IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS AND MACHINERY FOR WORKING COAL AND OTHER MINES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Firth, of Leeds, in the County of York,
Merchant, and Robert Ridley, of Leeds, aforesaid, Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS AND MACHINERY FOR WORKING
COAL AND OTHER MINES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Firth and Robert
Ridley at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition;
on the 26th November 1861.
I, WILLIAM FIRTH, of Leeds, in the County of York, Merchant,, and
ROBERT RIDLEY, of Leeds aforesaid, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS AND MACHINERY FOR WORKING
COAL AND OTHER MINES," to be as follows:-
.7
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus and machinery
for working coal and other mines, and consists in applying as hereafter
explained hammers actuated by compressed air in order to drive suitable
cutting tools into the face of the mineral in coal or other mines which are being
worked, and so as to form longitudinal grooves or narrow cuttings to the
extent required into the coal or other matter forming the upright face of the
work. For these purposes a carriage is used mounted on wheels suitable for
moving on a tram or railway, and being.thereby guided parallel to the upright

page_text: face of the work. On the carriage is applied a compressed air engine arranged
to work as a compressed-air hammer by having a suitable hammer or head
applied thereto in such manner as to admit of such head or hammer receiving
a quick to-and-fro motion from the compressed air continually supplied thereto
from a suitable machine at a distance properly arranged to keep up a con-
stant supply of compressed air, a flexible pipe being used where necessary to
admit of the carriage moving a distance along the face of the work, and yet
retain its connection with the air-supply pipe. Apparatus is applied to the
carriage to support and guide a cutting tool to the work in such manner as
to admit of the cutting tool being driven more and more into the coal, stone, or
mineral by repeated blows of the hammer actuated by compressed air, and
when the cutting tool has been driven by repeated blows a sufficient distance
into the coal, stone, or mineral, the tool is withdrawn to admit of the carriage
being moved a short distance in order that the cutting tool may commence at
a fresh point and be again driven in by the repeated blows of the compressed
air hammer. The moving back of the cutting tool and the moving of the
carriage, or either of these operations, may be performed by the person
attending the carriage, or the requisite power may be derived from the com-
pressed air engine and by interposed apparatus. The compressed air engine
may be caused to move back the cutting tool and to move the carriage a
distance suitable for commencing the next cut. By these means longitudinal
'grooves or narrow cuttings may be made. horizontally in the upright face of
the work, and in order to make the requisite upright grooves or narrow cuttings
provision is made for raising and lowering the cutting tool and parts working
therewith, so as to produce any desired length of groove or narrow cutting in
an upright or vertical direction. In place of separating the sections of the
work after producing the requisite grooves or cuttings as heretofore by means
of a hole usually made at the upper part of a section, and then blasting by
gunpowder, we prefer to use a tool which is expanded by a wedge moved
inwards by means of a screw.
The best form for this tool is a cylindrical block of iron or steel or other
metal suitable to fit into the hole formed at the upper part of a section of the
work, in which block the end of a screw is received in such manner that the
end of the axis of the screw may turn freely therein but be retained from
separating from such block. To the upper and lower sides of the front end
of this block are hinged two plates, their inner surfaces being inclined to each
other. The outside diameter of these plates corresponds with the block, and
the combined parts are capable of being introduced into the hole. The screw
before mentioned is of a length to extend beyond the outer end of the plates

page_text: above mentioned, and on the screw is a screw-nut the upper and under sur-
faces of which are inclined, hence when the screw is turned the wedge-formed
nut will be moved in between the plates and it will cause them to separate,
and by so doing the section of coal or other material will be separated. In
some cases it may be desirable to use two or more of these instruments for
detaching oné section of the work.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Firth and Robert Ridley in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 26th May 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
FIRTH, of Leeds, in the County of York, Merchant, and ROBERT RIDLEY, of
Leeds aforesaid, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of November, in the year, of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said William Firth and Robert Ridley, Her special licence that we, the
said William Firth and Robert Ridley, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said William Firth and Robert Ridley,
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 APPARATUS
AND MACHINERY FOR WORKING COAL AND OTHER MINES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said William Firth and Robert Ridley, our
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or their
Lands 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 imme-
diately after the date of. the said Letters Patent.
:
e
1.5°
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Robert Ridley, on behalf of myself and
the said William Firth, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly descri
described
and, ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say:

