CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE VENTILATION OF MINES
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
GORDON, of Heaton Norris, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Fourth day of April, in the twelfth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Robert Gordon, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Robert Gordon, my exors, admors, and assigns, and such
others as I, the said Robert Gordon, my exors, admors, or assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, an Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE VENTILATION
OF MINES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me,
the said Robert Gordon, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be enrolled
in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent,
as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Robert Gordon, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention of

page_text: Certain Improvements in the Ventilation of Mines to consist in the structure
and arrangement of certain apparatus by which a larger and more uniform
amount of atmospheric air is passed through the workings of a mine than by
the arrangements at present in practice, and the manner in which the same
is to be performed and carried into effect will be seen by reference to the
accompanying Drawings and following description. The scale to which the
Drawings are made is marked thereon, and the same figure or letter of
reference indicates the same part throughout the various plans and sections
there delineated.
Before proceeding to a description of the Drawings, I shall make a few
remarks on the present system of ventilating mines, for the purpose of showing
the necessity for my improvements and the inadequacy of the present arrange-
ments. Mines of any extent, and particularly coal mines, where carburetted
bydrogen, "choke damp," or carbonic acid, or other noxious gases are
liberated, are generally provided with two shafts, called the "upcast" and
"downcast" shafts. At the bottom of the upcast shaft a large fire is generally
kept burning for the purpose of rarefying the air which ascends the upcast
shaft for producing a current throughout the workings of the mine, which are
supplied by a corresponding continuous current of atmospheric air passing
into the downcast shaft and throughout the various air courses which connect
the two shafts together. In some cases, where only one shaft is employed, it
is divided by an air-tight partition or "bratice," to separate the two currents
of air, one division forming the upcast and the other the downcast shaft.
Under this system of underground furnace ventilation, the fire for producing
the current is in a dangerous and inconvenient place, besides being liable to
be neglected by the operative, who too frequently inhales a disagreeable
atmosphere which induces heaviness and sleep; and should an explosion take
place, the workings of the mine become so charged with "choke damp" as to
extinguish the ventilating fire and destroy all animal life, leaving no means to
clear the workings of the deleterious gas. Moreover, the rarefied ascending
column of air is impeded and the ventilating power of the furnace materially
counteracted by water constantly oozing from the strata, and necessarily
reducing the temperature of the upward current, so that a strong wind,
forming an eddy at the top of the upcast shaft, or a sudden fall in the
barometer, will suspend the action of the ventilating fires, thereby subjecting
the miners to imminent danger. The consequences of this uncertain, precarious,
and inefficient system of ventilation have been too often before the public to
need any commerit.
I shall now proceed to describe my improvements with reference to the
n.

page_text: Figure 1 represents a vertical section of the shafts of a mine along with
the exhausting apparatus; Figure 2 is a plan of the same. A is the downcast
shaft through which the pure air descends, as already explained. B is the
upcast shaft, which is closed at the top with an air-tight door, below which a
culvert or air course C is carried under ground, and connected to the air
courses D, which terminates at the ashpits E, to supply the steam boiler or
other furnace fire F with air, the ashpits E being closed at the front by a
door I, so that the whole of the air required to support combustion must
ascend the upcast shaft B. When steam boiler furnaces are employed, as
in Figures 1 and 2, from the air course D there is a connecting culvert or
flue K. passing into the base of the chimney H, which may be opened when
the steam "is up," and the furnaces F do not require attention. By this
arrangement the power of the chimney H is not checked by dampers when
the steam gets too high, but it is checked and modified by the admission of
air through the culvert K, all of which is drawn from the upcast shaft B, and
if at any time the air taken from the upcast shaft in this arrangement should
contain "choke damp" or carbonic acid in such proportion as to endanger the
combustion in the furnaces F, the door I of the ashpit can be opened, and
pure air admitted at pleasure.
Figure 3 is a sectional elevation of a shaft divided by 8 partition or air-
tight "bratice" into two compartments, one part being used as the upcast
shaft B, and the other as the downcast shaft A. The B compartment is
connected with the air culvert C, which leads to the air course D and the
ashpits E of the furnaces F, as in the former Figures 1 and 2.
Figures 4 and 5 represent a sectional elevation and plan of another arrange-
ment of my improvements, in which the culvert C, leading from the upcast
shaft B, is connected with the chimney H, and at the ashpits E by the air
courses D. This powerful chimney is placed in any convenient position near
the upcast shaft, and provided with four furnaces F, F, F, F, the ashpit E
being closed by doors I, as in the former arrangement, so that the supply of air
required to support combustion is taken from the upcast shaft B through the
culvert C, and the course or current of the air is indicated by small arrows
at Figure 4, the smoke, gases, and heated air from the four furnaces returning
to the chimney H by the main flues G. See Figures 4 and 5. By this arrange-
ment not only the air and gases heated by the furnaces ascend the chimney H,
but a large quantity of air from the upcast shaft is drawn up direct without
going through the furnaces, by the intensely heated gases passing off from the
fires, making the exhaustion of the upcast shaft more complete and efficacious.
The result, from measurement of the quantity of air passing through a large
coal mine ventilated by an ordinary underground furnace, as compared with

