IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR HAULING MINERALS IN MINES, AND FOR RAISING WATER FROM MINES AND OTHER PLACES
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Grafton Jones, of the Blaina Iron Works,
near Newport, in the County of Monmouth, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR HAULING MINERALS IN MINES, AND FOR
RAISING WATER FROM MINES AND OTHER PLACES."
Sealed the 21st July 1868, and dated the 27th March 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Grafton Jones at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 27th
March 1868.
I, JAMES GRAFTON JONES, of the Blaina Iron Works, near Newport,
in the County of Monmouth, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS POR HAULING MINERALS IN
MINES. AND FOR RAISING WATER FROM MINES AND OTHER PLACES," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for hauling.
minerals in mines and for raising water from mines and other places.
For the purpose of hauling minerals in mines it has been usual to employ
[Price 8d.1

page_text: a steam engine at the mouth of the pit working ropes which are let down the
pit and along the workings to the road under ground along which the hauling
is required. Occasionally also the engine has been put immediately at the
bottom of the pit in place of at the top, but in either case the hauling ropes
have frequently to be led long distances before they come to the road on which
the work is to be done.
According to my Invention I apply a winding engine actuated by compressed
air at the end of the road along which the minerals are to be
hauled, and the air which is compressed at the mouth of the pit is led down
it in pipes and along the workings to the winding engine. If the pit contains
several long roads I provide each with its own winding
engine
SO as to avoid as far as possible the conveyance of the power
for long distances by ropes. Each winding engine is provided with two
cylinders which drive a large winding drum or drums, and when the road along
which the minerals are wound is inclined the drum is provided
with a powerful brake. In order to compress the air I employ a double
cylinder steam engine; the piston rod of each cylinder is coupled with a crank
pin fixed in a disc at the end of a horizontal shaft, there being
two such discs at opposite ends of the shaft. The shaft has upon it a pinion
driving a spur wheel of three or four times its size on another
horizontal axis also with discs at its ends, and in each disc a crank pin is
fixed from which a connecting rod passes to the piston rod of a piston working
in an air-compressing cylinder. The valves which admit air to these
cylinders by which it escapes into the air main are slides of a gridiron form, and
each valve is connected with a piston moving in a small cylinder,
one end of which is in communication with the compressing cylinder,
and the other end in the case of the inlet valve is open to the
air, and in the case of the exit valve is in communication with
the air main. The action of the inlet valve is then as follows:-As soon as
a partial vacuum is produced at one end of the cylinder by the
motion of the main piston, immediately the external air pressing upon the
piston in connection with the inlet valve moves it and so opens the valve, then
immediately that the return stroke commences and the air in the
cylinder becomes slightly compressed it moves back the piston of the inlet
valve and closes it; then the air in the cylinder becomes further
compressed until it exceeds the pressure in the air main, when immediately
the piston in connection with the outlet valve moves and opens
the valve to allow the air to escape from the cylinder. It will be

page_text: has an
In order
Each
understood that the compressing cylinder is double acting and
inlet and an outlet valve in connection with each of its ends.
to haul the trucks containing minerals along the workings where the
distances are comparatively small, I employ an endless chain encircling.
at one end a chain wheel on a horizontal axis and driven by an
air engine or otherwise; the other. end of the chain passes round a plain
pulley. Between these pulleys on its upper side the endless chain is
supported from distance to distance by rollers fixed to the roof, whilst
on its lower side it hangs in a curve between the terminal pulleys.
of the trucks is provided with horns to catch the chain when it is
run beneath it, the chain then propels the truck forward at a rapid pace
until it gets to the further end of the chain when the truck disengages
itself and continues its course as far as the momentum which it has
acquired may carry it. In order to raise water from a mine I compress
air at the surface and conduct it down the pit by pipes to an air engine
working pumps by which the water is lifted, or in place of air I
force water under very heavy pressure through pipes to the bottom of the
pit, and there cause it to actuate a water engine which works the pump.
I prefer to employ the water to give motion alternately to two hydraulic
rams which are directly connected with the piston of a double action
pump. In order to lessen the concussion of the valves of these and similar
pumps I cause the water immediately it has escaped from the pump
cylinder through the valve to pass through a passage of double the area
or thereabouts of the other parts of the forcing main of which it forms a
portion. In this passage are stops so placed as to offer little impedi-
ment to the upward flow of the water, but when the flow commences to return
it is divided by the stops into two streams, and the one stream is made to meet
the other so as to baffle and check it, and so the return is rendered much less
violent.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said James Grafton Jones, Her special licence
that I, the said James Grafton Jones, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as 1, the said James Grafton Jones, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during
the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR HAULING MINERALS IN MINES, AND
RAISING WATER FROM MINES AND OTHER PLACES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said James Grafton Jones, my executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or
their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to
be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
FOR
one of
NOW KNOW YE that I, the said James Grafton Jones, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for
hauling minerals in mines and for raising water from mines and other
places.
The first part of my Invention relates to the hauling minerals in
mines. Heretofore it has been usual to employ a steam engine at the
mouth of the pit working ropes which are led down the pit and along
the workings to the road under ground along which the hauling is
required. Occasionally also the engine has been put immediately at the bottom
of the pit in place of at the top, but in either case the hauling ropes have
frequently to be led long distances before they come to the road on which the
work is to be done.
According to my Invention I apply a winding engine actuated by
compressed air at the end of the road along which the minerals are

