IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS USED IN GETTING COAL
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Edmond Donisthorpe, of Leeds, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS USED IN GETTING COAL."
Sealed the 19th November 1861, and dated the 22nd May. 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Edmond Donis-
thorpe, at the Office of the Commisioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 22nd May 1861.
I, GEORGE EDMOND DONISTHORPE, of Leeds, do hereby declare the nature of
the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS USED IN GETTING COAL," to be
as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus used in getting
coal. Heretofore, when getting coal, it has been usual in many cases to cut a
groove horizontally along the face which is being worked, so as to undercut
the coal; and it has also been the practice to cut vertical or upright grooves
from the horizontal groove or cutting before mentioned to the desired height,
and such horizontal and upright grooves or cuttings have been made to a
considerable extent or depth into the coal. The coal has been detached, in
some cases, by driving in wedges, so as to separate the quantity of coal which
is undercut horizontally and divided by the upright grooves or cutting;
and other means of detaching the coal, such as blasting, have also been

page_text: resorted to. The cutting of the horizontal groove or cutting has heretofore
been accomplished by manual labor by the use of hand picks, as is well
understood.
Now, my Invention consists in employing a bar or tool, which is mounted
on grooved rollers or pulleys, so that the bar may with facility be moved
quickly to and fro. The pulleys or rollers which support the bar or tool are
carried by a carriage on wheels which run on and are guided by trams or rails
laid down parallel, or nearly so, with the face of the coal which is being
worked.
-By these arrangements-a-workman_will_move_the_carriage progressively,
and he will cause the bar with its cutting end to move quickly to and from
the coal, so that at each blow the tool will cut a short distance into the coal
and detach a small quantity therefrom; by this means he will produce a groove,
which will be depressed or extended horizontally into the coal by the next,
and the next workman, who working with like apparatus, will follow the pre-
ceding one, each workman cutting a short distance only into the coal, and in
such manner will the desired horizontal cut or groove be produced, and then
the coal may be separated as heretofore.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Edmond Donisthorpe in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 21st November 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
EDMUND DONISTHORPE, of Leeds, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said George Edmond Donisthorpe, Her special licence that I; the said
George Edmond Donisthorpe, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said George Edmond Donisthorpe, my executors, admi-
nistrators, 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 USED IN GETTING COAL,"
upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Edmond

page_text: Donisthorpe, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Edmond Donisthorpe, 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 apparatus used in getting
coal. Heretofore, when getting coal it has been usual in many cases to cut
a groove horizontally along the face which is being worked, so as to undercut
the coal; and it has also been the practice to cut vertical or upright grooves-
from the horizontal groove or cutting before mentioned to the desired height,
and such horizontal and upright grooves or cuttings have been made to a con--
siderable extent or depth into the coal. The coal has been detached in some
cases by driving in wedges, so as to separate the quantity of coal which is
undercut horizontally, and divided by the upright grooves or cuttings; and
other means of detaching the coal, such as blasting, have also been resorted-
to. The cutting of the horizontal groove or cutting has heretofore been
accomplished by manual labor by the use of hand picks, as is well understood.
Now, my Invention consists in employing a bar or tool, which is mounted'
on grooved rollers or pullies, so that the bar may with facility be moved:
quickly to and fro. The pullies or rollers which support the bar or tool are
carried by a carriage on wheels which run on and are guided by trams or rails!
laid down parallel, or nearly so, with the face of the coal which is being:
worked.
By these arrangements a workman will move the carriage progressively,
aud he will cause the bar with its cutting end to move quickly to and from the
coal, so that at each blow the tool will cut a short distance into the coal, and
detach a small quantity therefrom, by which means he will produce a groove
which will be deepened or extended horizontally into the coal by the next,
and the next workman, who working with like apparatus, will follow the pre-
ceding one, each workman cutting a short distance only into the coal, and in
this manner will the desired horizontal cut or groove be produced, and then
the coal may be separated as heretofore.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, I will proceed more fully
to describe the manner of performing the same."

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shews a sectional elevation, and Figure 2 a side elevation of a
carriage suitably arranged to run on a tram or railway, and fitted with picks
capable of being slid or moved to, and from the face of the work as the
carriage is progressively moved along the face of the work.
In the Drawings the carriage is caused to move by means of the handle a,
which gives motion to the axis b, on which is fixed the bevilled toothed wheel c,
which gears into the bevilled toothed wheel d, on the axis of one pair of the
running wheels of the carriage; e, e, are picks or tools, which may be straight
or cranked; the bars or rods which carry these picks are supported by and
move between grooved pullies which guide the picks or tools to their work; but
such bars or rods may be supported in other bearings so long as they can be
readily slid to and fro and guided to their work. The end of the rod or bar
has handles f, f, fixed thereto, by which the workman can force the pick or
tool with great force against the face of the work, so as to produce à hori-
zontal groove to any desired depth. In order to make vertical cuts or grooves
there is another tool or pick g, carried by a similar bar or rod, with handles at
the end, and capable of being moved quickly to and fro. In addition thereto
the bearings of the bar or rod (whether grooved pullies be used as shewn in
the Drawings, or bearings of other form be employed) are mado capable of
being raised or lowered by means of two screws, one at each side of the
carriage, but geared together by a horizontal shaft h, and bevilled wheels,
as shewn.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I make no claim to
any of the mechanical parts separately; but what I claim is, the combination
of picks or tools with carriages, in such manner that the picks or tools may be
supported and guided, and moved to and fro as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Edmond Donisthorpe, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of November, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
D T
DONISTHODDE
C. E. DONISTHORI
DDE
Y
(L.S.)