VARIOUS IMPROVEMENTS IN THE WORKING COAL, TIN, LEAD, AND OTHER MINES, BY WHICH THERE WILL BE A GREAT SAVING OF FUEL AND LABOUR, AND MANY ACCIDENTS PREVENTED
Year: 1806

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
MILLER, of the Parish of Saint Pancrass, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the First day of April, in
the forty-sixth year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said Samuel.
Miller, my exccutors, administrators, and assigns, His especial licence that I,
the said Samuel Miller, my executors, administrators, and assigns, during the
term of fourteen years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, my Invention of "VARIOUS IMPROVEMENTS IN THE WORKING COAL,
TIN, LEAD, AND OTHER MINES, BY WHICH THERE WILL BE A GREAT SAVING OF FUEL
AND LABOUR, AND MANY ACCIDENTS PREVENTED;" in which said Letters Patent
there is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said Samuel Miller, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, to cause a particular description of
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within
one calendar month after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and
by the same (relation being thereunto had), may more fully and at large
appear.

page_text: NO KNOW YE, that in complianco with the said proviso, I, the said
Samuel Miller, do hereby declare that my said Invention is particularly
described and ascertained by the above Drawings and the explanation thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Miller, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this First day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and six.
DADE
HEIDEL (L.D.)
EXPLANATION.
First, I use a piercer for sinking the shafts and working of the mines
wrought by a steam engine. A, Fig. 1, the shaft; B, the piercer; C, a rope
for lifting the piercer; D, a roller, which is to contain several turns of the
said rope, and which is to be let off the roller as required by lifting the
catch E or taking out the pin F.; G, a moveable frame carrying the roller D.
If a straight rod be used as a drill, or a stroke given upon the end of the said
rod, in all these cases it is necessary to take off a part of the weight of the
rods, as the shaft sinks by a counter weight. In applying the engine to work
the piercer, any of the ordinary methods of raising a body a short distance and
letting it fall is applicable in this case. When the shaft is finished, and the
work is to be carried on out of a perpendicular position, the longitudinal
direction of the piercer must follow the line of the work. The plan which saves
the fuel a distinct piece of machinery. The mine is now to be considered
similar to an extensive manufactory, where it is common to concentrate the
first moving power in one machine, then branching it off towards the last
required motions.
".
"
Letter A, Fig. 2, represents the main engine used in clearing the water
from the mines; B, B, the large pump; C, a trough, which receives the water
from the main pump and delivers it at the level D; E, a forcing pump, drawing
water from the trough C, and forcing it through the pipes F, F, into a
reservoir G; from thence it passes "into the trough II, and by lifting the
"valve I it is received into the bucket K in such quantity as is equal to the
weight of coal or car to be raised, the bucket then descending regulated by
the lever 1. The water is discharged into" the cistern M, from thence it
passes through the hole N down the drain (), 0, towards the engine shaft P,
where it is again raised by the main engine, and again forced forward to the
reservoir through the pipes F, F, to repeat the operation. In situations where
the main engine stands on the highest level, the forcing pump is not required;
the drain Q, Q, will be sufficient to take the water raised by the engine to the
reservoir G. There may be a small reservoir at each shaft, or but one con-
necting with several shafts by pipes or drains. In a situation where a stream

page_text: of water can be procured, the reservoir may be supplied from its source; the
advantage to be gained by this mode of supply would be in saving of pipes
when the main engine lays lower than the working shafts. In following the
dotted lines R, R, Fig. 2, beginning at the bottom of the shaft P, the fluid
will be traced through its circulation, and its consequent contact with the main
engine and materials to be raised up the different shafts. Hence it appears,
let the distance be what it may, the contact is preserved between the main
engine and distant shafts as perfect as a connection by straps or levers to the
most distant movements of a cotton or any other machine. To regulate the
difference of the weight of the chain or rope, the barrel S. Fig. 3, may be used
as common, or the chain or rope may be equally balanced, as at T, T, Fig. 2.
If the bucket and skip move up and down one shaft, they are to be directed
as usual by slides or rapes, or chains may be used to steady them. If the
operation is carried on by two shafts, the bucket and skip is to be directed
down the middle of the shafts, as at U, U, Fig. 3, which Figure is a general
view of the plan where the main engine stands on a lower level than the work-
ing shafts. In large works more than one engine may be required. In cases
where it may be convenient to take down earth for securing the roof of the
mine, the water operation may be suspended and the earth substituted till the
roof is secure, as it is often dangerous to go under a roof where a pier of coals
has been thrown previous to working down the pier by the piercer. Ropes or
chains made into a net should be laid to receive the coals, one end of which
to be fastened outwards, and the other end a single rope brought to the engine
or to any multiplying power below, by which means the coals may be brought
forward.
In the above description the part marked with inverted commas has been in
practice many years.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same First day of May, in the
year above mentioned, the aforesaid Samuel Miller came before our Lord
the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid, and
all and every thing therein contained, in form above written. And also the
Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute in
that case made and provided.
Insolled the same First day of Max in the year above written.