Improvements in Apparatus for Cutting or Undermining Coal.
Year: 1885

page_text: Improvements in Apparatus for Cutting or Undermining Coal.
I SQUIRE BROADBENT the Younger, of Westfield House, Westgate Hill Tong
near Bradford, in the County of York Colliery Manager, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention to be as follows:-
The object of my invention is to construct an apparatus by which I am enabled
to under cut the shale or other seat upon which the bed of coal is laying in order
that the coal may be more easily obtained and in larger pieces than when got by
picks in the ordinary manner.
My apparatus is carried by wheels resting upon rails laid in the heading, and
can be raised or lowered by screws connected to the wheel brackets for regulating
the height of the cutting plate. When cutting, the apparatus is drawn by blocks
to give the necessary feed, and the cutters are secured to a horizontal plate which
is operated by gearing mounted to the framework of the apparatus and may be .
driven by hand or other motive power.
The cutters revolve in a horizontal direction and cut away the shale or other
coal seat leaving a longitudinal groove, the width of the cutters some distance
under the bed from the face side next the apparatus.
When the groove is cut the pressure on the coal is relieved and therefore can be
got in larger pieces and with more ease than when bound at the top and bottom.
Dated this 5th day of December 1885.
JOHN WAUGH,
Agent.

page_text: Improvements in Apparatus for Cutting or Undermining Coal.
I, SQUIRE BROADBENT, the younger, of Westfield House, Westgate Hill, Tong,
near Bradford, in the County of York, Colliery Manager, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
The object of this invention is to construct an apparatus by which I am enabled
to undercut the shale or other seat upon which the bed of coal is laying in order
that the coal may be more easily obtained and in larger pieces than when got by
picks in the ordinary manner; and consists in attaching to a circular plate, rotating
in a horizontal or angular direction, cutters, which cut away the shale or other coal
seat, leaving a groove, the width of the cutters, some distance under the bed, the
circular plate being turned by hand or other motive power, and the feed or travel
of the machine may be operated by means of blocks.
In the accompanying drawings, Fig. 1 represents a side elevation of my apparatus,
Fig. 2 a plan, Fig. 3 an end view, and the remaining figures, details. In all the
figures similar letters represent similar parts.
•
The apparatus is carried by wheels, two of which, on the front side at A, are
broad and rest upon the ground, the other at B being grooved rest upon the
rails C laid in the heading. The apparatus, thus supported by the wheels can
be raised or lowered, and set to the angle of the coal seat by operating the screws D
in the direction required, so that the circular cutter plate E may rotate and cut in
the direction or inclination of the coal seat.
On the frame of the apparatus are secured, on shafts supported by suitable
journals, the small wheels F and F gearing with the spur wheel G which is secured
on shaft H to which is also attached the wheel J, the circumference of which is
prepared with the circular or other suitable projections K which, as the wheel
rotates, pass into the perforations L in the circular cutter plate E mounted to the
bearing plate E¹ by the pin P shewn in sectional detail by Fig. 4, the bearing
plate E' being attached to the bottom rail of the apparatus.
The cutters M are secured to the circular plate E by forming dovetails in the
rim of the said plate or by other methods of attachment, and on being rotated in
the manner described, a groove is cut in the coal seat, the feed to the apparatus
being obtained by a pair of differential chain blocks attached to the apparatus with
a rigid support. The endless or fall chain of the blocks is placed in one of the
grooves in the pulley N on shaft H, so that by the rotation of the pulley N the
endless or fall chain is actuated, thereby operating and bringing the chain blocks
together thus causing the apparatus to advance at the same time as the cutter
plate E is revolving.
If a groove in the seat wider than the points of the cutters, is required, other
cutters may be dovetailed in, as shewn by detail Fig. 5, by which, the shale or seat
is cut away from the top and bottom of the groove to the width required, and when
the pressure on the coal is relieved by the groove in the manner described, the coal
falls and is obtained in larger pieces and with greater ease than when bound at
the top and bottom.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
The combinations of the wheels G and J with the cutter plate E and cutters M
substantially in the manner and for the purpose set forth.
The pin P combined with the cutter plate and cutters.
The combination of the grooved pulley N with a pair of differential blocks
substantially in the manner and for the purpose described.