page_text: This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus and machinery
for working coal and other mines, and consists in applying, as, hereafter
explained, hammers actuated by compressed air, in order to drive *suitable
cutting tools into the face of the mineral in coal or other mines which are
being worked, and so as to form longitudinal grooves or narrow cuttings to
the extent required into the coal or other matter forming the upright face of
the work. For these purposes a carriage is used mounted on wheels suitable
for moving on a tram or railway, and being thereby guided parallel to the
upright face of the work. On the carriage is applied a compressed air engine
arranged to work as a compressed air hammer, by having a suitable hammer
or head applied thereto in such manner as to admit of such head or hammer
receiving a quick to-and-fro motion from the compressed air continually
'supplied thereto from a suitable machine at a distance properly arranged to
keep up a constant supply of compressed air, a flexible pipe being used
where necessary to admit of the carriage moving a distance along the face of
the work, and yet retain its connection with the air-supply pipe. Apparatus
is applied to the carriage to support and guide a cutting tool to the work in
such manner as to admit of the cutting tool being driven more and more
into the coal, stone, or mineral by repeated blows of the hammer actuated by
compressed air, and when the cutting tool has been driven by repeated blows
a sufficient distance into the coal, stone, or mineral the tool is withdrawn to
admit of the carriage being moved a short distance in order that the cutting
tool may commence at a fresh point, and be again driven in by the repeated
blows of the compressed air hammer. The moving back of the cutting tool
and the moving of the carriage, or either of these operations, may be performed
by the person attending the carriage. By these means longitudinal grooves
or narrow cuttings may be made horizontally in the upright face of the work,
and in order to make the requisite upright grooves or narrow cuttings appa-
ratus is employed in which provision is made for raising and lowering the
cutting tool and parts working therewith, so as to produce any desired length
Lof-groove-or-narrow-cutting in an upright or vertical direction.
Figure 1 is a plan and Figure 2 a vertical section of apparatus constructed
according to our Invention. a is the frame of the carriage, it is mounted on
four wheels b, b, suitable to run on the trams or rails which are laid in the
passages of the mine.
In order to move the carriage forward when required
there is a spur wheel fixed on the axis of one pair of wheels, and this is made to
gear with a pinion, on the axis of which is a hand wheel, and arrangements
are made for locking this wheel to retain the carriage stationary whilst the
cutter is being driven; c is the cutter and d is the cutter carrier, in which is

