Connecticut western news., 1898-03-10
PASSING OF THE MINE MULE
Compressed Air Motors to Take His Place
 and Save Much Money.

Com pressed Air Motors to Take His Place
 and Save Much Money.
 By spending thousands upon thou sands of dollars and after many years of unsuccessful experimenting an air en- zine has been perfected and an econom- ical method furnished of transporting coal from the interior of mines to the bottom of the slope. The new device was built by the Baldwin Locomotive works and will, it is expected, be the means of saving millions of dollars per annum to the mineral mining com panies. While the locomotive has been
 undergoing a severe test in the mine near Girardville for the past few months all have awaited the result with much anxiety, and now that 1t is de- clared 8 success most of the principal mining concerns are making hurried preparations to adopt it.
 This state of affairs means a boom to the locomotive builders of the world. It also means that thousands of men and boys employed in conveying coal from the "breasts" and gangways of mines
 will have to seek other occupation. The
 leading coal companies have long been endeavoring to obtain mechanical sub stitute to replace the mine mule that would reduce the immense cost entailed in getting the coal from the underground
 workings to the bottoms of the slope. They tried engines propelled by steam, electricity, gas, etc.. but all proved complete failures.
 The steam locomotive was abandoned
 because the vapor had tendency to loosen the "top," or roof of the gang
 ways and various chambers throughout the mines. It also rattled the pine tim
 Der used for "legs, 7" "collars" and lag
 gings and caused the top to cave in fre- quently, entailing large losses. Elec-
 tricity and gas were abandoned because
 either was liable to ignite the gas in the underground workings.
 The new air locomotive was built al- most 8 year ago and is the invention of
 a Philadelphia man. With the excep- tion of a huge air boiler or tank, the construction of the air locomotive is similar in every respect to a steam loco-
 motive, and it is propelled in the same manner. The air tank is not unlike the
 steam boiler of an engine and Is carried in the same position, thus doing away with tender. On account of its pointed head it is better able to cut It's way | through the heavy air of a mine, attain | ing high rate of speed. The air is SUD- | piled by an air compressor located on the surface.
 The air is pumped through two five inch pipes into the mine at a pressure | of 800 pounds per square inch. One of these pipes runs to the bottom of the slope and the other to the end of the
 underground workings. These pipes serve as reservoir for the air. At the l ends of the lines and along the route of | the locomotive are stations where the | air tank of the engine can be refilled | when exhausted. Exhaustion frequently
 occurs, and without the station pumps | the engine would be useless.
 The air tank on the locomotive has a
 capacity of 164 cubic feet, sufficient | amount of air to carry a train, includ- | ing eight or ten heavily loaded mine cars The speed is regulated according
 to the number of mine cars attached
 and to the track. On level and straight
 railway one of these engines can carry ' from 10 to 12 loaded mine wagons at
 the rate of 25 to 35 miles per hour. By
 the old method the mine cars were load | ed from shoot, which ran directly up
 to the face of the "breast." at a pitch
 of from 40 to 90 degrees From there
 they were conveyed through small gang | ways by teams of mules to the main
 gangway, where bigger teams picked
 them up and carried them to the bot
 tom of the slope. Here they were hoisted
 to the surface in self dumping car.
 Taking all this into consideration,
 the air locomotive is the solution of the problem and will reduce the cost of mining to minimum Philadelphia