IMPROVE- MENTS IN GETTING COAL AND OTHER MINERALS
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Oswald Dodd Hedley, of the Borough and
County of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN GETTING COAL AND OTHER MINERALS."
Sealed the 30th March 1853, and dated the 1st October 1852.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Oswald Dodd
Hedley at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 1st October 1852.
--
I, OSWALD DODD HEDLEY, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Gentleman, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
GETTING COAL AND OTHER MINERALS" to be as follows:
This Invention consists of applying a cutting tool to and projecting
from the side of a carriage running on a railway, so that the cutter
may be caused to pass more and more deeply into the side of the mine
by the repeated passing of the carriage, and setting of the tool more and
more beyond the side of the carriage..

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said Oswald Dodd Hedley, in the Great Seal Patent
Office, on the 31st March 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
OSWALD DODD HEDLEY, of the Borough and County of Newcastle-upon-
Tyne, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of October in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the sixteenth year
of Her reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Oswald Dodd Hedley, Her special licence that I, the
said Oswald Dodd Hedley, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Oswald Dodd Hedley, my 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
GETTING COAL AND OTHER MINERALS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Oswald Dodd Hedley, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, 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 Oswald Dodd 'Hedley, do hereby
declare the nature of my said 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 Invention consists of applying a cutting tool or excavating bar
to and projecting from the side of a carriage running on a railway, so
that the cutter may be caused to pass more and more deeply into the
side of the mine by the repeated passing of the carriage, and setting
of the tool more and more beyond the side of the carriage.

page_text: This Invention is well adaptéd for excavating in coal mines, coal
strata, fire clay, iron mines, and in quarries of chalk, and in mining for
or obtaining pyritės.
The
Figure 1, in the drawing hereunto annexed, is a plan of the carriage.
R, R, are the rails; E, is the excavating bar or cutting tool. a, a,
Figure 2, in the said drawing are a series of openings in the side framing
of the carriage, through which the excavating bar passes; it is necessary
to adapt these openings to the peculiar or local circumstances of each
minė, so as to allow excavating both at a suitable height and also in
the proper plane, horizontal or inclined, as circumstances dictate.
excavating bar, being adjusted to a determinate hold of the stratum, must
be secured in position by keys, or other mechanical means; the letters
K, K, in Figure 1, indicate the position of the keys. The letter K, in
Figure 2, represents one of the keys by which the bar is temporarily
secured; the cramp immediately resting upon the bar I serrate a little,
as also the surface of the bar itself, which facilitates the object. B,
represents the shoulder or cutting portion of the bar, which allows
excavating in both directions; occasionally, I excavate in. one direc-
tion only. The loose material (in coal excavations generally dust) not
displaced by the action of the bar may be removed by manual labour,
or by one or more clearers C, C, Figure 1, made of thin iron, affixed to
any convenient part of the carriage, traversing and further inserted in
the excavation as occasion requires; the letters a, a, in Figure 2,
indicate a series of apertures for the insertion of the clearers at varying
heights.
The carriage may be propelled by any suitable agency. The action of
the motive and opposing forces upon the carriage subjects it to a lateral
strain, which is inversely as its length. To reduce the friction of this lateral
force I use 4 small frictional sheaves, indicated by the letters f, f, f, f, two
at each end of the carriage; they work into the side of each line of
rails, the wheels and rails being mutually adapted to each other; or, in
place of 4 small sheaves, one large sheave at each end of the carriage,
and extending from rail to rail, may be used. In addition to the precision
which obtains from the use of the horizontal wheels, I make the

page_text: travelling wheels of the carriage with double flanges h, h, Figure 1,
further contributing to steadiness and precision of action. The appli-
cation of wheels of different diameters to the carriage will facilitate
change of height; the excavation may be made at any practicable height,
from the level of the rail upwards. I prefer to have the frame of
the carriage made of iron. Occasionally I use a fly wheel upon the
carriage.
The excavating bar is simply a strong bar of iron. I generally use a
bar from 2 to 3 inches in breadth, half an inch thick, length as required;
and at the shoulder or head the cutting portion of it about three fourths of
an inch, the dimensions varying with the amount of motive force applied.
I have tried a great many different forms of cutters, but I do not find
any to answer better than the broad mouthed form of cutter, or the
diamond pointed form, not being very dissimilar to the broad or diamond
pointed form of chisel.
The mode of operating with the carriage is as follows:-I place it
upon a railway, which is made parallel to and as near the proposed
excavation as may be. The excavating bar, having been passed through
the openings in the side frames of the carriage adapted to the excavation,
is adjusted, there being space in the mine for the purpose, to the deter-
minate hold of the stratum which it is proposed to excavate or cut out,
and it is soon ascertained how much the motive agent can usefully
operate upon; the bar is now firmly secured or key'd at one or both
sides of the framing, as previously adverted to; the motive agent then
causes the carriage to traverse the face of the excavation, making the cut
or incision along it as it goes; this accomplished, the bar is again
adjusted, and secured to a similar hold of the stratum, and made to
re-traverse the face of the work, making a further incision; also at the
terminus it is again re-adjusted to a similar and further hold, and so on,
traversing the face of the work in alternate directions, until the requisite
depth of incision is attained.

page_text: 1. I claim as my Invention the applying a cutting tool or excavating
bar to and projecting from a carriage running on a railway, so that the
excavating bar may project or be set more and more beyond the carriage,
and be caused to pass more and more deeply into the side of the mine
by the repeated passing of the carriage in front of the minerals to be
worked.
2. I claim as my Invention a carriage adapted to traversing in front
of the minerals to be worked, and carying a cutting tool, or excavator,
capable of being advanced further and further into the minerals, at each
traverse of the carriage.
In witness whereof, I, the said Oswald Dodd Hedley, have here-
to set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of March One
OSWALD DODD HEDLEY. (L.S.)
Signed and sealed by the said Oswald Dodd
Hedley in the presence of
Jos. W. HARWOOD, Solicitor,
10, Clements Lane, Lombard Street,