Improvements in and connected with Mining Caps or Cartridges.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 26th June, 1899-Accepted, 24th Mar. 1000
5
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and connected with Mining Caps or Cartridges.
I, WILLIAM ELIAS MILLER, of Warder Building, Corner of 9th and
Washington, D.C., United States of America, Gentleman, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be
Streets
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:
This invention relates to protectors for the fulminating caps of explosive charges
used in mining operations, and to a device for applying such protectors.
―
It is well established by statistics that the majority of accidents in mining
operations are due to the failure of blasts to explode, and in wet mines this
serious objection is caused by the fulminating cap or charge becoming saturated
with moisture.
One object of the present invention is to provide the cartridge or explosive
charge with a protective cover or casing to exclude water and dampness and
further to make said protective covering hold the fuse within the explosive
charge.
I attain this object by employing a highly elastic protector of rubber which
is fitted to the fulminating cap and to the fuse in a manner to closely hug the
same by frictional contact and to enclose the joint therebetween for the purpose
of thoroughly excluding water and moisture from the cap.
Practical experience with devices embodying this invention has demonstrated
its efficiency and thoroughly reliable character, and it may be stated that in
tests involving the use of several thousand protectors, used principally under
conditions where moisture is liable to enter the charge, there has not been a
single instance where the protector, as invented and used by us, has been found
to be faulty.
To secure maximum efficiency in the service of the protector of my invention
t has been found necessary to supply each miner or operator with a number of
the protector devices in order that fresh and elastic protectors may be kept on.
and by the miner to be used and applied by him to the fulminating caps previous:
o attaching the cap and the fuse to an explosive charge or cartridge.
It will be therefore understood that the present invention has also for its object
he provision of means by which the elastic protectors may be easily carried by
miner or operator in a condition for expeditious application to the cap and fuse:
nd to attain this end the invention consists of a holder, in the form of a staff
rrod, and a series (two or more) of protectors applied in the form of collars to said
aff or rod each protector adapted to retain itself in place by frictional engage-
ent with the staff and arranged in a condition to be slipped off the staff on to
e cap, and from thence uncoiled to enclose and fit the fuse, all as will hereinafter
ore fully appear.
In the drawings,--
:
Figure 1 is a perspective view of an ordinary blast cartridge having my
provements applied thereto.
Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of 41

page_text: Figure 1 18 a perspective view ΟΙ a norder equipped with a plurality of
protectors which are to be applied successively to the fulminating caps.
Figure 5 is an enlarged detail sectional view through the staff and a series of
protectors thereon.
Figure 6 is a view illustrating the method of transferring one protector from
the holder to a fulminating cap.
Like parts are denoted by like numerals in each of the several figures of the
drawings.
I designates the shell of the cartridge for an explosive charge, and 2 is an
ordinary fuse, electric or of another suitable nature, adapted to be fitted into the
end of the charge for exploding the same.
This is the usual arrangement, and when the charge is used in a damp or
wet mine the water and moisture has free access to the explosive compound, thus
exposing the charge so that it becomes saturated or impregnated with moisture
and the charge can not be exploded under these conditions.
To overcome this difficulty, the shell of the cartridge is encased in a highly
elastic tubular covering or protector, 3, adapted to partially or wholly envelope
the cartridge and to have an extension, 4, arranged to project beyond the open end
of the cartridge shell. The normal disposition of the extended portions, 4, of the
protector, before the fuse is fitted in an open end of the cartridge shell, is in the
form of a roll or fold, 5, upon the shell back of the open end thereof, whereby
said open end of the cartridge shell is exposed and unobstructed for the
expeditious introduction of the fuse into the shell for enclosing the charge therein.
The fusé, 2, is adapted to be inserted into the open end of the cartridge shell, and
the extension, 4, of the protector is unrolled from said shell and moved out upon
the fuse. Said protector being of highly elastic rubber, is adapted to embrace the
cartridge shell and the fuse, and it serves to hold or confine the fuse within said
shell. By having this elastic protector embrace the fuse at and beyond the open
end of the cartridge the latter is effectually closed against ingress of water or
dampness. It will thus be seen that the cartridge provided with an elastic
covering as set forth, will securely hold the fuse to the cartridge, and the
explosive compound is protected against deterioration under the influence of
moisture. It is evident that the fuse can be moved without disengagement from
the cartridge, because the extended portion, 4, of the protector tightly embraces
the fuse and cartridge and thereby connects the two together..
From the foregoing description it will be apparent that one purpose of our
invention is to provide a protective covering for an ordinary mining cap or
cartridge that can be used in connection with any ordinary fuse, and also in con-
nections with different sized fuses to provide for not only securely holding the
end of the fuse within the open end of the cap but also providing a perfectly tight
water proof covering for the cap and the contiguous portion of the fuse. Further-
more, the protective covering is constructed with a view to its application upon
the mining cap of the cartridge at the time that the latter is to be used, thereby
obviating the objection of the rubber covering becoming rotten or deteriorated on
the metal cap, while at the same time permitting a ready inspection of the cap
or cartridge previous to setting the blast in position for use. In this particular
the invention presents a distinct advantage over similar devices having interior
and exterior protective rubber coverings which are manufactured as a part of the
entire cap and fuse so as to remain intact from the period of manufacture until
ready for use.
To secure the improved advantages noted, an essential feature of the present
invention resides in the fact that the tubular rubber protector is made quite thin
and is stretched upon the metal cap and a contiguous portion of the fuse so that
the protector is capable of being readily rolled upon itself on to or from the cap
to facilitate the assemblage of the protector to the cap. In the non-stretched
condition and when made of thick rubber, the tubular protector cannot be rolled

