The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1898-03-16
PASSING OF THE MINE MULE.
Compressed Air Motors to Take Ills Place
and Save Much Money.

COMPRESSED Air Motors TO Take Ills fiace
and Save Much Money.
BY spending thousands upon thou
sands of dollars and after many years OF
unsuccessful experimenting an air en-
CINE has been perfected and an econom-
ical methcd 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 conf
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 success most Of the principal
mining concerns are making hurried
preparations to adopt it.
This state of affairs means boom to
the locomotive builders Of the world. 1t
also means that thousands of men and
boys employed III conveying ccal from
the "breasts" and gangwayS Of mines
will have to seek other occupation. The
leading coal companies have long been
endeavoripS to obtain mechanical sub
stitute to replace the mine mule that
would reduce the immense cost entalled
ip getting the coal from the underground
workings TO the bottoms of the slope.
They tried engines propelled by steam,
- re hlt moved
complete failures.
The steam locomotive was abandoned
because the vapor had tendency to
loosen the "top," or roof of the gang
ways and various cham bers throughout
the mines. 1t also ratified the pine tim
Der used for LEGS, collars and lag
gings and caused the top to cave i'll fre-
quently, entailiug large losses. Elec-
tricity and gas were abandoned because
either was liable to ignite the gas i'll tie
underground workings
The new air locomotive was built al
most a year ago and is the Invention Of
a Philadelphia man. With she excep-
ton of huge air boiler or tank, the
construction of the air locomotive is
similar in every respect to q steam loco
motive, and it is propelled III 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 CT its pointed
head it is better able to cut its way
through the heavy air of q mine, attain
ing high rate of speed. The air is sup
piled by an air compressor located on
the surface.
The air is pumped through two five
inch pipes into the mine at pressure
Of 500 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
ends of the lines aud along the route Of
the locomotive are stations where tho
air tank Of the engine can be rcfillCd
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 1G4 cubic feet, a sufficient
amount Of air to carry train, irclud-
ing eight or ten heavily loaded mine
cars. The speed is regulated according
to the number Cf mine cars attached
and to the track On level and straight
railway one Of these engines can carry
from 10 to u loaded mine wagons at
the rate of p to 80 miles per hour. By
the old method the mine cars were lead
ed from shoot, which ran directly up
to the face Of the ''treast, at a pitch
of from 20 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 hcisted
to the surface in s.lf dumping car.
Taking all this into consideration,
the air locomotive is the solution Of tho
problem and will reduce the cost of
mining to minimum.
Times