Glaethbal Plough « Thread Started on Jun 29, 2008, 4:42pm »
Hi all as anyone on forum had anything to do with the Glaethbal Plough.(I think thats how you spell it)we had one in the blocking bed at Gomersal. We only had it for about 6 month it was a right pain,sometimes we would only advance 1 foot a shift
Hi all as anyone on forum had anything to do with the Glaethbal Plough.(I think thats how you spell it)we had one in the blocking bed at Gomersal. We only had it for about 6 month it was a right pain,sometimes we would only advance 1 foot a shift
There were two styles of plough Mick Anbehobel, (sp) and Lobehobel(sp) Not too many used in the UK as the coal wasn't suitable on most seams in the UK. There's a video on the site showing one in operation, probably in South Shields, looks like the 1950's. They were still popular on high production faces in Germany at the peak of their coal industry, and have also been used in Australia, but not that successful. I don't even think there's any operating outside of Europe now. I'll look for the video and put a link here to it for you.
Re: Glaethbal Plough « Reply #2 on Jun 30, 2008, 4:43am »
Thanks for that John,Well i got that spelling wrong lol. When they were installing it at Gomersal some of the lads went to Markham Main to work on a face that had a plough,but i dont think it was the same one. Mick Ps John videos are no long on u tube wot a shame.
Thanks for that John,Well i got that spelling wrong lol. When they were installing it at Gomersal some of the lads went to Markham Main to work on a face that had a plough,but i dont think it was the same one. Mick Ps John videos are no long on u tube wot a shame.
I'll see if I can replace those videos and see if they work. Later on today when I have some more time, I have one of DBT's plough to install, it's a lot better than the old ploughs! Plus some other videos I found.
Re: Glaethbal Plough « Reply #4 on Mar 13, 2009, 8:51am »
Germanys revenge for WW2
Many years ago after working on numerous plough faces the above statement seems to be true.
On a more serious note, here is a short history of the coal plough and the various types that were in use.
The coal plough or Kohlenhobel was invented in Germany during WW2. After the war British mining engineers visited Germany, saw the plough in action and decided to trial one in the UK. The first trial was in 1947 at the Morrison Busty Colliery in West Durham. The face was 3ft 3inches high and 75 yards long in the Bottom Busty seam. The Kohlenhobel was a slow speed plough hauled along the face by ropes. The trial was a reasonable success owing to the coal being very friable (soft). Incidently this plough was made under licence by Huwood The next development was a faster plough again rope hauled this was called a Scrahmhobel. The first plough type to use chain haulage was the Lobbehobel, in this system the AFC and plough were driven by the same motor with a clutch to disengage and engage the plough. The next improvement was the Anbauhobel which had separate motors for the AFC and the plough. Most of this type of plough used in the UK were made by UMM at Newton Aycliffe in County Durham. Variations of the anbau included the Tandem plough which was dsigned for high faces. The most important development was the Reisshakenhobel or high speed hook or planer plough, this plough had its haulage chains in guides on the goaf side and was designed for undulating thin seams. The last development for use in medium height seams was (is) the Glethobel which has a higher speed and a different cutter turret. Both the Reishakenhobel and Gleithobel 9-38 are still in production by DBT in Germany Other types of plough included the Megahobel, Gusto Multi-plow and a type designed by RB Bolton. The remains of the RB Bolton plough can be seen at the NCM museum at Caphouse.
Similar to ploughs were scraper boxes including the Harrman Scraper and for Ultra low seams the Hydrocell (also trialled at the Morrison Busty Colliery in 1966)
Joined: Jul 2008 Gender: Male Posts: 58 Location: West Virginia,U.S.A
Re: Glaethbal Plough « Reply #5 on Mar 13, 2009, 10:53am »
Coal ploughs were used for years here in the US. Cleveland Cliffs Pinnacle mine still uses one. In less than 4 feet of coal they will out produce a shear. I know they started to phase them out in the 1980s. Ranger Fuel Beckley #4 had one when they shut down.
Re: Glaethbal Plough « Reply #6 on Mar 13, 2009, 1:24pm »
Nice bit of info there Garryo!
Lannie, US coal seams are "soft" in comparison to UK seams. During WW2, mine owners came out to look at American machinery to mechanize UK mines but on getting the machinery back, were very disappointed with it's performance. Most machinery was of the continuous miner type designed for US conditions, and it performed dismally in UK seam conditions.
Ploughs were tried out in all NCB areas after nationalisation, some seams they worked in, others were failures. I heard of one used at Wollaton Colliery in Nottingham, no idea which seam, but hazard a guess at the Piper Seam. Most certainly wouldn't have worked in Deep Hard or Low Main seams, just too hard.
Likewise, the first longwall to operate in Australia was a failure! They used modified Gullick Seaman 5 leg chocks and an AB 16/125 shearer. Wasn't the shearer that let them down it was just conditions were too "heavy" and they lost the face to convergence.
There were a couple of plough faces in NSW at one time, but none are being used there now, all power loader faces with heavy duty shearers.
Hi this is my first post having just found the site today - 15 March09 so my starter for ten on this subject is as follows:
During the late 50's and early 60's Granville colliery in South Derbyshire had three Anbauhobel's working in the 'Little Kilburn' seam, think this was formerly known as either the Little Coal or Block Coal. I do have a photo somewhere of a face (K2's) showing the plough at the gate end, I will sort it out and post. I recall working on this face during my apprenticeship and having the job of replacing the shear pins as they failed, several a shift I seem to recall.
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