TAMPING SHOT-HOLES
Year: 1885

page_text: WILLIAM GALLOWAY Mining Engineer Paragon Buildings Cardiff do hereby
declare the nature of my invention for TAMPING SHOT-HOLES to be as follows:-
I make use of any porous spongy or fibrous substance soaked with water or any
liquid with or without a salt in solution; or, of any gelatinous or semifluid
substance capable of being dispersed in the form of a spray for the purpose of
tamping shot-holes in which dynamite or any other explosive substance liable to
produce a flame when ignited is employed in breaking ground in mining
operations. The object of the said tamping is to render blasting operations safe in
the presence of coal-dust and firedamp.

page_text: Дашршо
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I, WILLIAM GALLOWAY, of Paragon Buildings, Cardiff, in the County of
Glamorgan, Wales, Mining Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement, that is to say :-
My said Invention has for its object to render blasting operations in mines safer t
than heretofore, in the presence of coal-dust and fire-damp, by tamping the shot
holes in an improved manner and so as to prevent or very much diminish the risk
of communicating flame to the coal-dust or fire-damp from the explosion of the
blasting charge.
In carrying out my Invention I make use of any suitable porous, spongy or
fibrous substance soaked or saturated with water or any suitable non-inflammable"
liquid with or without a salt in solution; or I use any suitable moist gelatinous or
semifluid substance capable of being dispersed in the form of spray, for the purpose
of tamping shot holes in which dynamite or other explosive substance producing
"'flame when ignited, is employed in blasting operations in mines. If the tamping 1
is driven out which occasionally happens in blasting operations the liquid is, by the
compression due to the explosion, forced out from the tamping material in the
form of finely divided spray and the spray prevents the communication of flame to
any fire-damp or coal-dust that may be present.
The figure on the accompanying explanatory drawing represents a longitudinal
section of a shot hole for a blast, as tamped according to my Invention. The
cartridge, C, having been placed in the bottom of the hole, with the fuse, F,
extending out from it in the ordinary way, my improved tamping material, T1,
saturated with liquid is placed immediately in front of the cartridge, and then the
hole is filled up with ordinary tamping material, T 2. The relative proportions of
the two tamping materials, T1, T2, may be varied in different cases according to
the depth or length of the hole, and as may be found desirable in practice. The
fuse, F, must, be protected from the moisture, any suitable waterproof coating being
used for that purpose.
I am aware that water has been used or proposed to be used in various ways in a
tamping shot holes with the same object as that which I have in view; but in
earlier modes of using water, the water has been placed in waterproof cases or
bags or without such covering and without being combined with a porous spongy
or fibrous substance; and when acted on by the explosion of the shot has in many
cases of blown out shots been projected irregularly and so as not to form a
sufficiently complete watery envelope for preventing the communication of flame
into the air in the neighborhood of the shot hole. My improved tamping can be
applied without difficulty or inconvenience in whatever position the shot hole may
be in; whereas when water alone is used it cannot without complicated apparatus
be applied to shot holes which contain fissures or which are horizontal or inclined
upwards from their outer ends.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is :-
A safety tamping for shot holes in blasting operations in mines, and consisting
of a porous, spongy, or fibrous substance saturated or impregnated with a
non-inflammable liquid; or consisting of a suitable non-inflammable gelatinous
or semifluid substance, substantially as and for the purpose hereinbefore described...
Dat
1
1000
EDMUND HUNT,
Applicant's Agent.