The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-10
RAMSAY DETAILS CARE
 TAKEN AT BANNER MINE

1 with the sprays clogging up when sup
 piled with water from the mine pump the l question was gone into somewhat of in
 staling a filter in the mine, drawing It's
 supply from the mine pump and designed
 to take out the troublesome sediment. II | is believed that an arrangement which | would do this, effectively would be in | stalled without great expense and would result in some saving in the cost of pump | ing. l "The sprays are located in the airways at various points leading from the main
 air inlet to the working places Usually no sprays are located in the air current
 after 1t leaves the working places The | split system ofsventilation is in operation
 and each room heading is given, as a rule, it's own separate current of air Each
 heading is supplied with a water line of
 one and one-quarter inches in diameter with connections at intervals as seem nec-
 essary for the sprays and at points be- | tween the sprays, hose connections are
 provided so that a hose may De used in sprinklng or for fighting fire These l room headings will have an ultimate
 length of approximately $500 feet, and | it is thought the one and one-quarter | inch pipe lines with the pressure derived | from the reservoir of about 135 pounds
 will be sufficient to supply as many sprays and hose connections as will be
 required.
 "The pipe lines are located in the room
 headings and not in the air courses, for l the reason that the air is taken into the headings and out the air courses. With
 the sprays located in the headings the
 tracks and walls are kept moist, and there | Is no danger of passing trips stirring up
 dust As general proposition 1t is found 1 that the cross entries do not get dusty
 until they have been driven in quite a
 distance and the coal has had time to , drain or dry out. As soon as necessary l the sprays are installed in. the various l headings The sprays are kept in opera l ton in cold weather continuously day and
 night, and do not require much attention. | It Is due to the well-known fact of air | in cold weather containing less moisture | than in summef that We find more ex- | plosions occur in winter than in warmer | weather. It should be the purpose of any moistening system to supply the air en- tering mine after 1t conforms to the same temperature as the mine, with all | the water 1t will take up We have mo- | ticed how in the winter a mine drys up, beginning at the inlet and extending just | as fast into the workings as the air is able to absorb the moisture. When the outside air is warmer than the air in l the mine there is no necessity for attempt 1 ing to add moisture to the air current | When cold air enteds a mine it becomes | warmer, thus increasing it's capacity to contain moisture, and following the laws | Of nature it acts accordingly and takes up moisture wherever it finds it.
 | "A thirsty. mine atmosphere will take | up moisture from pools of water as well | as from any dampness which may be on | the walls or in gob of places traversed l by the air. and with this fact in view | it has been thought al Banner that it
 would be well to dam up the air ways where they are not travelled, with ire
 quent, small and temporary dams. the
 water from one dam overfIowing into the
 next one below. With this arrangement
 it would be possible in many places te
 convert the floor of the air way into a l more or less continuous sheet of water | It might also be arranged. as the rooms | drive up from one heading into the air | course water and allow it to flow through
 the rooms and dampen any dust lying on the floors. Of course, this would not be
 as good as keeping the floor dampened | while the rooms are<drying up, but. nc doubt, there would be some advantage in
 keeping any part of the mine floor moist rather than otherwise
 Tn some mines in foreign countries the | moistening of the air has caused serious
 sickness with tine miners, but in such 1 mines the temperature is much highe, l than in Alabama, and for this reason
 trouble of this kind is certain to be much | less here, if not absent entirely The | doctor at Banner mines states he mas found no trouble from this cause al. l though at first some little complaint was
 made on account of the dampness.
 Tn introducing water into the atmos- phere by means of sprays it is desirable
 that the water be broken up into globules
 as small as possible. These spray drops will float away in the air current and
 be eyaporated, if the air is in condition
 to take up additional moisture If not they will be precipitated to the floor or
 form a coating of moisture on relatively
 cold objects they come in contact with, | The effectiveness of any system lies very | largely in the ability to product small
 drops or globules, and the smaller tney
 are the better. Evaporation will take
 place more rapidly in a quick moving cur
 rent of air than in slower one."