The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-10-31
klNE MULE SUPERSEDED
Electricity as Underground Motive
Power Is a Success.
TEST MADE IN BELLEVUE SHAFT
Motor Weighing Nine Tons Can Haul
Twenty Cars Mile in Four Min.
utcs-It Works on the prin.
cir!e Of the Trolley.

Electricity as a motive power in the
coal mines was demonstrated to be a
success, by the introduction OF a motor
IN the Bellevue shat. of the Delaware,
Lackawanna ari Western. This mo-
tor was tested Monday and Tuesday,
and 1t proved yesterday to 5e able rot
Only to supplant the patient mule, but
also to be capable of accomplishing
quicker, more satisfactory all around
and much more work than the long
cared animal, all at less expense.
The motor in the Bellevue mine is but
three feet in attitude. and 1t extends
six inches on each side beyond the rGls
of the 3-foot track. Its length is twelve
feet. The weight of it is about nine
tons. 1t runs On the same principle in
volved in the operation of the trolley
car. There are the overhesd wires, fas-
tened to the ,rocf by means of wedges,
the trolley pole, controlling handles and
brakes. A motcrman has a perch of his
own, and is master of the situation with
two 25-horse power motors at his COM
mand. A large headlight throws Its
rays into the darkness.
The machine was built at the shops of
the General Electric company of Schen-
ectaiy, N. Y. and is the first one to
prove successful. 1t Is said. Not that
that, but wherever these machines have
been introduced scme hitch or another
appears to have attended the test, ne
cessitating a resh!pplng Of them back
to the factory for overhaullng.
How II Was Got Down tho Shaft.
In lowering the motor to the bottom
of the shaft the hosting carriage had to
be taken out altogether and the motor
was attached to the rope itself. 1t was
then let down slowly and carefully.
There were no marring incidents met
with The work was accomplished un-
der the supervision of Inside Foreman
John Hale, Outside Foreman Bert
Green, sr, and Assistant Foreman Bert
Green, jr.
The motor, or "dlnkey," as the dusky
diamond dlggers call 1t, does its work
similar to the engine on the steam
road. 1t hauls cars after 1t along the
gangways, and this one machine will do
away with eight mules. The rails on
which It runs weigh forty pounds to the
yard, they are of iron and are set in
the regular 3-foot guage.
1t operates between the foot of the
shaft and the innermost passing
branch of the main gangway. 1t hauled
twenty loaded cars on Monday a half
mile in two minutes, and has speed
of twenty miles an hour on an average.
1t will be necessary to press the mule
into service yet awhile to drag the
empty cars up the chambers to the min
ers, until a machine Is invented that
will do away with that, too.
Persons acquainted with the survey
of a mine working and the manner in
which coal Is hauled to the foot OF the
shaft will readily perceive that 1t Is
not an !mposslbility to get a similar
motor for chamber work, so that the
stubborn animal as factor in coal
mining will be a relic of bygone days
before the close of the nineteenth CEN
tury.
Power Generated Outside.
Alongside the hoisting engine house
at the mouth of the shaft a small dy-
namo room has been erected for the
purpose OF generating current 1t has
a capacity of $50 horsepower; the en-
gine wheels make 220 revolutions every
minute and the generator goes around
$50 times every sixty seconds. In addi-
tion to furnishing current for the mo
tor, a pump for evacuating the mine Of
it's surplus water will be run by It,
and a switchboard will be fed that will
give current to illuminate the breaker,
engine houses, offices, blacksmith shop.
and all other appurtenances Of the col
liery.
The hoisting capacity of the shaft is
ninety cars an hour, and II the new
motor fails to haul cars to the foot of
the shaft with regularity sufficient to
comply with this demand, another mo-
tor will be got.
The miners. laborers. and, in fact.
everyone about the mines, are amazed
at the success of the new machine.
This Is but the first step in the di-
rection Of harnessing electricity for
motive power underground. and the
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western
company inteds to introduce 1t in all
its mines.