page_text: upon the cap and fuse in the manner explained, thereby seriously imparing the
efficiency of the protector.
The second part of this invention resides in a holder, 6, with a series of the
tubular protectors, 3, fitted friction tight on the holder in a condition for readily
transferring said protectors to the cap or cartridge, 1. To supply the miner or
operator with a proper number of protectors which may be required during a day's
service in a field of mining operations, we employ the holder adapted to carry
the requisite number of protectors in a condition for easy and convenient applica-
tion to the cartridge or cap. By reason of the highly elastic nature of the pro-
tectors, some difficulty is experienced in slipping them over the cartridges and the
fuses, and to overcome this difficulty we contemplate the coiling of each protector
upon itself and fitting such protectors to the staff or rod which constitutes the
holder, 6, in the form of collars, as clearly represented by Figure 4. Each
coiled collar-like protector is slipped on the staff or .rod-holder, 6, to hold itself
in place by frictional engagement therewith, and said staff may contain two or
any desired number of the protectors which are adapted to occupy an exceedingly
compact relation to the staff.
Said staff may consist of a piece of wood, metal, or any other appropriate
material, and it may be either solid or hollow. As shown, a cylindrical stick of
wood constitutes the holder, and this holder is of a diameter slightly less than
the interior diameter of the cartridge or cap at one end in order that the open
end of said cartridge may receive one end of the holder staff.
In using the protector holder of this invention previous to attaching the fuse
to the shell of the explosive charge, we proceed to first transfer one of the collar-
like protectors from the holder-staff to the cartridge or cap. As shown by
Figure 5, the open end of the cap or cartridge is brought into juxtaposition to one
end of the staff, or said cartridge or cap may be slipped onto the staff. The
operator now proceeds to transfer one protector from the staff to the cap or
cartridge by rolling the protector over and over the staff until it passes therefrom
onto or upon the shell of the cap or cartridge, and in this operation of transferring
said protector from the staff to the cap or cartridge, said protector retains its rolled
up condition so that it at once fits on the cap in the form of a collar. The next
step is to remove the cap or cartridge from the staff, to assemble the fuse in opera-
tive relation to the cap by thrusting said fuse into the open end of the cap, and
finally the protector is uncoiled by rolling the same in the opposite direction
from the direction in which it was manipulated to transfer the protector in its
collar-like condition from the staff to the cartridge. In unrolling or uncoiling the
protector from the cartridge to make it fit to the fuse, a part of the protector
adheres to and closely embraces the cartridge while the other part or extension, 4,
of the protector is made to embrace a part of the fuse beyond the point where the
fuse enters the open end of the cartridge. The cap, fuse, and protector, applied
and assembled in the manner described, are now in a position to be inserted in the
hole which is drilled in the stone, rock, or mine and which contains the explosive
charge, and this charge may be exploded in the usual manner familiar to those
skilled in mining operations.
Changes may be made in the form and proportion of some of the parts while
their essential features are retained and the spirit of the invention embodied.
Hence we do not desire to be limited to the precise form of all the parts as shown,
reserving the right to vary therefrom.
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:-
1. In a mining cap or cartridge, the combination with
a cap, and
a fuse adapted to be inserted in said cap, of a protective covering
consisting of a thin rubber tube adapted to be stretched upon the cap
and having one end portion extended beyond an open end of said cap, the extended

page_text: end of said protective covering arranged to contract upon a contiguous portion
of the fuse, and said thin rubber tube permitting the extended portion thereof
to be rolled upon itself upon and from the cap to facilitate assemblage of the
parts, substantially as described.
2. A device for applying protectors to mining caps consisting of a holder and a
series of rolled collar-like protectors fitted to said holder and adapted to be
transformed therefrom to a cap, substantially as described.
3. A device for applying protectors to mining caps comprising a staff and a
series of rolled collar-like protectors fitted on said staff and adapted to be removed
individually therefrom by rolling said protectors in their collar-like condition
from the staff to a cap, substantially as described.
.
4. A device for applying elastic protectors to mining caps comprising a staff
or rod, and a series of rolled elastic protectors applied in collar-like condition to
the staff or rod and retaining themselves thereon by frictional contact, each
protector being removable from the staff by rolling the same in its collar-like
condition upon the cap, substantially as described.
5. The improvement in the art of applying a protector to a mining primer
which consists in fitting an elastic roller in a rolled up condition on an explosive
cap, inserting a fuse in said cap, and then uncoiling the rolled protector to enclose
a part of the fuse adjacent to the end which is fitted in the explosive cap, sub-
stantially as described.
Dated this 26th day of June 1899.
For the Applicant,
J. G. LORRAIN, M.I.E.E., M.I.Mech. E.,
Norfolk House, Norfolk Street, London, W.C.,
Chartered Patent Agent.