| extract the ores, is to the miner an exhaus-
tive toll, to the proprietors often ruinous
expense.
The great interest taken in this matter is
| shown BY the constant discussions OF it in
the scientific journals, both at home and
| abroad, by the various inventions lately issued
| for coal cutting by machinery, the yentllatlng
| and timberinH OF mines, ETC., and BY the re-
heated requests for information and descrip-
| lions Of the means used by the Italian and
French engineers for boring and excavating
the Mount Gents tunnel, designed TO connect
| France and Italy by railway. Uf all the work
the miner has to perform in the mines, the
| slowest, most costly and laborious is the bor-
| ing BY hand.labor the holes for blasting
| Many machines have been devised to do this
work, some OF great ingenuity, but all, for
one cause or another, have in practice been
| found deficient. There is reason to believe
and insurmountable in machines OF this kind
| have at last been overcome. Among the
many useful and clever inventions on view at
| the Exhibition Of the Royal Polytechnic In
stitution of Cornwall, was the boring machine
of MIR. Edward Crease. The inventor has
spent some six years in bringing the machine
| to its present state of perfection, and 1t Is
sufficient proof its practical value that the
Judges, after having fully tested its various
movements, awarded it prize medal. 1t
was exhibited under the auspices OF the
Miners Association of Cornwall and Devon
and the advantages claimed for 1t, are It's
simplicity of construction, the mathematical
precision of its movements, and the facility
aud economy OF its working.
Underground operations have hitherto
been conducted on the same slow and un-
changed system that have been in use since
the invention of gunpowder, and it is est.
mated that the same price is paid and the
same time occupied for opening yard OF
ground as, with suitable machinery, would De
| REQUISITE for double or treble the quantity.
With good excavating machinery there would
| be no fear OF mining adventures being aoand-
oned in despair, after years OF anxiety ana
outlay; nor OF miners exhaustlng one dis
covery before making another; nor Of paying
double the value for the ore raised-the con-
sequence being that many mines, now Ian
| gushing, would be paying large pronts. Inc
machine OF Mr.. Crease is described as pill
lar fixed to stand ON wheels, intended for
tramroad, and by means Of screw on the
top of the pillar it can be screwed TO the back
Of the level, and made as firm as the sur
rounding rock On this pillar is socket,
which. with the assistance Of rack and
pinion, can be raised or depressed at plea
sure; attached to this socket is another,
through which round hollow bar passes, on
the end of which is the machine (thrce feet
long only), which works on slide by means
of a screw attached to the self-actinR motion.
The machine itself is attached to the bar by
a swivel-ioint, and has universal motion, to
enable it to bore hole at any angle and IN
any position it is possible to bore by hand
indeed so thoroughly to command the ground
as to enable the operator TO take every ad-
vantage of tie cleavage, so that when the
holes are blasted the utmost possible amount
OF rock should be dislodged. The power re-
quired is very small, only pressure OF from
fifteen to twenty lbs. per inch-a pressure so
small that the power consumed is almost in
appreciable when attached to any motive
power that may exist on the mine. In the
trials made, when worked only with half Its
estimated power, it bored holes through ex-
ceedingly hard granite at the rate OF one men
per minute, and there appears no reason why
the spred could not be trebled. Its weight Is
under fifteen cwt., and no doubt is enter
tanned, by the gentlemen before whom It was
exhibited and tested, Of its speedy and uni
versal adoption. torniGn.