The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1875-01-30
FROM OHIO.
Mine Ventilation

CoLrMBUS, Jan. %, 1878.
r. the Editor ot the woKsixsxAx's ADVOCATE
An article of mine, published siX months
ago IN the ADVOCATE. on the ventilation of
mines, has started into anxious enquiry"
bank boss Of Lick Run, Athens Co O.
ID. Med. says his experience, which in
cludes a period Of great many years, AS
mine manager, teaches him that in sum
mer. when the air of any mine with two
openings IN communication with each 9TH
err, is cooler than the atmosphere
above ground, there is no natural
current. include the meaning
Of ID. McD's. text without copy
ing his bad grammar, and multiplicity of
words. Now it happens that McDs. ex-
perience teaches him no such thing The
presence Of the gasses, which is IN in
verse ratio to their volume, will cause the
column Of air in the higher, or longer shaft,
to pass upon and disp!ace the column in
the shorter OF lower shaft; and if D. McD
will place his lamp in the higher opening
in a July day, he will see the air running
downward. which will be a new experience
to him.
A mine is worse ventilated III summer
than in winter, because, before the furnace
in the higher opening can cause a move
ment of the air up that opening. it has to
overcome the counterposing pressure caus-
that shaft, and this pressure is constant,
though great or less, according to the diff
ference Of density Of the atmosphere
OF the two shafts. | copy from letter
from John Archibald, of Pennsylvania
while amember Of the late mining commits
sion Of hat State i quote; saw at
Blossburg your idea Of the furnace in the
lower shaft in summer, carried out in three
different mines, and they were the best
ventilated we have ever seen. Each mine
has furnace at end opening; the air at the
bottom of the higher shaft is used in win
ter, and the one at the bottom Of the low
er shaft is used i'll summer. The bosses
are Scotchmen, and very intelligent men,
and educated"
A shallow mine is more difficult to ven
tilate than deep mine, because the prac-
teal power of the surface is in proportion
to the depth of the shaft, the power be-
ing as the ratio of the depth. A series Of
careful and elaborate experiments made,
show that a mine six hundred feet deep
will produce double the quantity Of air,
with the same furnace power, IS one one
hundred and fifty feet deep. If ID. Med.
wanted good draught to his chimney in
the house he would say the longer the
chimney the better the drsught
beg to assure ID. Med that ] pen this
article for his instruction, and not for
criticism. A long series Of years as a bank
boss is no guarantee Of ability or attain
ments, though it is a recommendation
Last summer / asked mine manager, who
had had nineteen years experience, at
which shaft the air came down, and with
out a moments hesitation he replied "the
lower one" | put my lamp in the higher
one and showed him the air blowing down,
and he was very much surprised ] have
seen, within fifteen miles of ID. McD's.
mine, the ventilation reverse-coms down
the higher opening, where furnace "a
rude One) was burning, and the smoke
spread through the mine, compelling the
workmen to 70 out; and the reason was q
give it for D. Mods. beneft), that the air
Of the high opening, though heated by the
furnace, still possessed less expansion, and
consequently greater density than the air
Of the lower opening.
Very truly yours,
ANDREW Roy