page_text: to be hauled, and the air which is compressed at the mouth of
the pit is led down it in pipes and along the workings to the winding engine.
If the pit contains several long roads I provide each with its own
winding engine so as to avoid as far as possible the conveyance of the power
for long distances by ropes. Each winding engine is provided with two
cylinders which drive a large winding drum or drums, and when the road along
which the minerals are wound is inclined the drum is provided with a powerful
brake.
The arrangement I employ is as follows:-At the mouth of the
pit I compress the air by preference by means of apparatus such as is
herein-after described in this Specification to a pressure of about 40 lbs.
to the inch over the atmospheric pressure. This compressed air I
lead down the shaft and along the workings to air engines situate
at the end of the roads along which the minerals are to be hauled. I
make these engines each with two horizontal cylinders of, say, 9 inches
diameter and 18 inches stroke, driving a crank shaft having pinions
upon it gearing with and driving spur wheels on an axis on which
two winding drums are mounted. The speed of this gear I make
by preference as 6 is to 1. Such an engine is capable of working a steep
gradient at 4 miles an hour. Where the work is easier a smaller
engine will suffice. The winding drums are loose on the axis, but
one or other is clutched with it when it is required to wind up
its rope upon it drawing the wagons or trams at the same time towards
itself. The ropes from these winding drums work along two different
roads, the engines being placed whenever it is possible at points from
which two roads are to be worked, or where this is not possible the
engine is made with one winding drum only. Usually the engines
have to haul up inclined roads, and I then provide powerful brakes
to the drums so that when the drums are unclutched the wagons or
trams may by the brake be lowered quietly down the incline, and at
the same time the rope is unwound from the drum and is laid out
to haul another tram up the incline. Where, however, there is no incline
it is still desirable to provide brakes, and in this case the wagons
or trams are hauled in the direction away from the engine by another
engine at the other end of the road, and the rope also is thus laid
out.

page_text: is an engine driven by this air and winding wagons or trams up
the long incline c and lowering them down. The other drum of the
same engine works the road d winding the wagons or trams towards
itself whilst they are drawn in the other direction, and the rope is laid out
by another engine e supplied with air in the same way and which
also works the incline f g is another engine somewhat differently situated;
it either hauls direct up the incline or out of the side roads i, i, as
may be required. The ropes are supported by pulleys along the roads as is
usual.
The details of the method of working, of the construction of the
air engines, and of the air-compressing engine may be varied;
but what I claim as respects this part of my Invention is the combining
an air-compressing engine in any convenient place usually at the top of the
pit, and leading the compressed air from it by pipes to air engines situate at
the ends of the roads to be worked and furnished with winding drums which
wind up the ropes upon themselves, and so haul the wagons or trams towards
the engine.
Another part of my Invention relates to the apparatus for compressing
the air. In order to compress the air I employ a double cylinder steam
engine; the piston rod of each cylinder is coupled with a crank pin fixed in
a disc at the end of a horizontal shaft there being two such discs
at opposite ends of the shaft. The shaft has upon it a pinion driving a
spur wheel of three or four times its size on another horizontal axis, also
with discs at its ends, and in each disc a crank pin is fixed from which.a
connecting rod passes to the piston rod of a piston working in an
air compressing cylinder. The valves which admit air. to these cylinders
and by which it escapes into the air main are slides of a gridiron form,
and each valve is connected with a piston moving in a small cylinder
one end of which is in communication with the compressing cylinder,
and the other end in the case of the inlet. valve is open to the
air and in the case of the exit valve is in communication with the air main.
The action of the inlet valve is, then as follows: As soon as a partial vacuum
is produced at one end of the cylinder by the motion of the main
piston, immediately the external air pressing upon the piston in con-
nection with the inlet valve moves it and so opens the valve, then
immediately that the return stroke commences and the air in the
cylinder becomes slightly compressed it moves back the piston of the

