Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1881-04-20

HO]SS>~SheS SAhSSSj
| and all workings shall be kept clear of stand
inc gases. The ventilation may be pro-
duced by blowing engines, air pumps, fore
ing or suction fans of sufficient capacity and
power, or such other suitable appliances as
! to produce and insure constantly an abund-
ant supply of fresh air throughout the entire
mine, but in no case shall a furnace be used
| inside the mine where the coal-breaker and
chute buildings are built directly over and
i covering the top of the shaft for the purpose
of producing hot up-cast of air; and there
shall be an intake air-way of not less than
twenty square feet area, and the return air.
way shall not be less than twenty-fv
square feet.
Sec. g. Be it further enacted, That to
better secure the ventilation of every coal
mine and colliery and provide for the
h 9alth and safety Of the men employed
therein, otherwise and in every respect the
owner or agent, as the case may be, in
charge of every coal mine or colliery, shall
employ a competent and practical inside
overseer, to be called thinning boss" who
shall keep careful watch over the ventilat-
ing apparatus, over the anyways, the
pumps, the travelling ways, and
sumps and the timbering; to see as the
! m ners advance in their excavation, that all
loose coal, slate or rock overhead is care
fully secured against falling over the arrange
ments for signaling from the bottom to the top
and from the top to the bottom OF the Shaft
or slope over the metal tubes from the top to
the bottom or shaft or slope for the purpose
of talking through, and all things connected
with and appertaining to the safety OF the
men at work in the mine. He or his assist
ants shall examine carefully the workings OF
of all mines generating explosive gases
every morning before the miners enter the
coal mine or colliery, and shall asee TIA n
that the mine is free from danger; and tie
workmen shall not enter the mine until
such examination has been made and re-
ported, and the cause of danger, If any ex-
lists, be removed; and he or his assistant
shall also, every evening" when the work
men leave the mine or colllery, go over the
| mine and see that the doors of the passage
ways are all properly closed, and that all the
air ways are free and unobstructed to the
passage of all through them and 1t shall be
the duty of the mine boss to measure the
ventilation at least once a week, at the inlet
| and outlet, also at or near the face of all
gangways, and all measurements to be re-
ported to the inspector once per month.
Sec g. Be it further enacted, That all
and every of the safety lamps used in said
coal mines or collieries, shall be the proper
under the charge of a suitable person under
| the direction OF tne mining boss, who shall
keep them clean and in good order; and the
mining boss shall provide that all doors used
| in assisting or III any way etfecting the ven
tilation Of the mine, shall be so hung and
adjusted as that they will close of their own
accord, and cannot stand open, and the
main air-doOrs on the travelling roads shall
| be double, and an extra door shall be filed,
to be closed only in the event of an accident
| to one OF the others, and the sides and top
of such doors shall be well built with stone
and mortar in mines in which the inspector
shall deem it necessary, and shall so order
and all main doors shall be provided with an
attendant, whose constant duty it shall be to
guard them and prevent them being left
open and every mine having explosive gas
in each and every part of such mine or
mines shall be divided into two, four or
more panels districts, each ventilated by
a separate split or current of air. and fifty
persons shall be the greatest number that
shall work In any one pannel or district at
the same time, and bore-holes shall be kept
twenty feet in advance of the face of each
and every place, and if necessary, on both
sides, when the same is driven toward or
approaching an abandoned mine or part of
| a mine, suspected to contain infiammable
| gases, OF WHICH Is inundated WIN water.
Sec 10. Be it further enacted, That the
owner or agents of every coal mine or col
iery opened and operated by shafts or slopes,
shall provide and maintain a metal tube
from top to bottom of such slope or shaft,
| suitably calculated and adapted to the free
passage of sound therein, through which
conversation may be held by and between
persons at the bottom and at the top of the
shaft or slope, and also some modern prac-
teal means for signaling from and to the
top of the shaft from the bottom of said
shaft Or slope, and also provide an improved
safety catch, and q sufficient cover overhead
on every carriage used for lowering or hoist
ing persons, and they shall provide and ar
range the fanges or horns of sufficient di-
mansions, one attached to the sides of the
drum of every machine that is used for low
erIng or hosting persons in or out of any
mine; an adequate brake shall be attached
to every drum or machine, worked by steam
or water power, that is or will be used for
lowering or rising into or out of any of said
mines, and the main link attached to the
swivel OF the wire or any other rope shall
be made of the best quality of iron, and
tested by weights or otherwise, of third
greater power or strain than is likely to ever
be placed on said link or swivel while in use
at said coal mine or colliery for lowering or
raising purposes. oalQ Test shall be entirely
satisfactory to the inspector, and bride
chains shall be attached to the main link
from the cross pieces of the carriage, and
no single link cham shall be used for lower
ing or raising persons into or out of any or
sad mines, ana no boy under twelve years
of age shall work OF enter any mine, and
proof must be given of his age by certifi-
cate or otherwise, before he shall be en-
ployed, and no father or any other person
shall conceal or misrepresent the age of any
boy knowingly. The neglect or refusal of
any person or parties to peform the duties
prov1dedfor and required to be performed by
sections 6, Z, s, 8 and 10 of this act by the
parties therein required to perform them,
shall be taken and be deemed a INSIDE
meanor by them, or either of them. and
upon conviction thereof they, or any of
them, shall be punished by imprisonment
and tine, or either at the discretion of the
court trying the same.
Sec. IL. Be it further enacted. That no
owner or agents of or at any coal mine or
colllery operated by shaft or slope shall
place in charge of any engine whereby the
men are lowered into or hoisted out of the
mine, any but experienced, competent, So
! Der engineers; shall constantly attend to the
J engine of which he has charge and shall
! not allow any person except such as may be
deputled by the operator or agent, to touch
or NEEDLE whit or any part of the machinery
lie snail work his engine slowly and with
great care when any person or persons are
ascending or descending the shaft or slope