page_text: a socket to receive the stem of the cutter, which is then, as is shewn, secured
by a key; d, d, are bars forming part of the 'cutter carrier, and passing
through guides carried by the frame so as to support and guide the cutter ;
e is'a cylinder fixed on the carriage; and f. is the piston rod thereof, it is für-
nished with a hammer head f, which as the piston in the cylinder rapidly
reciprocates, hammers on the cutter carrier, and drives the cutter progressively
further and further into the mineral. The admission of the air to the cylinder
is regulated by a slide valve, on the rod of which is a spring 9, which tends
constantly to force the valve to 'one end of its stroke, viz., to that which will
'cause the hammer to return after striking the blow. In returning, a roller h
on the head of the piston rod strikes the lever i, and by so doing moves "the
valve, and so sets it as first to check the return of the piston, and then again
to force it outwards to strike another blow, and as the piston rod moves
outwards it will leave the lever i, and the valve is then carried back by it's
spring, and thus the reciprocating motion will be continued. This goes on
until the cutter c is driven into the coal or mineral as far as the effective.
stroke of the hammer will admit, and then the cutter is withdrawn. This is
effected by self-acting mechanism, in the following manner:- is a chain
attached to the 'cutter 'carrier, and passing to the drum k, within which is a
coiled spring tending constantly to wind up the chain; there is, however, a
ratchet and pawl which prevent the return of the cutter after each blow of the
bammer. When the cutter, however, has been driven as far as the hammer
will take it the pawl comes, to a projection 'on the ratchet wheel, which is
higher than the tops of the teeth, it is lifted higher than usual by this incline,
and is in consequence caught by a detent which prevents it again descending,
and consequently the spring immediately withdraws the cutter. If the groove
in the coal or mineral be required to be cut deeper than the first cutter is able
to go, this is then changed for another and longer cutter; or, as we consider
preferable, two apparatus may be mounted on the same carriage, so that the
second apparatus may deepen the cut produced by the first.
The cylinder of
cach apparatus should be placed. immediately over the axle. The cylinder or
cylinders will be placed higher or lower on the carriage according to the
position in which it is required that the grooves should be produced.
i
When the apparatus is required to produce vertical grooves the cylinder
and cutter, together with all the parts in connection therewith, are not 'fixed
to the carriage, but in a separate frame. The carriage is formed with upriglit
guides exceeding in height the length of the vertical grooves to be cut; the
frame carrying the cylinder slides on these guides, and can be traversed
thereon by screws worked-by-hand.*

page_text: The air to work the apparatus we prefer to compress at the mouth of the
pit by means of an air pump worked by the engine, and we lead the air into
the pit by means of iron pipes; these have union pieces fixed on them at
intervals, in order that a flexible pipe may be attached to convey the air to
the cylinder. In place of separating the sections of the work after producing
the requisite grooves or cuttings, as heretofore, by means of a hole usually made
at the upper part of a section, and then blasting by gunpowder, we prefer to
use a tool which is expanded by a wedge moved inwards by means of a screw.
A convenient form for this tool is a cylindrical block of iron or steel, or other
metal suitable to fit into the hole formed at the upper part of a section of the
work, in which block the end or stem of a screw is received in such manner
that it may turn freely therein, but be retained from separating from such
block. To the upper and lower sides of the front end of this block are hinged
two plates, their inner surfaces being inclined to each other. The outside
diameter of these plates corresponds with the block, and the combined parts
are capable of being introduced into the hole. The screw extends beyond the
outer end of the plates above mentioned, and on the screw is a screw nut, the
upper and under surfaces of which are inclined; hence when the screw is
turned the wedge-formed nut will be moved in between the plates, and it will
cause them to separate, and by so doing the section of coal or other material
will be separated. In some cases it may be desirable to use two or more of
these instruments for detaching one section of the work.
Figure 3 is a longitudinal section of such an apparatus. a is the cylindrical
block, having lugs a', a', upon it; b, b, are plates jointed thereto; c is the
screw, the stem c¹ of which passes through the block and receives a collar
c² beyond; d is the nut, on the upper and under sides of which the inclines
d', d, are formed. In using the apparatus the cylindrical block a with the
plates are introduced into a hole bored to fit them, and the screw c being
then turned the nut d is drawn inwards and the plates b, b, forced apart, the
mineral is thus wedged down.
Figure 4 is a longitudinal section of an apparatus, which is a slight modi-
fication of that above described. a is a cylinder in which a hole is bored, in
which a screw thread is tapped; b, b, are plates jointed to the cylinder a; c
is a screw which enters the piece a; d is an incline on the stem of the
screw, which, as before, is by turning the screw made to force the plates b, b,
outwards.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and the manner of per-

page_text: parts separately; but what we claim is, the combination of hammers actuated
by compressed air with cutters mounted on carriages, as herein-described, with
reference to Figures 1 and 2 of the Drawings, and we also claim the com-
bined arrangements of instruments described with reference to Figures 3 and 4
of the Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Ridley, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
ROBERT RIDLEY. (L.s.)