page_text: inlet valve and closes it; then the air in the cylinder becomes further compressed
until it exceeds the pressure in the air main, when immediately the piston in
connection with the outlet valve moves and opens the valve to allow the air to
escape from the cylinder. It will be understood that the compressing cylinder
is double acting and has an inlet and an outlet valve in connection with each of
its ends.
view of an air-compressing
a, a, are steam cylinders
crank pins b fixed upon
this axis driving a spur
Figure 2 is a plan, and Figure 3 a side
engine arranged according to my Invention.
driving by means of connecting rods on to
fly discs c upon an axis d; e is a pinion on
wheel on the axis g; the speed of the gear is as three is to one;
h, h, are fly discs on the axis g, and they have upon them crank pins i, i,
which are at right angles to each other and in the position in which
the engines stand in the Drawing; the crank pins i, i, are opposite
to the crank pins b, b. From the crank pins i, long connecting rods k, k,
pass to the piston rods 1, 1, of the air-compressing cylinders m, m; these
cylinders are contained in water tanks to absorb the heat given out in
the compression. The steam cylinders may be, say, 21 inches diameter
and 2 feet stroke, and the air cylinders, say, 28 inches diameter and
4 feet stroke, but this of course may be varied. Such an air-compressing engine
is suitable for working six double air cylinders like that already described.
Engines as shown are adapted to compress the air to the same pressure as
that of the steam in the boiler, say, 40 lbs. to the inch over the atmospheric
pressure.
The valves may be as heretofore, but I prefer to arrange them as
is shown at Figure 4, which shows on a larger scale one of the
covers of the air cylinder. Figure 5 is a vertical section of the same, and
Figure 6 is a section taken at the curved line E, F, Figure 4.1 a, a, is the
cylinder cover bolted on by bolts at a¹, a¹; over it two chambers b
and c are enclosed by cover plates. The chamber is enclosed air-tight,
and is in communication with the compressed air main; the other
chamber c is open to the atmosphere, and is represented at Figure 4.
with the cover plate removed so as to expose the inlet valves.
these valves the cover a, a, has openings in it over which the gridiron
valve seats are fixed; e, c, are corresponding valves working on their
inner sides. The valves are held loosely to their seats by bolts working
in slotted holes, and in connection with each valve is an inclined arm e';
is a small cylinder with a piston within it carrying a crosshead, the
ends of which are received into the inclined arms e¹, so that as the piston
To receive

