IMPROVEMENTS IN WORKING COAL IN COAL MINES
Year: 1846

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HEWARD BELL, of Edmondsley, near Chester-le-Street, Durham, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty, by Her Letters Patent under
the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing
date at Westminster, the Twenty-first day of April, in the ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Heward Bell, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, Her especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William Heward Bell,
my exors, admors, and assigns, and such others as I, the said William Heward
Bell, my exors, admors, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times hereafter during the term of years
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called
England, and Her Majesty's Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, and also within the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and
Man, and all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN WORKING COAL IN COAL MINES;" in which Letters Patent there
is contained a proviso requiring that I, the said William Heward Bell, shall
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery

page_text: within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the now
reciting Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Heward Bell, do hereby declare that the nature of my Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to
the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say:-
In getting coal as heretofore practised, it has been usual for the workpeople
or pitmen to employ picks, on handles which are held in the hands, and the
force employed is the muscular effort of the person using the pick. In work-
ing with hand picks much small coal is produced, in consequence of the
necessity for levelling down the edge of the coal, in order to make ". curvings,"
that the workpeople or pitmen may get at and cause the picks to penetrate
sufficiently deep under the coal, that is, about three feet under the seam of coal,
all which is well understood, and I have called attention to the same in order
that the nature and object of my Invention may be the more readily under-
stood. And my improvements in working coal in coal mines consist of
employing a suspended pick and weight, for giving sufficient blow to the pick
by its oscillation, as hereafter explained.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 shows a section of the working of a seam of coal by a pick and
apparatus according to my Invention; Figure 2 is a front view of the
apparatus; Figure 3 shews a section of the weight separately, which we
ordinarily use of from fourteen to forty-two pounds weight, depending on
the hardness of the material to be worked by the picks; and Figure 4 shews
several picks a, a, separately, of different lengths, which are used in suc-
cession, and they are each sharp at both ends, in order that they may be
turned end for end when one end becomes blunt; 6 is the weight, which also
serves as a socket to receive the picks a, and the picks are secured therein by
screws, as shewn, or by other convenient means. The weight b is suspended
by a chain c, as is shewn, so as to allow the weight to swing freely. The
chain or other suitable instrument by which the weight 6 is suspended, is to be
capable of sliding along the bar d, so as for the time being to bring the pick
opposite the part to be worked. The bar d is at one end placed in a
hole at d, and the other end is supported by a prop e, the bar being kept a
sufficient distance from the top of the mine. by a block f, in order that the
ring g may slide freely on the bar. By the use of this arrangement or com-

page_text: bination of apparatus, in place of the ordinary hand picks heretofore employed,
the labour will not be so great or difficult, and the quantity of coal taken away
in making the "curvings" will be much diminished, and less small coal will
consequently be produced. Moreover, in consequence of the additional power
given to the blow by the use of this arrangement or combination of apparatus,
"curvings" can be made in parts of a seam of coal, or in strata under a seam
of coal, which are too hard to allow of "curvings" to be made by the ordinary
means now in use, whereby the waste of good coal heretofore destroyed in
making "curvings" will be materially diminished. The pitmen, in using these
picks and apparatus will rather act by guiding the picks to their work than
by muscular effort, the swinging of the weight giving the principal force of the
blow.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, I would have it understood that I do not confine
myself to the details shewn, so long as the peculiar character of the Invention
be retained; but what I claim is the combination of apparatus, as herein
described, for the working of coal in coal mines.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Heward Bell, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Twenty-second day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-six.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-second day of August, in
the year of our Lord 1846, the aforesaid William Heward Bell came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specifica-
tion aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to
the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Nineteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-six.