IMPROVEMENTS IN CUTTING AND WORKING COAL
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Oliver Johnston, of Broomhill Colliery,
Acklington, Northumberland, Engineer, and John Dixon, of High
Bridge Works, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Engineer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN CUTTING AND WORKING COAL."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Oliver Johnston
and John Dixon at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 20th February 1856.
We, WILLIAM OLIVER JOHNSTON, of Broomhill Colliery, Acklington,
Northumberland, Engineer, and JOHN DIXON, of High Bridge Works,
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CUTTING AND WORKING COAL," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in cutting and working coal,
for which purpose we arrange a machine for cutting or drilling along the face
of the walls, or blocks, or pillars of coal which are left standing after the
headway or boards are cut out. The machine is intended to be worked by
compressed air, or steam, or other power. Two steam or other cylinders are
worked in the usual way, and give motion to a fly wheel shaft, on which is
fixed a cog wheel working into another wheel fixed on the cutter shaft, which
gives motion to the drill or rotating cutter. The cutters may be made in one
piece with teeth, or they may be made of rings fixed to a spindle, or other

page_text: suitable form. The machine is mounted on railway wheels which are fixed to
the axletrees, and they travel on a railway. On the whcel axles are fixed two
worm wheels, which work into worms attached to a spindle; by moving the
handle or wheel it gives motion to the machine and presses the cutter against
the coal. The block or pillars of coal which this machine is intended to cut
have open sides, consequently the cutters can be applied without drilling into
the coal. In case the coal should require gunpowder to bring it down after
being cut, it is preferred to drill holes at suitable places. For the purpose of
applying gunpowder for blasting down or loosening the coal, a drill driven from
the cutter shaft (by a belt) is used; the drill is worked backwards and forwards
by a moveable arm. For cutting and drilling the headways a similar machine,
also similar drills and cutters are used, but driven in a somewhat different
Instead of having the drills or cutters at the side of the machine,
they are placed at the end or front of the machine; and the machine is moved
forwards by the worm wheels until the cutters have entered the coal. The
machine is fixed, and a horizontal motion is given to the cutter, which makes a
slit along the bottom of the coal the distance required for the width of the board
or headway; and then to slit up each side of board or headway the height of the
coal seam, holes are drilled at or near the top of seam of coal for receiving the
gunpowder. When powder is not requisite the coal is to be wedged down
in the usual way, after the cutting machine has made the cutting required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Oliver Johnston and John Dixon in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 19th August 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM:
OLIVER JOHNSTON, of Broomhill Colliery, Acklington, Northumberland,
Engineer, and JOHN DIXON, of High Bridge Works, Newcastle upon Tyne,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said William Oliver Johnston and John Dixon, Her special license that
we, the said William Oliver Johnston and John Dixon, our executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said William Oliver Johnston.

page_text: and John Dixon, our 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 CUTTING AND WORKING COAL," upon the condition (amongst others) that
we, the said William Oliver Johnston and John Dixon, our executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under our or their hands and
seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us or them, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said William Oliver Johnston and John
Dixon, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, 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 cutting and working coal,
for which purpose a carriage is employed on which apparatus is mounted,
which is put in motion by compressed air, steam, or other compressed fluid,
conducted into the main by suitable pipes, having junctions at intervals, to
which the working carriage is connected by a flexible hose. The apparatus on
the carriage gives rotatory motion to an axis, which, when the machine is
arranged suitably for cutting along the face of the walls, blocks, or pillars,
projects from the side of the carriage; this axis has mounted on it a series of
cutters or teeth, which, in order to cut the coal, are brought up sideways
against the open side of a block or pillar, and as the carriage travels forwards
they cut a groove along the bottom of the coal, which then falls or is brought
down by wedging. When the machine is intended to cut the headways or
boards, the cutting axis is placed at the fore part of the carriage and not at
the side thereof. To cut the headway or board, the axis is first caused to drill
into the coal by the forward motion of the carriage, and when this operation
is complete a sideway motion is given to the fore part of the carriage so as to
cut a groove along the bottom of the coal; afterwards a groove is cut up one
or both sides by elevating the fore part of the machine and the cutting axis by
means of screws, which force down a part of the wheels at the fore part of the
carriage; and in order that our said Invention may be most fully understood
and readily carried into effect, we will proceed to describe the Drawings here-
unto annexed..