page_text: moves downwards it draws the two valves towards itself, and as it moves
upwards it forces them away or moves them in the contrary direction.
There is a spring, not shown in the Drawing, which presses the piston
upwards with a force just sufficient to close the valves. Then when
the engine is at work, as the main piston travels away from the valve, it
produces a partial vacuum under the small valve piston, which imme-
diately moves inwards, overcoming its spring and opening the valves
admits air past them. Directly the main piston ceases to move the
spring closes the inlet valves and they remain closed, whilst the air
is compressed by the return of the main piston.. The outlet valves
are similar in construction, except that they open with the pressure in the
cylinder in place of being closed by it, and they are best placed
on the outer side of the seat in place of the inner, as with the inlet
valves.
I claim, as respects this part of my Invention, the arranging air-compressing
engines, substantially in the manner above described.
I also claim, the arranging the air valves, of air-compressing engines, sub-
stantially as described.
In order to haul the trucks containing minerals along the workings
where the distances are comparatively small I employ an endless chain
encircling at one end a chain wheel on a horizontal axis and driven
by an air engine or otherwise; the other end of the chain passes round
a plain pulley. Between these pulleys on its upper side the endless
chain is supported from distance to distance by rollers fixed to the roof,
whilst on its lower side it hangs in a curve between the terminal pulleys.
Each of the trucks is provided with horns to catch the chain when it is run
beneath it; the chain then propels the trick forward at a rapid pace until
it gets to the further end of the chain, when the truck disengages itself
and continues its course as far as the momentum which it has acquired may
carry it.
This arrangement is shown in side view at Figure 7, and in plan at
Figure 8. a is an air engine fixed upon strong upright pillars of timber
set up in the roadway; it gives motion to a chain wheel a¹ which has
fork-like projections upon it which embrace the vertical links and receive
the horizontal links between them; b is an endless chain passing half
round the chain wheel a¹, and at its further end it also encircles a
grooved pulley b firmly fixed to timber pillars; c, c, are lighter pulleys

page_text: and an endless chain suspended over head and drawing by its lower limb, as
described.
In order to raise water from a mine I force water under very
heavy pressure through pipes to the bottom of the pit, and there
cause it to actuate a water engine which works the pump. A vertical section
of a pit with this method of raising water applied is shown at Figure 9.
a is an engine at the pit's mouth, also shown in plan at Figure 10; it
forces water under a heavy pressure into an accumulator, b, which as is
well understood, is a ram working in a cylinder, as in an hydraulic
press, and having a heavy weight applied to it.
Apparatus is applied
to stop the engine when the accumulator ram arrives near to the highest
position to which it can go. The weight on the accumulator per square
inch of surface of the ram may be varied, but I prefer that it
should be at least twelve times the pressure at the foot of the delivery main.
From the cylinder of the accumulator a pipe passes down the pit to the
pumping station, where it is used to work a water engine which con-
veniently may consist of a small cylinder c having a piston within it, as it
is represented in the Drawing; the piston rod passes through both ends
of the cylinder, but this may or may not be the case.
the rod is made with cup leathers, and there is a double cup leather
The joint around

page_text: in the piston. The piston rod is connected with and works the plunger of
an ordinary plunger pump d, and the area of the upper side of the piston
is such as to give the down stroke of the plunger, whilst the area of the
lower side of the piston is so reduced by the piston rod that it is only
that which is required to lift the plunger and the column of water in the
suction pipe e. f is the ascending or delivery main. The valves admitting
the water over and under the piston in the cylinder c and for exhausting
the water therefrom are such as are suitable for working under heavy pressure,
and as shewn in the Drawing; they are operated by tappets on the plunger.
In place of using a plunger-pole pump a double-acting piston pump may,
when the water is clean and free from grit, be employed; such an arrange-
ment is shown at Figure 11, where a, a, are the water cylinders and b the pump
cylinder.
The details of the arrangement may be varied, but what I claim is, the con-
structing apparatus for raising water from mines by combining a water-com-
pressing engine with a pipe leading the water down the pit to the pump, where
it actuates the piston or rams of a water engine which is connected with the
pump ram or piston."
In order to lessen the concussion of the valves of these and similar
pumps I cause the water immediately it has escaped from the pump
cylinder through the valve to pass through a passage of double the area,
or thereabouts, of the other parts of the forcing main of which it forms a
portion: In this passage are stops so placed as to offer little impediment to
the upward flow of the water, but when the flow commences to return it is
divided by the stops into two streams, and the one stream is made to meet the
other so as to baffle and check it, and so the return is rendered much less
violent.
Figure 12 is a side view, and Figure 13 a transverse section of apparatus
thus arranged; it is applied at g in Figure 9 immediately over the delivery
valves. It will be seen that the stops in the passage are so placed as to
provide a single direct upward passage for the water, but as it tends to return
it is divided into two currents, one of which is directed against the other and
blocks it. Additional stops may be provided to obtain a second blocking action
if desired.
I claim, the application to the ascending or delivery mains of pumping

page_text: he pump, but dividing it so as to cause it to block itself as it tends to return,
s herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Grafton Jones, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of September,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
eight.
J. GRAFTON JONES. (L.S.)