The Washington herald., 1909-03-21
STUDENTS SEE TEST
Embryo Engineers Visit the
Plant in PittSburg.
MINE DEVICES ARE TRIED OUT
Samples Of Dust Used Taken from
Coal Mines I'm OPeratiOn-Pupils Of
University OF West Virginia nt
HOrEantOwn Given Practical In
sight of Government Station.

Morgantown. W. Va. March 20.-In the
presence Of score OF students OF the en-
gineering department OF the University Of
West Virginia, two professors, and rep
resentatives Of the EIkins Coal and Coke
Company. a series Of experiments were
made al the United States government
testing station at Pittsburg Saturday.
dust from the mines of the Elkins Com
pany being used In all the tests. Com
plete records of the tests were taken 50
that the information gained may be used
to advantage I'm the operation Of the CON-
pany's mines along the line OF the Nor
gantOwn and Kingwood Railroad.
The rescue tests were carried out under
the direction OF James ". Paul. formerly
State mine Inspector for West Virginia
The EIkins Coal and Coke Company was
represented by General Superintendent J.
b Hanford and Chief Engineer james
McDermott. Of Morgantown while Or.
Henry N Payne and Prof. B. H Hite, Of
the university faculty, were in charge 4
the students.
Went Through Mines.
The party left here. stopping at Union
town. where General Superintendent w.
z Clingerman. Assistant Superintendents
W C. MuIlan and Atteld. and Chief En-
gtneer Glasgow. OF the II. c. Frick Coal
and Coke Company. met the Morgantown
people With the Frick officials IN charge.
the students were shown through the Lei
senring No. ], the Continental No 1. and
the Redstone No. / and four mines The
main points OF investigation were the Off
ferent systems OF ventilation, the various
arrangements for haulage. including haul
age by rope and by compressed air; MAJ
chinery for hosting and conveying coal
and the different models of coke drawers
At the four Redstone mines the students
examined the big water pump. the largest
iu the State Of Pennsylvania The i'm
mense pump, with capacity Of so har-
rels a minute. keeps the four Redstone
mines clear of water.
The advantage Of the modern by-prod-
net coke ovens over the old ovens Of the
beehive type was demonstrated. At
one OF the plants the party was shown
how. BY use OF fues. the heat and gases
from the ovens are conveyed TO the pow
er-house. where is furnished all the pow
er for the operation Of the poUer-hOUse.
The old and new styles Of electrically
The officials Of the company took advan-
tage Of every opportunity 20 give the stu
dents a chance to become thoroughly ac-
Guainted with all the different phases OF
mining and engineering from a practical
viewpoint. The party was entertained az
a dinner in UniOntown by a company
officials.
At the Testing Station.
In Pittsburg the party was joined by
several Pittsburg engineers and by ThOm-
as Leahy. a graduate Of the university
and a former football star. who hap
pened to be in the Smoky City.
Through the courtesy OF Dr. J. A.
Holmes, director of the chronological
branch Of the government service, and I.
c. Roberts. his assistant. the testing sta
ton was turned over to the MOrzantown
party for the day. The rescue tests were
conducted under the direction Of James
". Paul. while Clarence Hall. the govern
ment expert on explosives. superjntended
all of the explosive tests. Assistant En-
gineer Howell had charge Of all other
tests.
in squads of about half a dozen each,
the party carried on experiments in the
explosion chamber. tank about 50 By 20
feet. filled with deadly and highly ex-
plosive gases. In this atmosphere. the
same as that in mines Immediately after
an explosion. the members Of the party
were shown how 10 manipulate the oxy-
gen helmets with which they were equip
ped. how to put up mine timbers, already
prepared in proper length; how to brat
tice Off-side entrances. how 10 block up
entrances with walls made Of brick and
ar &c ofT \
on under the direction OF Mr.. Paul, who
gave the students valuable drill IN rescue
work
Make Many Dust Tests.
More than score Of tests were made,
using dust taken from the Fulmer. Rich
ard. and Bretz mines Of the Elkins Coal
and Coke Company. All the tests dem
onstrated the fact that with the so-caned
safety or permissible" powders. such as
masurite and carbonite. the danger Of
coal dust ignition and explosion in the To-
cal mines Is reduced to the minimum.
whereas the dust never once failed to ex-
plode in the tests where black powder
was used Since the explosion at Monon-
gah the Elkins Company has barred black
powder from all of its mines. using the
safety powders.
The tests demonstrated the lower tenn
perature Of the safety powder. the ma
chimes used in measuring the rate Of ig-
milton showing that the rate for ordinary
40 per cent dynamite Is 14.4OO feet per sec
ond. whereas il is only 5000 feet with the
safety powders.
The officials OF the station furnished all
the members of the party with mimeo-
graph copies of the reports OF the tests.
giving all the figures and measurements