page_text: one arrangement of my improved system, is as follows:-The sectional area
of the upcast shaft of the coal mine in question is fifty-five square feet, the
fire being two hundred fathoms from the surface; the average amount of air
found to pass through the workings was rather less than eighteen thousand
cubic feet per minute. In one arrangement of my improvements a chimney
seventy-five yards high, and connected with the furnaces of four steam boilers,
gives an exhausting power equivalent to a column of one inch of water; and as
a column of water an inch high equals a pressure of 0816 of a pound, or
5.198 pounds on the superficial foot, which pressure will cause the air to pass
through the said chimney at a velocity of thirty-two miles and a half per
hour, or two thousand eight hundred and sixty feet per minute, then 2860
feet multiplied by 34 33 feet, the sectional area of the chimney, gives 98183
cubic feet of air per minute for ventilation in place of 18000, or more than
five times the quantity obtained by the ordinary system. Not only is the
ventilation materially increased by my improved arrangements, but the ease
with which they can be carried out render them much more valuable and
efficient. The ventilating fires being at the surface, and the stoker at all times
under the cognizance of the bank manager, preclude the probability of neglect.
Should the mine be ventilated with one or more boiler fires, as shown on the
Drawing, Figures 1 and 2, a valve is placed in each of the air courses D with
a spindle attached to regulate it, as shown at J, Figure 1, which may be closed
to prevent the atmospheric air from returning, should it be desirable to stop
one or more fires for repairs. I further propose to close up the top of the
downcast shaft A, Figures 5 and 6, at any convenient opportunity, when the
miners are absent from the pit, and at the same time keep up the ventilating
fires until the workings are exhausted equivalent to a column of one inch of
water or more. This would extract the light explosive gas from the charged
.receptacles more effectually than any means at present employed, as the
pressure of the atmosphere being diminished in the mine, the highly charged
cavities would discharge part of their contents, and when pure atmospheric
air was allowed to rush into the workings, the explosive gas in the recesses
would become adulterated, and its dangerous power destroyed. The position
in which the chimney and furnace are placed as regards the upcast shaft may
be varied to suit the locality and character of the mine; and it is obvious that
a similar effect may be produced by building the chimney within the upcast
shaft, leaving an opening or annular space between it and the native rock to
allow the water to descend without cooling or impeding the ascending venti-
lating current, which is produced by an ordinary furnace at or near the bottom
of the upcast shaft.

page_text: Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same may be performed and carried into effect, I wish to state that
I do not confine myself to the exact arrangement herein specified and
described, which may be modified and varied in many respects to effect the
same object; but I claim as my Invention the novel construction and
arrangement of a chimney with a furnace or furnaces in connexion with the
upcast shaft of a mine for producing a more perfect ventilation, as herein
described, including the closing of the downcast shaft, as occasion may suggest,
as before mentioned. And all such improvements being, to the best of my
knowledge and belief, new and never before practised, I deliver this as my
true and faithful Specification of the same.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Gordon, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-ninth day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine.
MDERED, on the Twenty-ninth day of September,
in the year of our Lord 1849, the aforesaid Robert Gordon came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
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 Third day of October, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and forty-nine.