Means for Raising Minerals from Downcast Shafts of Mines supplied with Air under Compression.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 11th Sept., 1899-Accepted, 14th Oct., 1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Means for Raising Minerals from Downcast Shafts of Mines supplied
with Air under Compression.
I, WILHELM BENTROP, of Neumühl, Rheinland, Germany, Manager of Mines,
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:―
In the Specification to my Application for Letters Patent No. 11419 of 1899
was described an arrangement whereby an exhaust upcast shaft could be utilised
for raising the minerals from the mine by providing means for preventing loss
of exhaust when the minerals are removed from the lift cages.
In the arrange-
ment described for this purpose the removal of the mineral from the lift cages
above ground was effected within an enclosed discharging chamber rendered air
tight on all sides, and subjected inside to exhaust, the discharge being effected
into storage receptacles, the discharge openings of which were closed sufficiently
air tight either by a layer of the minerals, or by providing double sliding doors,
or by discharging under water so that no air beyond that drawn up out of the
pit-shaft could find its way to the exhaust fan above ground.
According to the present invention the said arrangements are so modified that
they can also be applied to downcast shafts in so far as these are also used for
raising the minerals, the enclosed discharging chamber above ground being for
this purpose arranged so that the air therein is under compression instead of
under exhaust.
The application of the devices described in the said application 11419 of 1899
to downcast shafts enables the advantages of the new arrangement to be applied
in particular to those mines where the ventilation is effected by a blowing fan
supporting air under pressure to the down cast shaft, which arrangement is now
being more generally adopted.
I will describe the said arrangement in connection with the accompanying
drawings, which are the same as those accompanying my said former application,
but which are repeated here for convenience of reference; the only differences
are that the appliances are combined with a blowing fan instead of an exhaust fan
and that the apparatus is applied to a downcast shaft instead of to an upcast shaft.
In the arrangement shewn at Fig. 1 the lift casing extending up to the rope
wheel, as also the structure surrounding the discharge platform are enclosed air
tight, and the emptying of the filled mineral trucks is effected within the enclosed
space which is subjected to excess of air pressure, into storage receptacles provided
with discharge openings. The discharge slides of these receptacles are closed
air tight by the layers of minerals lying upon them, such layer being always
kept of such thickness as to ensure this. The discharge slide is preferably only
opened during the short intervals during which the mineral is discharged.
In those cases where the nature of the mineral does not admit of its effecting
a hermetic closure, such as when the pieces are too large, it can be discharged
under water, or if this is not possible the receptacle may be provided with two
closing sides arranged one above the other with such a distance between them as
to contain a moderate quantity of mineral, which slides would be opened and
closed consecutively at intervals.
Or there may be provided two receptacles side by side, the minerals being

page_text: first discharged into the one and then into the other, the filled receptacle having
its discharge slide at bottom opened and a charging slide at the top closed,
while the receptacle to be filled has its bottom slide closed and its top one open.
Lastly, to insure the mineral forming a hermetic closure against a single slide
as first described it, may be previously, crushed to the requisite degree of fineness.
In Fig. 1 of the drawings A is the downcast shaft, adapted to the raising of
minerals to which is connected the blowing fan B producing a plenum of pressure
in the shaft.
The lift casing C is hermetically closed and the platform D surrounding it is
hermetically enclosed by the structure E. By means of the tipping trucks F
the minerals raised in the lift cage are discharged into the storage receptacles & G¹
which may be filled with water, and from which the minerals are discharged by
elevators I and conveyed thence to wherever required.
The receptacles G G₁ are closed by single or double slides H.
If double slides are used they need not necessarily be only provided at the
discharge opening of the receptacle, but an arrangement such as that shewn by
way of example on the right hand side at Fig. 2 can be employed. In this case
there are provided two storage receptacles G G side by side in each of which
there is provided firstly a slide H at the discharging opening at bottom, and a
slide H at the charging opening at top. When the minerals are to be dis-
charged from the trucks F into the receptacles, the slides H¹ are opened and the
slides H are closed, and, when the minerals are to be discharged from the receptacles
the slides H are closed and H are opened. If these operations be effected
alternately at each receptacle, it will be seen that a practically continuous dis-
charge can be effected while still maintaining the airtight closure of the
structure E.
.
:
It is not necessary that the trucks should always discharge the minerals into
a storage receptacle such as G; the minerals can also be discharged directly into
a transporting device such as a worm, chain buckets an endless band or the like.
In this case it is only essential that the transporting device shall work in an air
tight enclosure, in which either the transporting device itself or the minerals
conveyed thereby form the hermetic closure. Such an arrangement is shewn at
the left hand side of Fig. 2 where I is a casing containing a revolving trans-
porting worm K. The charging end of the latter is situated immediately below
a mineral truck F while at the discharge end is provided a shoot 'L closed by a
discharge slide H2 at bottom..
]
....
The parts L and I are always in open communication with the airtight enclosed
structure E in which the air is always maintained under compression by the
fan B, as is also the case, with the receptacles G G¹ Fig. 1.
As before stated the present invention does not consist in the arrangement of
the above described details, which are the same as those described in my said
application No. 11419 of 1899 but in the special application of the said apparatus
to a downcast, shaft and in combination with a fan or blowing apparatus for
supplying air under compression.
:
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is:-
The combination of means such as are herein referred to for discharging
minerals with a hermetically enclosed space, with a downcast shaft and a fan or
blowing engine maintaining the air in the shaft and the said enclosed space
under compression, substantially as described.
Dated this 11th day of September 1899
...
ABEL & IMRAY,..
Agents for the Applicant.