page_text: "
"
Figure 1 is a side view, and Figure 2 a plan of a machine, arranged
according to our Invention to cut along the face of the walls, blocks, or pillars
of coal.
a, a, are the cylinders of the machine in which. pistons work,
which receive their motion from .compressed fluid, which is admitted to the
valve box by a pipe, which has on. its end a junction by which it is connected
with a hose attached to the main pipe. The valve box 6 contains slide valves
of the ordinary description. c,c, are piston rods; to which are attached. the
slotted courses c¹, c', in which work crank pins on the crank arms d'; thus
rotatory motion is given to the shaft d, on which are the excentrics for working
the valves. e is a toothed wheel on the axis.d; it gears with the pinion fon
the axis g, to which is keyed the cutter axis h; this axis has grooves in it, as
is shown by the section, Figure 3, into which the stems of the teeth i fit. We
prefer that the grooves on the axis h should run spirally around it, making a
turn'
or a turn and a half in the length; and that the teeth i.should be of iron
cast in metal moulds, j,j,j,j, are rollers on which the carriage rests when it
is at work. On the axes of each of these rollars. a screw wheel ke revolves
freely, but by an ordinary clutch b it can be, locked to the axis. With the
wheel k, screws.m', m' gear; they are fixed on to the axis: m, on which also a
screw wheel m² is mounted; this also can be made fast to the axis by a clutch.
n is a screw on the axis d, which gives motion to the screw wheel m². The
axis.m is made square at its ends to receive a handle, by which the carriage
can be worked forward or backward by hand, as may be required. Thus the
carriage can be propelled either by the engine or by hand, or the rollers may
be locked to prevent its moving, as circumstances may require. 0, 0, are
wheels suitable for running on the railway of the mine; they are used for
removing the carriage from one part of the mine to another, and are forced
down below the rollers j.j, by screws p, p, connected to the bearings, which
slide up and down in suitable spaces formed in the framing.
:
.
We will now proceed to describe the machine for cutting the headways or
boards.
:
Figure 4 is a side view, and Figure 5 a plan thereof. The axis, d. receives
its motion in the same manner as in the machine already described, and it
carries a bevilled wheel e, which gears, with a bevilled pinion on the axis g;
this is geared by toothed wheels'g', h', to the cutter axis h, having teeth i as
before; but in this machine the axis h as at its-end a drill cutter to enable it
to bore into the coal as well as cut sideways. In this machine the forward
rollers j, j, are removed, the hinder ones remaining in all respects as before,

page_text: and in place of the rollers removed a single roller ¹ is used, on which the
fore part of the carriage is supported when the cutter is working sideways
along the bottom of the headway or board; at other times the front pair of
wheels o, o, are let down by the screw p so as to raise the roller j'. The front
pair of wheels o, o, descend much further than those in the machine first
described; this is for the purpose of gradually elevating the cutter, and then
causing it to cut up the side of the headway or board. On the screw p, p, are
nuts, having teeth cut on their circumferences, in which work screws p'
on the axis p², to which motion is given by hand when it is required to raise
or lower the fore wheels o, o. q is a cylinder fixed to the side of the carriage;
in it a piston works, to which is attached to the piston rod r. When it is
desired to traverse the fore part of the machine sideways the compressed fluid
is admitted by the cock s behind the piston, which causes the piston rod 7 to
press against the wall of the headway or board.
We would remark that for working these machines we prefer to employ air
compressed at the mouth of the pit to a pressure of about 50 lbs. to the inch,
and conducted into the mine by mains, as before mentioned; and these mains
may also be used to work locomotive carriages carrying the coal, such carriages
being furnished with reservoirs to be charged from time to time from the main.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, we would have it understood that what we claim is :-
First, the method of cutting the coal by the sideway motion of a revolving
cutter.
And, second, the mounting the engine on the same carriage as the cutter to
which it is to give motion.
In witness whereof, we, the said William Oliver Johnston and John
Dixon, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Fifteenth day
of August, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-six
WILL" O. JOHNSTON. (L.S.)
JOHN DIXON.
(L.B.)
Witness,
JOHN STOKOE,
Of Gateshead on Tyne, in the County of Durham,
Agent.