Bismarck daily tribune., 1908-09-18
MECHANICAL ! Al shovel | | VI |.
Machine Used In Lead Mines
A Does Seven Mems Work. !,
MAY DfsPL ICE SPADE HANDS.

With Compressed Mir =, the Motive
Power It Us Being Operated Near
Joplin, Mo.--lts Capacity to 7s
Greatly Increased. Il
For years the spade hand" In the
lead and zinc mining district has been
king. He has dictated to the boss. he
has reveied In the best Of wages, and
has done Just as suited bis fancy
Now there is prospect OF his de-
thronement, and mechanical shovel
In use at the mine Of lead, zinc and
smelling company at Prosperity, near
Joplin, No.. is the agency that prom
,ises the revolution. s .s.;
About 9, year ago Captain R. Thew
Of Lorain, q, visited the mining dis
| trict and conceived the idea for an un-$s
derground mec chanicai shovel to replace
the cumbrous method OF handling ore
dirt in vogue at Prosperity. He had no
precedent, and the machine now being
tried out at Prosperity, with apparent
success, is tha only one of the kind in
| the world, says the, Kansas City Star,
and certainly the only mechanical shov-s
!, Il working underground. I. M
The shovel Is operated by compressed
! air, sthe inventor realizing that to at
/ tempt to burn coal In the mine drifts
!, would be Impossible. Three engines
are provided, each driven byethe COM
pressed air conveyed to them through
tubes from above ground. One engine
/, drives the boom In Its sweeps from side
to side and up and down. one operates
the dipper that picks up the ore dirt,
and the third provides traction power
for the machine to enable moving It
from drift to drift, as needed, and to
remove 1t from the danger zone when
blasting is done. This latter feature is
the one that comes nearest being fall
ure, the design now used being all but
impracticable In moving the ten ton
machine from place to place. a new
idea ia being worked out to overcome
this.
4 In appearance the shovel is not un-
like that used above ground, the most
striking difference being the massive
EEarmor OF steel surrounding all but the
boom and the Hpper. This Is used to
/ protect the machine from loosened
powders. that fall from the roof Of the
4 drift sis Sc s III, s5 IsE "a aSis
4 In practice the shovel does the work
'of seven men. In no sense does Il. re-
splace the .'cutters"-men who break
1.-the solid face Of the driftsSby dyna-
mite and pick the great work OF
moving sthe shattered dirt the work
that has made the spade hand" king,
4 IA done by the machine, This. with the
4 prospect that the innovation will ne.
cessitate the introduction Of mules and
tram cars. gives the shovel the position
Of San3 invader threatening to revolu-
tionize the methods Of mining through
+ ont the district.
i When the dipper scoops up the bro.
Il ken Dirt cut by the face mem, be.
tween 600 and zoe pounds are, handled
/ at each sweep. Two of the dippers
full make a tub Of dirt asS$ 1t Isl hoisted
from the mines at Prosperity. The
machine makes about 400 grabs In q
day Of eight hours, or 200 tubs. The
loaded tub is pushed by man power
along the drift on a small car sitting
on track. The smallness of the track
: capacity and man capacity is a draw
back. @ .f,%9t5 "
e At the shaft the tub Is hooked on Il
the cable and hoisted out In order tt
remove the dirt as fast as the shovel Il
able to handle 1t probably larger track
and larger trucks, with a wagon hold
ing a ton or more. win be found neces
sary, with a hoisting cage In the shat
( instead Of the simple wire rope cabl,
, now used
/, 1t is this feature that makes the ma
chine really great menace to the die
tatorship Of the 'spade hand" Even
tually. il the machine proves entirel,
successful, the miner sees the installa
r tion of mine cages. the substitution o
mules to move cars and the elimination
}. Of the stub rustIers's as well as th
spade hand" from the operation o
: the mines.
!, DOUBLE DECKER POTATOES.